Page 108 - Agriculture Form Two

Agriculture for Secondary Schools

(c) Health status: Healthy, disease-resistant animals free from abnormalities
should be selected as they pass on to their offspring.
(d) Quality of products: Selected animals should come from those that
produce high-quality products.
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(e) Body conformation: Animals selected should have the desired
conformation, e.g., wedge shape for dairy cattle and block shape for beef
cattle.

(f) Temperament: Select an animal with good behaviour; e.g., docility is
desired for draught animals. Aggressive animals, especially bulls, should
not be selected.

(g) Prolificacy: Select animals that can produce large litter sizes (i.e., produce
many offspring per parturition).
(h) Adaptability: Select animals that can fit or cope with the prevailing
environment.

(i) Fertility: Select fertile animals that can breed regularly.

(j) Mothering ability: Selected animals should be able to rear their young
ones successfully to weaning age with good weight.

Techniques of breeding farm animals

Breeding farm animals involves identifying and selecting the animal to be bred to
produce the next generation, whether male or female. Once a good quality stock
has been identified, the next step will be determining the mating method used and
the breeding season. The mating method can be done naturally or artificially, as
described herein.

(a) Natural mating
In this method, a breeding male is used directly to mate the breeding female.
Natural mating is done by allowing the male to detect and mate with the female
in the field, in most cases while grazing, or by detecting the heat and bringing the
male to mate. The former is pasture mating, while the latter is controlled mating.
Figure 6.7 shows natural mating in cattle.

100 Student’s Book Form Two

04/10/2024 18:07
Agriculture form 2.indd 100 04/10/2024 18:07
Agriculture form 2.indd 100