There are many animals around the word reared for different purposes.
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Amimals can be categorized into three groups. Wild animals, domestic or pet animals and farm animals.
The list of farm animals is a long one. In Nigeria there are numerous farm animals such as the sheep, goat, cow, chicken, turkey, rabbit, duck, quail, snails, fish, grasscutter, pigs and so on.
These farm animals are produced for the meat, egges, skin or milk. Other products like bones, organic fertilizer and raw materials for other products.
To start an animal farm, there are those who start with the exotic animals and others with the simple animals. What is most important is to start by doing a reaearch on the needs of these animals. This puts you on the right path as you start your farm. Learn the most you can to avoid costly mistakes.
Rearing farm animals is always an interesting activity that not only provides you and your family good protein fron meat and eggs, but can be a huge source of income when handled properly. Here are a few farm animals you can rear for a start.
CHICKENS
Everyone knows these are a good startup farm animals in Nigeria. They are easy to get and train within the space of 3-4 months and are due for the market sales. In Nigeria, those planning to make chicken sales in December are already warming up and preparing the farm house. Chicken are a good source of meat and eggs. Feathers are raw materials for other manufacturing companies. Their droppings are feed for fish and organic manure for crops like vegetables.
CHICKENS FEEDS
Starter feed is a protein dense variety of chicken feed designed to meet the dietary requirements of baby chicks. Generally speaking baby chicks can live comfortably on a diet of starter feed and water for the first 6 weeks of their life before progressing onto grower feed.
GOAT
Starting a goat farm would require at least 2-4 females and a male. Goats can be reared for meat, skin, milk, bone meals, fur, and organic fertilizer. They feed mainly on grass but you can feed them peels from yam, plantain, cassava, corn and so on. There are various breeds depending on the prouduct you are aiming at. It is not expensive and very lucrative farm animal.
GOAT FEEDS
It's what they mostly eat in the winter when they don't have access to the range. Hay can be grass or a legume, like clover or alfalfa. Each goat needs about two to four pounds of hay per day, minus what they might forage on pasture. Hay can be fed free choice or twice a day.
PIGS
Pigs are known to be smelling and dirty but in essence are neat animals. They can be caged or could free range if the land is available. They feed on corn and grains generally and almost anything younfeedbthem with. They are known mostly to give birth at a fast rate with about 11 litters at a single birth. Pigs produce mainly pork meat for sausages hot dogs and bacon.
PIGS FEEDS
Feed ingredients in descending order: corn, soya bean meal, barley, wheat bran, vegetable protein, oilseeds extracts, fatty acids, feed phosphate, pig vitamins, and trace minerals. Creep feed (about 20g per piglet per day) or a good home-made mixture with fine rice bran, broken rice and milled maize grains.
Fish
Manufactured feeds are an important part of modern commercial aquaculture, providing the balanced nutrition needed by farmed fish.
SNAILS
These are farm animals that really do not stress much to rear. Get the right breed (Anchatina Marginata), build the pen house or free range within the smallest available space is good enough to start a smail farm. Snails are rich in calcium and their saliva is beneficial to the skin.
Feed the snail the same vegetables you would find in a garden salad. Land snails think of fresh green grass as a treat. Leaves also please land snails. Large leaves such as pawpaw, cocoa and cassava leaves are good to place the snails on before adding the food.
RABBIT
Rabbits are a great addition to a homesteading amimals and are known to produce meat. Cost little to feed, take up a small space. Their gestational period is about one month and in 8 weeks the litter are matured.
Farm animals in Agricultural practices are easier to engage in without having much labour to do in a small scale. With one or two workers a reasonable sized farm can be effectively managed.
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Rabbit feed
Rabbits in the wild all over the world successfully consume a wide variety of plant material.