In the Netherlands, and other developed countries, animals breeding, and especially farm animal breeding, has developed to a professional industry with modern technologies, large scale data collection, and analyses. This has resulted in very efficient and effective breeding programs, producing many thousands of genetically improved animals for different parts of the world. However, for this large scale animal breeding a big infrastructure is required, combined with high quality data collection, large computing capacity, and highly educated people to run the breeding program. This level of organisation is not available in all parts of the world (yet). Especially in developing countries the situation is similar to the way it was in Europe before the Industrial Revolution (that started around 1750). In those developing countries animals are kept for multiple purposes: to produce food, labour (traction power), warmth, for their hides and/or wool, their manure is used as fertiliser for the land and also as fuel for the fire, as savings account (sell an animal when needed), and to increase social status (more is better). The surplus of animals or animal products are sold on the market. Also in developing countries efforts are made to improve the productivity of the animals to increase the welfare of people of their, usually poor, owners. For us it is self-evident that animals of a certain breed are uniform in type and performance, that selective breeding usually is well organised and structured, and that the required infrastructure is present. In many developing countries this is not the case (yet). However, an increasing number of selective breeding programs has been developed in a large range of countries, and many are quite successful. The increasing level of education in those countries is an important factor in that success.
Developments that affect animal breeding
A lot happened in the twentieth century, with its influence on animal breeding. The industrial revolution changed society tremendously. People moved from the farms to the towns to work in the factories, so fewer farmers became available for food production. Increased production per farm was needed. Simultaneously, technical developments went fast. The train was introduced in the end of the 1800's, the car at the beginning of the 1900's, and the plane soon after that. The use of the tractor on farms became more common in the 1950's. Around WWII artificial insemination was introduced in cattle, so that a more offspring could be produced by a single father. With the introduction of storing semen in liquid nitrogen, the possibilities to extensively use a single father in a (very) large area became even bigger. Introduction of these technical developments had its impact on the use of animals. This was especially the case for oxen and horses. Where oxen and horses were the main source of labour to work on the land, the introduction of the tractor made those animals superfluous. Oxen were no longer retained, but slaughtered at younger age. Horses went through hard times, as there was not much use for them. In took until the 1960's for the sport horses to become popular. In the past, the sport was only performed by army officers and rich men. When horse riding became more popular among women, and especially when it became available for more than just the very rich, the number of horses increased again.
Food production important in many species
After WWII it was very clear that food production should have very high priority. The intention was that food of sufficient quality and quantity should be available to everyone at an affordable price. Therefore animals should become more productive. This could be achieved by selective breeding, but also by adjusting the management. Pigs en chickens were kept under controlled circumstances so that the feed they ate was of equal quality and feed intake could be assigned to production, and not to unnecessary things like keeping warm, or fighting infections. Consequently, animals were kept under very efficient and controlled circumstances, so confined and indoors. Farms specialised more into either (only a few types of) crops or animals. In those days it also became easier to transport large amounts of goods over long distances, especially over sea. In the Netherlands this meant it became possible to import large quantities of tropical crops like tapioca and soja. These relatively cheap products were used as replacement for (expensive) grains as raw material for production of concentrates. Where pigs used to be animals that were kept in combination with other types of farming because they could digest a lot of leftovers, the availability of these concentrates made it possible to start specialised pig farms. And the same story holds with respect to poultry farms. Because oxen were no longer needed, and growing them to slaughter weight was quite expensive, the calves that were not used for replacement in the dairy industry were becoming superfluous. Some farmers specialised in housing these calves and sell them at fairly young age and with that a new branch was born: growing veal calves.