Overview

'Animal farming' is a readable, thought-provoking, honest, and unstuffy account of what really happens on Europe's and Britain's animal farms, and how animal farming came to be that way. Stories behind modern farming practices are revealed and concerns are raised over how our farms will look in the future. Fascinating insights and unpalatable questions are presented into the ways that animals are - often wrongly - fed, bred, housed and managed. Learning comes from failures, so the book is more about failures than successes. The author combines well researched facts with well found experience. He commends and condemns in equal measure; often in unexpected ways. A broad range of subjects is covered in the book. What domestication now means for farm animals. How selective breeding has changed them for better and worse. The mixed blessings of government support and subsidisation. The story of abuse of animals' rights and welfare is dealt with in detail, as are ideas of respect and compassion, and the inadequate ways in which animals are fed. The author describes a broken marketing system for livestock products, and also considers organic farming. Lastly, in the present environment of agricultural upheaval in Europe, how can science and technology take animal farming forward? What are the chances of the wrongs being righted - what will tomorrow's farmed animals be for?

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9789086863198

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Colin Whittemore is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, past President of the British Society of Animal Science and Emeritus Professor of Agriculture and Rural Economy at The University of Edinburgh - a place with a long history of both enlightenment and dissent. The first of Colin Whittemore's two-hundred research papers was a study of animal behaviour and welfare - an abiding concern throughout his career. Ensuing commitments were to animal nutrition and the understanding of growth and lactation. At Edinburgh, he was successively Head of Animal Production and Development, The Department of Agriculture and The Institute of Ecology and Resource Management. He has server (amonst others) on the Boards of The Roslin Research Institute, the Scottisch Agricultural College and the Hill Farming Research Organisation, and he has chaired Technical Quality Assurance Committees determining production standards for animal farming. he has had lifelong interests in Economics, Rural Social History, Mathemathical Modelling and the Communication of Science and Technology. Raised on a familiy livestock farm, he left school at the age of fifteen, gaining a University place only after attending Agricultural College and night classes. he was first appointed to the staff at the University of Edinburgh in 1970, and subsequently gained a number of higher degrees and professorships. He has been awarded the RASE Gold Medal for research and had published five advanced academic texts and four popular social history titles. He acted for many years as an international consultant for a major livestock exporting business. In addition to the extended family, his recreations are writing, skiing and horses.

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