Industrial and organic livestock farming: the differences

Animal husbandry is a set of activities carried out in order to multiply animals so that humans can use them. This way of multiplying is different for each type of farming. You are a bit new in the field and you want to know the real difference between industrial livestock farming and organic livestock farming? Then here are some explanations that can give you some information and clarification on the subject.

What's livestock farming?

The birth of animal husbandry is a mystery since in the past, the first men lived by hunting, fishing and gathering. However, animal husbandry has taken off since people have seen the result of the production of the animal when they are domesticated. The objective when one raises livestock is to multiply the number of animals one owns. This implies certain conditions such as the provision of food, shelter or care so that the breeding is successful. The raised animals will then be transformed into a food product such as meat, milk, honey, eggs... or into a non-food product such as wool, leather, fur, silk etc... To carry out this activity there are several types of breeding but there are two that are the most known: organic breeding and industrial breeding.

Organic livestock farming

Organic livestock farming is one of the types of farming that respects the principles of organic agriculture. Organic livestock farming takes place on a farm and gives the animals access to the outdoors. Animals such as chickens, sheep and cows, for example, are completely free ranging and are not subject to stress. They live naturally. They are only fed organic food that is produced by the farmer himself. Their health is preserved by natural means and the multiplication of animals is respected, i.e. by natural methods. The use of pesticides or fertilizers is also strictly ruled out. As a result, products derived from organic animal husbandry are obviously organic products. And since the animals are in complete freedom, their flesh will be muscular and tender etc...

Industrial livestock farming

Industrial livestock farming, unlike organic livestock farming, is one of the types of livestock farming that is aimed to increase the yield of the activity as much as possible. Therefore, it uses products such as feed or fertilizers to accelerate the multiplication of the animals. And they are also locked up in a building so they do not find freedom as in organic farming. The light they receive is artificial light. And the temperature in the building is also controlled by ventilation, air conditioning or heating. As a result, industrial livestock farming has harmful consequences for the environment because of the emission of greenhouse gases. In contrast to this, organic livestock farming is completely environmentally friendly.
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What are the agriculture-livestock relationships?

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