Think Different about Farms!

                                                                                                                                            

                Role: Heifer International volunteer
                Audience: General public
                Format: Website 
                Topic: Preventing lack of livestock worldwide                                                                          
                                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                            Kathryn Brees
                                                                                                                                            Period 5

                                                                                                                                            April 29, 2012

                                                               

            When most people think of farms, they usually picture a family or a farmer next to his wife. Then, they picture a big red barn on a green, grassy, hill. After that, happy smiling Cows, Sheep, Horses, and Chickens just looking confused as ever right behind the farmer and his wife. However, their illusions are wrong. People that picture farms to be this way do not know how they really are.

            This research paper contains the combined who’s, the what’s, the when’s, the where’s, the why’s, the how’s, and the possible solutions to this problem. The five W’s and the solutions are not in that exact order, but you will find them somewhere in this paper. Do you know exactly what would happen if this problem wasn’t being paid attention to like it is today? If this problem weren’t given special attention, then this problem would lead to even bigger problems, for example, world hunger. If we can stop this, then we can perhaps stop even bigger complications from coming our way as fast as the asteroid that hit the dinosaurs.

            What exactly is the problem? If you are one of those people that picture farms almost or exactly like the example mentioned in the first paragraph, than I want you to think opposite. Take away all the luxuries of the red barn. You can even take away the Cows, the Sheep, the Horses, and the Chickens if you have to, because that is the research topic of this paper. This problem would be known as a Lack of Livestock, livestock meaning farm animals, lack of meaning very little of or perhaps none. The problem is that there are farm families that have a lack of farm animals on their farm, and this needs to be fixed.

            Where is this happening? This problem is happening worldwide, even in places that you would least expect. According to the organization Mennonite Central Committee, or MCC, continents and regions that are especially suffering from this problem are Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. According to earthtrends.org, the world’s top three poorest countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, and Liberia. These three countries are especially not doing well in their cattle units, in which on the website was done by the thousands. When the statistics were collected in 2006, the Democratic Republic of the Congo possessed 737 cattle, Burundi comprised of 396, and Liberia had a stunning 36.

            Why does this topic occur? The top three reasons on why this topic occurs are usually severe weather, economical meltdowns, and greediness. Severe weather is the usual case. Severe weather can be droughts, blizzards, and natural disasters. Any of these types of weather conditions can kill the livestock’s food. What is worse is that perhaps the livestock may not be able to tolerate intense weather conditions.

            When can or does this topic occur? This topic can occur for two reasons. A usual case is, again, severe weather conditions, which was recently gone over. The University of Missouri extension fortunately reviewed a case in which most might have never even heard of: hot weather livestock stress. According to the extension, “hot weather stress is particularly hazardous to closely confined livestock (those in feed lots, sorting and holding pens, trucks and rail cars). High relative humidity when the temperature is at 80 or more adds to the likelihood of profit-stealing losses if necessary precautions aren’t taken.” What the article is saying in simpler terms is that hot weather stress is, perhaps more harmful in small spaces and if the farmer of whomever is in charge of the livestock does not know of how hot weather stress can really affect their livestock, than chances are that whomever is responsible for their livestock will probably lose their livestock, and their profit as well.

            Why is this topic a problem? This topic is a problem because this topic not only impacts a family without livestock, but it may affect the rest of the civilization around them. Most civilization distant from other civilizations could possibly have a more difficult time obtaining necessary supplies to carry on in life than civilizations that live closer to other civilizations. Civilizations living farther from other civilizations may also have a hard time contacting other civilization whenever there is an emergency. A very worst case scenario could be a five-month drought arriving to village one, village one noticing the problem they are bonded in and knowing that “the vine of distress” may get tighter, village one contacts village two. However, village two cannot help village one, for village two already has problems of its own. Without the help from village two, village one is in chaos. The drought has arrived. The drought has first parched the plants, which then famishes the cattle, which then starves the majority of village one.

            What are some solutions to this topic? Organizations like MCC, World Vision, and Heifer International are offering and encouraging people worldwide to buy livestock like Chickens, Cows (also known as Heifers), Goats, and even Bees and Trees to the poor and needy worldwide. As MCC reads on their official website, “this can give hope to a village and it can change lives forever. Not only does this provide an animal, but it provides a family with more money and more food on the table.” Another possible solution to this topic is very simple yet very unexpected. According to a PowerPoint created by a biology group known as biology 561, “80% of the Earth is covered in salt and very few plants are able to tolerate saline conditions without serious damage. A plant known as the Halophytic Plant is one of those very few plants that can survive certain conditions like droughts.” This plant has been known to save livestock when it was planted for that reason.

