Textbook of Animal Husbandry

Animal husbandry is the agricultural practice of breeding and raising livestock. Animal husbandry has been practiced for thousands of years, since the first domestication of animals. Selective breeding for desired traits was established as a scientific practice by Robert Blakewell during the British Agricultural Revolution in the 18th century. Arguably, his most important breeding programme was with sheep. Using native stock, he was able to quickly select for large, yet fine-boned sheep, with long, lustrous wool. The Lincoln Longwool was improved by Bakewell, and in turn the Lincoln was used to develop the subsequent breed, named the New (or Dishley) Leicester. It was hornless and had a square, meaty body with straight top lines. This new revised and enlarged edition of Handbook of Animal Husbandry deals with nearly all aspects of animal husbandry under a single cover. This book includes seventeen updated and revised chapters and fourteen new chapters. Chapters on the camel, equines, rabbitry, small laboratory animals and economics of livestock keeping have been included considering the requirements of young entrepreneurs.