Animal Agriculture
This unit is a continuation to the previous one on plant agriculture. The focus this time is on how the industrialization of the food system has impacted how we raise livestock, including pigs, cattle, and chickens.
Animal Agriculture Powerpoint
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Purpose: This lecture begins some background on the breeding and domestication of cattle, pigs, and poultry from their wild ancestors. Students will learn the basic principles behind how these animals are raised, what they are fed, and any external drugs (hormones or antibiotics) that are administered. Comparisons will also be drawn to free-range, cage-free, and other alternative forms of raising animals for food.
Essential Concepts: Food and agriculture, animal agriculture, domestication, ruminants, pasture, factory farming, Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), dairy cattle, beef cattle, veal, finishing, pasteurization, growth hormones, antibiotics, Federal Humane Slaughter Act,cage free, free range, certified humane, organic.
Animal Agriculture Lecture Notes Outline
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Purpose: Taking efficient notes can be a big challenge for many students, especially when working from a Powerpoint lecture. This outline gives students a means to take notes that guides them toward important concepts and avoids the pitfalls of writing word-for-word or simply not taking notes at all. The outline is written as a series of questions, fill-in-the-blanks, or diagrams. This outline is based on the Powerpoint lecture written specifically for this unit.
Essential Concepts: Food and agriculture, animal agriculture, domestication, ruminants, pasture, factory farming, Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), dairy cattle, beef cattle, veal, finishing, pasteurization, growth hormones, antibiotics, Federal Humane Slaughter Act,cage free, free range, certified humane, organic.
Death on a Factory Farm Worksheet
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Purpose: Death on a Factory Farm is a 2009 HBO special where an undercover agent gets hired at an Ohio hog farm and videos practices that he believes are cruel and inhumane. Most of the footage centers around the methods of euthanasia provided at the farm. The worksheets include sections from the Ohio State statutes dealing with animal cruelty referenced during the trial.
Essential Concepts: Animal agriculture, euthanasia, animal cruelty.
Fresh Student Worksheet
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Purpose: This is a documentary about alternative methods of agriculture. Many different farmers and their operations are featured, including Joel Salatin's free range farm, Will Allen's urban farm, and David Ball's cooperative of local farmers. Fresh is a good counter to some of the other documentaries covering the industrialized food system, as it has a more positive, uplifting message of change.
Essential Concepts: Agriculture, factory farming, free-range agriculture, urban agriculture, organic agriculture.
Measuring Bacteria on Chicken Wings Lab
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Purpose: One method of measuring the level of bacterial contamination on a surface is by doing a count of colony forming units, or CFUs. This lab guides students through that process, using raw chicken wings as a testable surface.
Essential concepts: Bacterial contamination, colony-forming units, CFUs.
Journal Assignment - Types and Costs of Eggs
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Purpose: This is a short writing assignment where students visit their local grocery store and record the different types of eggs available (conventional, cage-free, etc) as well as their prices. They then reflect on the different prices of the eggs and whether the increased cost of the alternative forms are worth paying.
Essential concepts:Agriculture, eggs, cage-free, organic, free-range.
Animal Agriculture Study Guide
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Purpose: Once the instruction for the unit is completed, students can complete this study guide to aid in their preparation for a written test. The study guide is divided into two sections: vocabulary and short answer questions. The vocabulary is taken directly form the lecture, sequentially. The short answer questions are meant to model the type they may see on the exam.
Essential Concepts: Food and agriculture, animal agriculture, domestication, ruminants, pasture, factory farming, Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), dairy cattle, beef cattle, veal, finishing, pasteurization, growth hormones, antibiotics, Federal Humane Slaughter Act,cage free, free range, certified humane, organic.
