Introduction
As farmers grow crops, they also keep some animal to give them meat, eggs, milk and leather. These are farm animals e.g. sheep, cow, turkey, duck and pig.
Some animals are both domestic and farm animals.
Farm animals are animals that farmers keep to give them meat, eggs, milk and leather.
Examples of farm animals as stated in the introduction are cattle, sheep, turkey, ducks, pigs, chicken, rabbits, snails and goats.
These animals are reared on the farm.
Cattle:
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They feed mainly on grasses, legumes (forage crops) and herbs. Thus, they are called herbivorous. Cattle are of great importance mainly for the production of beef, milk, butter and cheese, for food; skins and hides, for leather; manure to improve the growth of food crops.
The young cattle known as calves are produced after the mating of the adult cattle. The female cattle (cow) carries the pregnancy for 282 days. The calf is fed with milk between 8 and 12 weeks.
Sheep and Goats:
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These are reared mainly for meat. Milk and skin are also derived from them. They are normally fed and reared on open grassland. They also feed on other things like grains, cassava and yam peelings. A young goat is calked a kid, while a young sheep is called a lamb. They reproduce the same way as the cattle, but the gestation period (period of pregnancy) is 147 days for sheep and 150 days for goats.
Poultry
Poultry refers to fowl, turkey, duck, guinea fowl or other domestic birds. They are reared mainly for meat and eggs. A male fowl is calked a cock or cockerel. The female is called a hen, while the young ones are called chicks.
The fowl is refered to as chicken, and its meat is also called chicken. They reproduce by laying eggs and incubating them before hatching.
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They can be kept in cages or allowed to roam about the farmland. They feed mainly on cereals.
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