15 Examples of Intensive and Extensive Livestock

The cattle raising is a long-standing human activity consisting of the selective breeding of animals for its use and exploitation, both in terms of food and fur, preparation of substances, etc. It is distinguished from the management of wild animals, known as zoobreeding.

The forms of livestock farm are adapted to the particularities and needs of each species and the region where this activity takes place, being today one of the main agricultural activities in the world.

Types of livestock

The livestock industry distinguishes between various forms of exploitation, according to their purposes and products, namely:

Another possible classification deals with the methods and procedures used in the livestock farm, distinguishing between intensive and extensive livestock.

Differences between intensive and extensive livestock

Advantages and disadvantages

Extensive livestock has the advantages of ecological respect, the greater naturalness of their products and low consumption of material and energy resources, since natural pastures are used. However, it has the disadvantages of being unproductive, not very homogeneous and contrary to the laws the commercial market, in addition to its dependence and vulnerability to climatic cycles and biological.

Intensive livestock not so environmentally friendly, nor with the lives of animals, since it uses quantities of electric power and miscellaneous feed, on the one hand, and it keeps its animals stationary and locked up for most of their lives. On the other hand, the use of hormonal supplements and chemical additives is frequent as a mechanism to enhance and accelerate the production, which allows it to meet the growing demand for food and provide homogeneous information on its production.

Examples of intensive livestock

1. Poultry farming. Most of the chicken we eat comes from poultry farms, where chickens are born, raised, fattened, and slaughtered. Rearing dynamics often involve methods such as injections of hormones growth or keeping chickens with the light on all day to force them to eat more than normal. Something similar happens with egg-laying hen farms, in which hens spend their entire lives locked in cages.
2. Cow dairy farming. Dairy farms tend to focus their management of cattle on obtaining milk, to be able to offer it in the various market instances. Milk production involves a planned treatment of the animals to maximize and make constant their generation of milk and its rapid and massive extraction, using instruments often painful for the animal.
3. Pig farming. Stable rearing of pigs for food purposes usually involves feeding the animals with the highest quantity of pigs. organic material usable, taking advantage of the pig's great digestive capacities. Thus, the animal is kept immobile and overfed to maximize its growth and its meat.
4. Intensive cattle farming. Far from pastoral areas, intensive exploration of cattle occurs in areas hyper-controlled and with a lot of human intervention in the selection of the feed, the selective crossing and the controlled reproduction.
5. Beekeeping. Beekeeping can often be considered a form of intensive farming, since selective crossing of species of bees is frequent, enhancing their honey-producing capacity, as well as providing them with sugars and even carbonated drinks to stimulate the production of honeys sweet. It usually occurs in controlled environments within wooden structures specially designed for it..
6. Pisciculture. The rearing of trout and species of fish for sport consumption is characteristic of regions distant from the sea, since these animals are cultivated in large exclusive breeding ponds, where it is controlled from the levels of temperature and alkalinity of the water, down to the type of food they receive to promote reproduction.

Examples of extensive livestock

1. Extensive cattle farming. It is a question of raising cattle in long extensions of land (such as in the savannas of North America or Asia), taking advantage of the grass vegetation frequent in those latitudes as food.
2. Patagonian livestock. The breeding and use of the Patagonian lamb in southern Argentina follows extensive patterns, where the animal grazes its craving for long stretches of land, thus developing fibrous and robust, lean meats, which are highly demanded by the carnivorous palate local.
3. Livestock of camelids. Common in Peru, Bolivia and northern Argentina, the rearing of llama, vicuña and other forms of domestic camelids are vital for obtaining meat and wool for the textile industry. These animals tend to graze at will, it is even possible to see them in towns and small hamlets mixed with the population.
4. The farms. In traditional, minority production farms, animals such as cows, pigs and chickens roam in a kind of local ecosystem, which allows them to develop in an ecological way, taking advantage of the waste material to fertilize the land and without the presence of large massive technologies or foods genetically designed for the fattening.
5. Ostrich farming. Frequent in Australia and New Zealand, the ostrich is part of the species adapted to farm life, through extensive cultivation that allows them to graze and reproduce naturally.
6. Domestic cattle and goat farming. The domestic livestock of sheep and goats is common to many rural sectors of Europe, for which the surrounding territory is used and few material or energy inputs are used. It is a subsistence or locally valued livestock model.

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