Understand animal breeding
- Animal Farms, Pets, and Wildlife
- Get new skills to improve your business or employment prospects
- Research the times and locations that work for your busy schedule.
Breeding animals can range from being a serious hobby or side business (such as raising animals for sale as pets) to being a very serious and possibly highly sophisticated vocation.
Whatever level you plan to operate at, this course offers a great place to start.
Lesson Structure
There are 7 lessons in this course:
- Introduction to Genetics
- Plant cells
- Animal cells
- Cell division – mitosis (asexual reproduction); meiosis (sexual reproduction)
- Genes – phenotype and genotype; homogenous and heterogenous
- Terminology
- The work of Mendel
- Sex determination
- Genetics
- Gene mutations
- Lethal genes
- Effect of the environment
- Hybrid vigour
- Genetics in agriculture
- Heritability
- Selection
- Animal breeding programs
- Agriculture
- Decide on your priorities
- Dual purpose animals
- Artificial selection
- Gene groups
- Regression
- Domestic animals – Dogs, cats etc.
- Pure Breeding
- Inbreeding – close breeding and line breeding
- Genetic effects of inbreeding
- Advantages and disadvantages
- Introduction to Cross Breeding
- The effects of cross breeding in farm animals
- Genetic effects, phenotype effects, heterosis, and genotype effect
- Cross breeding in sheep
- Cross breeding in domestic animals
- Cross Breeding
- Practical cross breeding
- Two breed or single cross
- Back cross or crisscrossing
- Cyclical crossing
- Rotational crossing
- Advantages of cross breeding
- Reciprocal recurrent selection
- Breed societies
- Grading up
- Livestock Improvement
- Performance Testing
- Sib Testing
- Progeny testing
- Relative breeding Values (RBV)
- Artificial insemination
- Synchronised heats
- Ova transplants
Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school’s tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.
Aims
- Describe how genetics affects the traits that animals display.
- Describe the variables that interact with genes to cause animal nonconformity.
- Provide methods for choosing the animals for a breeding programme.
- Create a programme for animal direct breeding.
- Create a programme for animal cross-breeding.
- Describe the commercial breeding practises utilised for farm animals.
What You Will Do
- Using two specific examples of animal breeding, describe how genes regulate the inheritance of traits.
- Explain the differences between an animal’s genotype and phenotype.
- Determine which gene pairs are dominant and recessive.
- Describe how the chromosomes of a particular bird vary from those of a particular farm mammal in terms of function.
- Explain how a specific farm animal’s gender and the manifestation of non-sex character traits are related.
- Describe the significance of mutation in animal breeding, highlighting both the advantages and disadvantages.
- Describe how the environment affects all aspects of animal genetic expression.
- Describe how hybrid vigour is relevant for breeding various animals, such as *chickens* *pigs* *sheep
- Describe heritability in several livestock classifications, such as dairy cattle, beef cattle, pigs, and sheep.
- Create a set of objectives for a breeding programme for the farm animal of your choice.
- Create a list of standards for choosing animals for a breeding programme for a certain breed of farm animal.
- Provide an example of how natural selection is used in a farm animal breeding programme to explain it.
- What are the goals of artificial selection in animal breeding programmes? What are the techniques used?
- Provide a hypothetical instance of genetic regression occurring in a farm breeding operation to illustrate the concept.
- Create a list of things to keep in mind while buying breeding stock for a certain farm environment.
- Describe the process used by an animal producer in the learner’s area to choose animals for a commercial breeding operation.
- Differentiate between close breeding and line breeding, two types of straight breeding.
- Describe the upkeep of a particular pure breed (i.e. straight breed).
- Compare line breeding’s benefits and drawbacks when used in a breeding programme for a particular breed of farm animal.
- Describe the situations in which using line breeding techniques in animal breeding operations would be suitable.
- Provide examples of situations in animal breeding programmes when close breeding techniques would be acceptable.
- Create a process for reproducing a certain kind of animal in a straight line.
- Distinguish between various cross breeding techniques, such as rotating cross, rear cross, two breed cross, and terminal cross.
- Describe the meaning of “grading up” in the context of commercial animal husbandry.
- Analyze “crossbreeding” in a learner-researched animal breeding programme to determine its applicability.
- Find a commercial setting where cross-breeding might be acceptable.
- Describe the cross-breeding services offered by a specific breed society on a specific farm.
- Describe how to cross-breed a certain kind of animal.
- Describe terms used in breeding, such as synchronised heats and artificial insemination.
- Explain the breeding programmes that make use of ova transplants, synchronised heats, and artificial insemination.
- Describe the significance of synchronised heats on animal breeding.
- Provide an explanation of the two separate testing techniques the learner saw being utilised for animal breeding operations.
- Analyze how well breeding practises on a particular property align with the owner’s stated objectives.
- Explain the husbandry techniques that can be used when a specific farm animal is pregnant.
- Explain the husbandry techniques that might be used during the birth of a certain breed of farm animal, such as: *routine husbandry techniques *emergency husbandry techniques.
- Plan how to run a breeding programme to get the best possible results from male breeding for either: dairy, pigs, poultry, beef, sheep, and horses
- Carry out and document the birth of the designated animal.
Following your course
Breeders can work with farm animals, wildlife, or pets. For sale or exhibition, they might breed purebred cats, horses, dogs, or other animals. They might breed farm animals, zoo, or wildlife park animals.
Several animal breeders run their own businesses (eg. supplying pets to the pet industry, livestock to farms, or horses to the racing industry). Others might be employed by zoos, wildlife preserves, agricultural research facilities, or other governmental or nonprofit institutions. Breeding may have a practical or conservation aim.
Some may start off with a significant short course, diploma, or higher qualification, while some breeders may enter their profession through experience rather than formal instruction.
Skills Necessary
- genuine compassion and interest towards animals
- understanding of basic genetics, animal biology, and medicine
- a composure, self-assurance, and physical preparedness and strength sufficient to deal with the species being reproduced.
- being open to networking with coworkers, sharing knowledge and learning from others in order to stay current
Opportunities that may exist
Compensation varies widely. Breeders who own their own businesses may have more control and earning possibilities, especially if they are skilled in their field.
If you work for another person, it’s likely that your pay will reflect both the kind of animal you work with and the industry you are in.
What People think of the course
“The course is particularly useful to students who are or wish to be involved in agricultural livestock production.” Marius Erasmus – B.Sc.Agriculture, B.Science (Wildlife), M.Sc.Agriculture
ACS Student comment: Yes [the course is a valuable learning experience], I am loving it, it relates to all the things I am presently doing with our dogs and sheep and I am finding it extremely useful and have learnt a lot. Love getting my assignments back to see how I went always an exciting moment and then shared around the dinner table that night!! Zoe Crouch, Aust – Animal Breeding course.
What should you research?
Let us assist you in choosing what is best for you!
- It is better to get in touch with someone before to their enrollment.
- If we are aware of your interests, skills, and goals, we can support you.
- Plan to reach your objectives.