            Now that you have read my research paper, will you now picture farms differently? Perhaps instead of just giving food to a family in need, you will perhaps, give a family some Bees or a Tree. If this problems keeps being ignored or unknown to the public, then as said before, this problem will lead to even bigger problems, like world hunger and child labor. According to Heifer International, when Founder Dan West was delivering rations of milk to children during the Spanish Civil War, an idea hit him and in his own words he said: “These children don’t need a cup, they need a Cow.”

Works Cited

"Agriculture and Food-Livestock: Cattle Stock Units: Thousand Head." Earth Trends. Earth Trends, 18 Apr. 2012. Web. 18 Apr. 2012. <http://earthtrends.wri.org/text/agriculture-food/variable-338.html>.

I also used this website to look up statistics of livestock. This website was highly organized with its units by the thousands. This website is credible because it is an organization, ending in .org.

"BECOME A FRIEND OF HEIFER." Blog. Heifer. Heifer International. Web. 13 Apr. 2012. <http://www.heifer.org>.

This website provides information about how giving livestock to the poor and needy can give more than just an animal. Most valuable source of information is the page on the founder, Dan West. This website is credible because it has stories from victims worldwide and it is an organization (.org).

"Building a Better World for Children." Building a Better World for Children. World Vision. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. <http://www.worldvision.org/>.

Just like Heifer International, World Vision is also another another organization that gives out livestock to the poor and needy. However, unlike Heifer, World Vision also does other charity projects as well. This website is also credible because World Vision is another organization with .org in its URL.

"Garden Harvest Milk and Egg Distibution Program." Garden Harvest. Garden Harvest. Web. 17 Apr. 2012. <http://www.gardenharvest.org/milkeggsprogram0704.htm>.

Garden Harvest is yet another organization that gives to the poor and needy. They mainly focus on food and livestock, which is perhaps why the website's title is Garden Harvest. This website is credible because yet, it is another organization, and it's credible to believe that this is an organization because the URL contains .org

Gihad, E.A., and H.M. El. Utilization of Halophytes Be Livestock on Rangelands Problems and Prospects. Springer Link. Springer Link, 1994. Web. 17 Apr. 2012. <http://www.springerlink.com/content/u6225n13240183xt/>.

This is my scholarly article. This article was a big help because it helped me learn more about Halophytic plants. The most valuable source of information was how Halophytic plants could benefit livestock.

"Giving Projects." Mcc.org. Mennonite Central Committee. Web. 17 Apr. 2012. <https:donate.mcc.org/project/give-livestock>.

Mennonite Central Committee is also another organization that gives Livestock to the poor and needy. The most valuable peice of resource that I found from this website is the ammount of countries having this problem. This website is credible because like Heifer, it is an organization, ending in .org

"Halophytic Plants." Halophytic Plants. Biology 561 Barrier Island Ecology. Web. 19 Apr. 2012. <http://people.uncw.edu/hosier/BIE/bieclschd/present/halophyticplants.ppt>.

I used this website to research more about Halophytic Plants. As you can see, this is a powerpoint, created by a biology group. I believe this website to be credible because at the end of the powerpoint, the biology group added a biography. The URL also contains .edu, meaning that the biology group is most likely to be educational or from a college.

Mcgurran, Deborah. "Plea for Water as Rain Shortage Takes a Toll on East's Farmers." Newsgroup. BBC News. BBC, 17 May 2011. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-13423248>.

I used Deborah Mcgurran's article as a back-up story to let me know more information about Lack of Livestock. the most valuable peice of information is that I never knew that their would be livestock problems in England, which is very unexpected. Obviously, anything from BBC is credible and this is a co.uk website.

"Our History." Our History. Heifer. Web. 19 Apr. 2012. <http://www.heifer.org/inside/our-history>.

I used this page from the organization of Heifer to find out more about how the founder of Heifer, Dan West, came up with the organization. Again this website is credible because it is an organization, ending in .org.

"Poorest Countries in the World." Aneki. Aneki. Web. 18 Apr. 2012. <http://www.aneki.com/poorest.html>.

I used this website to veiw statistics of the ammount of livestock in the top three world's poorest countries. This website contained a gigantic chart and contained a lot of information.

Whittier, Jack C. "Hot Weather Livestock Stress." University of Missouri Extension. University of Missouri Extension, Oct. 1993. Web. 14 Apr. 2012. <http://extension.missouri.edu/plG2o99>.

I obviosly used this website to research hot weather livestock stress. I believe this website to be credible because it is a website belonging to a university.