Ooh...I guess retirement from sport hasn't been kind to Jerry Rice.
Tough question. Dogs have been domesticated, they are used on farms and there are people that breed dogs for sale, but I think most people wouldn't consider them farm animals because they exist far more commonly outside the farm environment than in it. Horses are even tougher to classify. 100 years ago they were an integral part of many forms of agriculture, but since the invention of the tractor and the motorcycle, they have lost their utility to many farmers.
Didn't even think about the horses, that's a good point. I mean, where I live I still see them being used to round up cattle from time to time, but even then its been a long time since I've seen that.
Yeah, there are still places that use them, but back in the day, they were critical. My grandfather (who is 90+ and still kicking!) does talks at schools about life in the old days, amongst other things. One of the things he's said to the kids is about trying to motivate them about getting into the habit of learning. He tells them that it doesn't matter if they find the subject boring or think it's irrelevant - there's actually a reasonable chance that they are right and it will be irrelevant by the time they enter the workforce, but this means that they will have to learn something else, so they need to make it a habit. He uses farming as an example and says that horsemanship was critical in his father's day, and his dad was a good farmer because he was a good horseman. However, during my grandfather's working life, horsemanship became irrelevant thanks to mechanisation, and to be a good farmer it was important that you were a good mechanic. With manufacturing tolerances improving over time to what they are now, equipment doesn't break down as frequently, and being mechanically gifted is not so important, but being able to work with technology is. He talks about one of my cousins, who has a large farm. They analyse multi-spectral satellite imagery to identify plant stress (healthy vegetation strongly reflects near-infrared radiation - check out http://www.tetracam.com/Sample%20Imagery.htm if you're interested) so they can address water or nutrient deficiencies, and after programming in the paddock boundaries, the harvester/seeder is guided by a computer fitted with a GPS.
I remember visiting a friend's massive cattle station in the north-west of Western Australia when I was a kid, and the days of cowboys riding horses were well and truly over up there. They used modified four-wheel drive vehicles and helicopters to round up the cattle.
Ooh...I guess retirement from sport hasn't been kind to Jerry Rice.
Tough question. Dogs have been domesticated, they are used on farms and there are people that breed dogs for sale, but I think most people wouldn't consider them farm animals because they exist far more commonly outside the farm environment than in it. Horses are even tougher to classify. 100 years ago they were an integral part of many forms of agriculture, but since the invention of the tractor and the motorcycle, they have lost their utility to many farmers.
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Didn't even think about the horses, that's a good point. I mean, where I live I still see them being used to round up cattle from time to time, but even then its been a long time since I've seen that.
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Yeah, there are still places that use them, but back in the day, they were critical. My grandfather (who is 90+ and still kicking!) does talks at schools about life in the old days, amongst other things. One of the things he's said to the kids is about trying to motivate them about getting into the habit of learning. He tells them that it doesn't matter if they find the subject boring or think it's irrelevant - there's actually a reasonable chance that they are right and it will be irrelevant by the time they enter the workforce, but this means that they will have to learn something else, so they need to make it a habit. He uses farming as an example and says that horsemanship was critical in his father's day, and his dad was a good farmer because he was a good horseman. However, during my grandfather's working life, horsemanship became irrelevant thanks to mechanisation, and to be a good farmer it was important that you were a good mechanic. With manufacturing tolerances improving over time to what they are now, equipment doesn't break down as frequently, and being mechanically gifted is not so important, but being able to work with technology is. He talks about one of my cousins, who has a large farm. They analyse multi-spectral satellite imagery to identify plant stress (healthy vegetation strongly reflects near-infrared radiation - check out http://www.tetracam.com/Sample%20Imagery.htm if you're interested) so they can address water or nutrient deficiencies, and after programming in the paddock boundaries, the harvester/seeder is guided by a computer fitted with a GPS.
I remember visiting a friend's massive cattle station in the north-west of Western Australia when I was a kid, and the days of cowboys riding horses were well and truly over up there. They used modified four-wheel drive vehicles and helicopters to round up the cattle.
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