Animal Science I: Introduction to Animal Science

1. Animal Science I:Introduction to Animal Science Economic Importance

2. Economic Importance NCDA Stats • Income from livestock, poultry, and their products is about twice that from all crops in North Carolina.

3. Broilers • $1.5 billion per year • Hogs • $1 billion per year • Turkeys • $ ½ billion per year • North Carolina is near the top nationally in production of hogs, turkeys, and broilers.

4. North Carolina Importance • http://www.ncagr.gov/stats/crops/Ranking.pdf

5. Wayne County Importance • http://www.ncagr.gov/stats/codata/wayne.pdf

6. NC Ag Changes 1860-2007 • http://www.learnnc.org/lp/mapliner.php?id=ncaghist

7. NC Hogs • Hogs & pigs have historically been an important part of North Carolina agriculture. The industry has changed dramatically since the 1980's from the small farm raising a few hogs to large confinement type operations. • North Carolina leads the country in this structural shift towards larger size farms, and the coordination between producers and processors.

8. In 1986, the state had 15,000 hog farms. • 13,000 had less than 100 hogs and pigs, and only 800 operations had more than 500 hogs and pigs. Total hog inventory was 2.4 million head. • By 2000, the total operations with hogs and pigs had decreased to 3,600. • Operations that had less than 100 head controlled less than 1 percent of the total inventory of 9.6 million head. • The 1,500 operations with more than 1,000 hogs controlled nearly 99 percent of the inventory, nearly 9.5 million of the June 1, 2000 total inventory.

9. Cattle • North Carolina's number of cattle & calves on farms has remained relatively stable throughout time. • The northern mountain and northern piedmont counties have traditionally raised the most cattle and remains the leading cattle producing area of the state.

10. Milk cow inventory and milk production have continued to decline in the State. • Milk production reached a record high in 1985 with 1.748 billion pounds produced. • The number of milk cows on farms was a record high 384,000 head in 1944

11. Poultry • With the ever increasing demand for chicken, thebroiler industry continues to expand. • Unlike other commodities, broiler production in North Carolina is increasing throughout the state. • Production can be found in the mountain, piedmont and coastal regions of the state. 

13. North Carolina remains a leading state in the production of turkeys. • Turkey production continues to be concentrated in the southern piedmont and coastal regions of the State.  

15. The state ranking for table eggproduction has fluctuated over the past 20 years. • Changes in transportation costs have had significant impact on the location of egg production units. • These changes can be traced to the early 1970's when the Southeast had strong growth. Now egg production is found mainly in central part of the State

18. Trends • Swine farms are getting fewer and larger. • Health concerns have caused an increase in the consumption of poultry. • Most poultry farms are contract growers. • Most swine farmers grow on contract.

19. Cash Receipts • http://www.ncagr.gov/stats/economic/IncomePercent.pdf • http://www.ncagr.gov/stats/economic/TopTen.pdf • http://www.ncagr.gov/stats/economic/CashReceiptSource.pdf

21. Ag Census • http://www.agcensus.usda.gov/Publications/2007/Online_Highlights/County_Profiles/North_Carolina/cp99037.pdf

22. A Major Change in NC Agriculture • Hurricane Floyd • http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-recent/6247