Introduction

Farming has been around for about 12,000 years. Farming is where you grow crops or take care of animals for meat, eggs, milk, wool and much much more. Farmers have a big job. They have to take care of animals and crops which is a lot of work. Farming has a really big impact on our planet and without farming we pretty much would have no food. That’s why farming is a necessity for everyone.

                                       What do farm animals do?

Farm animals are very important, they produce food, fur and fertilizer. Certain animals do different things. Goats and cows produce milk, which can be turned into cheese and butter. Also goats eat weeds and plants. Sheep are for their wool and fertilizer. Pigs are mostly for meat. Chickens are for eggs, and meat too. Ducks are for eggs and meat. 

                                                   Chickens

Chickens are one of the most common farm animals. Chickens are so common because they lay eggs, and lots of people all around the world eat meat and eggs. 

Chicks hatch out of eggs and if you hold them when they are little they will let you hold them when they are adults. After chicks hatch they should live in a warm place inside, with a heat lamp. You should put wood chips down and change the wood chips every week. If you hold the chicks make sure not to drop them and if you do then just make sure to put that chick back. If you name the chickens they don’t remember their names so they will not come if you call them. It is hard to get hold of rosters.

Roosters peck chickens on the head when they are mating. First the rooster jumps on the chicken’s back then the rooster will peck the chicken’s head and tug on some feathers. If roosters don’t jump on the chicken’s back and just peck them then the roosters are probably bullying. When a rooster bully’s a hen then the best solution is to separate the rooster from the other hens and roosters. Just separate the rooster for a day or two and that helps because if a rooster gets separated it’s rank of popularity goes down and it wont bully any more.

If you don’t collect eggs that the chickens lay they will sometimes crack them. Also believe it or not chickens will sometimes eat the eggs if the chickens crack them. An average chicken lays 12 eggs a week.

Fun fact: Chickens don’t lay eggs in winter.

                                                     Goats

Goats are very smart animals. For example they use their horns to scratch their back if they have an itch. Also if you hide food behind your back they will try to get it.

Goats have to have babies every ten months to keep producing milk. When goats have babies it is best not to bottle feed them. Bottle feeding is where you feed a goat with a bottle of milk. Bottle feeding is bad because then the goat doesn’t learn as much because the mom is not teaching it. But if the goat mother died then you have to.  

When male goats start headbutting whoever they headbutt, that’s who they like. When males start headbutting it’s best to separate them from the females because the males will start to smell. That smell can smell up the milk.

Goats need nutrition and there are two ways to give them nutrition and it’s best to do both. The first way is fresh veggies which give them lots of nutrients. The second way is to give them goat minerals. Goat minerals give them lots of nutrients too. 

Goats remember their names, so if you want them to have a connection with you then it is best to give them names. The way to get them to remember their names is associate their names with food. For example you would go like this “coco come here” then give them food. 

Also let goats warm up to you. If you visit them everyday they will let you get close.

Fun fact: Female goats are called nannys and babies are called kids.

                                               Anatolian Shepherd

The Anatolian Shepherd is a great farm dog. They get big so they can scare off predators and they are strong. They have a blond coat with a black nose area, ears and sometimes tail. Or they can just be brindle. Anatolian Shepherds are big dogs so they are good at being farm dogs and can live outside because they have thick coats. 

 Also they are very loyal dogs. If you get them to know people they will protect them. They are very kind dogs and if they are trained well they can be family dogs.

Training Anatolian Shepherd’s is best done when they are puppies because then they are still learning so they will learn it faster. They can be trained to paw, sit, and roll. They can be leash trained which is where you walk them on a leash. When you train them they are better farm dogs and are better at protecting animals.

Farm dogs are good at protecting chickens, goats, cows, pigs, ducks and even humans. Their job is to scare away predators.

Fun fact: They can live outside even in winter.

                       Predators and why they are a threat to farm animals

Predators are a threat to farm animals because they hunt. If you do not have a guard dog they can eat your animals. Also it’s best to have fences around where animals are because it prevents predators from coming in and eating animals.

There are lots of predators but we will talk about mountain lions and coyotes. 

Coyotes used to typically live in mountains or forests but now they live all over North America. Coyotes live in family groups but hunt alone and mostly are seen alone. That is why a lot of people think that they live alone.

Mountain lions are very strong animals. Mountain lions live alone and leave their babies when the babies are 15-26 months old. Mountain lions live for about 10 years.

Preatidors normally will not enter barns or farm structures

Fun fact: Mountain lions have litters with mostly 6 cubs.

                                                               Farm structures

There are many kinds of farm structures we are going to talk about: barns, stables, chicken coops and greenhouses.

Greenhouses are where you put plants when they start as a seed. The greenhouse traps in heat and creates a very warm environment for young plants.

Chicken coops are a big space that chickens live in. They typically have a place for the chickens to roam and lay their eggs.

Stables are where horses, donkeys and farm cats live. A stable keeps the animals warm when it is cold and gives them shade when it is hot.

Barns are where farmers store tools and some times where animals live.

Fun fact: Barns are red because people used to paint them with rust as a sealant so they paint them red to honor the tradition.

                                                               Growing crops

Crops are very important. They supply most of the food that we eat. Crops are hard to take care of because they need water, fertilizer, shade and sun.

There are two ways to keep bugs away from plants. The first way is to use sulfur and if you use sulfur, it makes your crops organic and non gmo that is better for the environment.The second way is to use chemicals like for example Roundup. If you use Roundup then your plants are gmo which means genetically modified.

Another thing farmers have to be careful about is seasons. They have to think about if their plants are going to get cold in the winter, hot in the summer, or over watered in the spring.

Fun fact: California produces 99 percent of the world’s almonds.

                                                    Glossary:

Fertilizer = Poop

Organic = A way of farming using non chemical fertilizer

Sulfur = An element also used as an organic spray to keep bugs away

Crops = plants 

Predator = A animal that hunts animals

Brindle = brownish black

                                                Conclusion

So farming is not a simple topic and we definitely would need many more pages to say everything about farming but I hope this was enough to give you at least a peek into the world of farming.