WebJunction

Overview

The science of animal husbandry (the breeding and raising of livestock) includes nutrition, genetics, veterinary medicine, and reproductive physiology.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) oversees the health and care of animals and works to improve animal productivity through research, reports, monitoring and training.

Key Resources

• Animal Health
  
  The APHIS web site on Animal Health provides information on the diseases common to animals today and provides information on the prevention, control and elimination of these diseases.  Resources include reports on animal health in the U.S., a list of Animal Diseases with links to overviews of the disease, news reports and outreach efforts, information on laboratory services for testing of animals for diseases, information on vaccines and other pharmaceuticals and how to license or import them, and access to forms, applications and certification procedures.  In addition, you can learn how to import/export animals, move animals across state lines, and bring food back from other countries.
  It is important to note that the above web site does *not* cover information related to animal rights and welfare.  That information is covered by the Animal Welfare Act in a separate area of the USDA web site.
   
• Animal Production
  
  The Animal Production portion of the USDA web site includes information on the various types of food products from specific animals such as beef, pork, dairy, etc. as well as analysis of the markets for these products.  Animal production research reports such as the Livestock Market News, Agricultural Outlook Reports, agricultural statistics and the Census of Agriculture are access from this site.