Animal husbandry

Zootechny - the science of breeding, feeding, housing and properly using agricultural animals in order to obtain from them the highest possible quantity of high-quality products with the least expenditure of labor and money. Zootechny generalizes the knowledge of animal breeding and develops the theory and practical methods of conducting this activity. The term zootechny appeared in 1848, proposed by the French scientist J. Baudement, who defined zootechny as the science of the technology of living machines. Modern zootechny, which develops the most economical animal breeding technology through mechanizing and automating production processes, makes wide use of the exact sciences and computer technology. It is based on the sciences that study the biological characteristics of agricultural animals, such as general biology, anatomy, histology, embryology, physiology, biochemistry, and genetics, as well as allied sciencesveterinary medicine, agronomy, the organization of agricultural production, and the like. Like other sciences, zootechny uses historical, comparative, experimental, and statistical methods of research. General zootechny, in turn, has subdivisions: breeding, feeding, and housing of animals. The subdivision on breeding agricultural animals deals principally with the qualitative improvement and the quantitative population growth of domestic animals and with research and study on new ways in which man can affect domestic animals. The improvement of the qualities and productivity of existing breeds (in terms of meat, milk, eggs, wool) and the development of new breeds is accomplished by selection of animals, inbreeding, crossbreeding, hybridization, and so on. Theory and practice in this area is elaborated by the science of breeding agricultural animals. The subdivision of zootechny on feeding agricultural animals deals with methods of setting up feeding norms through research on the animals requirements for nutrients (proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins) and study of the chemical composition and nutritive value of feeds. Modern problems in zootechny. Modern problems in zootechny are closely connected with the achievements of associated biological disciplines (physiology, biology, immunology) and population genetics. Research has established that such characteristics as the fat and protein content of the milk of cattle, the weight of hens eggs, the quality of a swine carcass, and the fineness of sheeps wool have a high degree of heritability and that simple methods of mass selection of animals for these characters are sufficient for their rapid improvement. But such characteristics as viability, fertility, milk yield of dairy cattle, and intensity of egg-laying by hens have low heritability, and more complex methods of breeding (including a consideration of the ancestry of animals, the quality of their offspring, and the discovery of the best mating combinations) are necessary to improve them. Even under more extensive study are the immunogenetic characteristics of the blood groups of animals, which can be used to determine the ancestry of animals in controversial cases. Through the principles of population genetics, such important concepts as selection differential and selection index have been formulated for applied animal breeding. In some countries (the Netherlands, for example) prices of milk are established

June, 2011

Scrioteanu Bogdan

according to fat and protein content; this was made possible by wide-spread use of colorimetric methods of analyzing milk for its protein content. In many countries effective methods have been worked out (by means of ultrasonic instruments) for evaluating the quality of swine carcasses in live pigs; they permit not only measurement of the thickness of the fat but also the area of the muscle. In swine husbandry and broiler poultry-husbandry, breeding for improvement in the return on feed has proved effective. In some countries research is being conducted on increasing the hereditary resistance of animals to diseases, especially infectious ones. Breeding experiments conducted on chickens in the USA have made it possible to produce lines that are resistant to coccidiosis, white diarrhea of chicks, and leucosis. Many zootechnical institutions in the USSR, USA, and Europe are working on what role amino acids, vitamins, enzymes, antibiotics, and microelements in the ration play in forming the productivity of animals. The influence of biostimulators on the growth and development of animals is also being intensively studied. My artworks are information-rich depictions of how our culture perceives and interacts with plants and animals, and the role culture plays in influencing the direction of natural history. The Farm contextualizes the biotech industrys explosive advances in genetic engineering within the history of agriculture, breeding, and artificial selection in general.

The image, a wide-angle view of a cultivated soybean field, is constructed to be read from left to right. The image begins with the ancestral versions of internationally familiar animals, the cow, pig, and chicken, and moves across to an informed speculation about how they might look in the future. Also included are geometrically transformed vegetables and familiar images relating to the history of genetics.

June, 2011

Scrioteanu Bogdan

In The Farm I am interested in how the present and the future look of things are influenced by a broad range of pressures- human consumption, aesthetics, domestication, and medical applications among them. The flora and fauna of the farm are easily recognizable; they are, at the same time, in danger of losing their ancestral identities. While the trend in world development of dairy zootechnics is in constant growth in terms of breeding farm sizes, sometimes duplicating, or tripling the number of heads, the importance placed on health checks imposed by the increasingly restrictive legislative standards has increased. These factors, combined with an increase in structure costs, emphasise the need for serious and expert planning and design, which considers and satisfies any company developments over a medium-long term. Nothing is more risky than investing in inefficient structures due to incorrect planning. Too often, planning that does not allow for the possible integration of new structures or equipment, causes enormous problems in the future.

June, 2011

Scrioteanu Bogdan