A striking and famous feature of the English landscape, Dartmoor is a beautiful place, with a sense of wildness and mystery. This book provides a new perspective on an important aspect of Dartmoor's past. Its focus is transhumance: the seasonal transfer of grazing animals to different pastures. In the Middle Ages, intensive practical use was made of Dartmoor's resources. Its extensive moorlands provided summer pasture for thousands of cattle from the Devon lowlands, which flowed in a seasonal tide, up in the spring and down in the autumn. This book describes, for the first time, the social organisation and farming practices associated with this annual transfer of livestock. It also presents evidence for a previously unsuspected Anglo-Saxon pattern of transhumance in which lowland farmers spent the summers living with their cattle on the moor. Winner of the Devon Book of the Year Award 2013.

A striking and famous feature of the English landscape, Dartmoor is a beautiful place, with a sense of wildness and mystery. This book provides a new perspective on an important aspect of Dartmoor's past. Its focus is transhumance: the seasonal transfer of grazing animals to different pastures. In the Middle Ages, intensive practical use was made of Dartmoor's resources. Its extensive moorlands provided summer pasture for thousands of cattle from the Devon lowlands, which flowed in a seasonal tide, up in the spring and down in the autumn. This book describes, for the first time, the social organisation and farming practices associated with this annual transfer of livestock. It also presents evidence for a previously unsuspected Anglo-Saxon pattern of transhumance in which lowland farmers spent the summers living with their cattle on the moor. Winner of the Devon Book of the Year Award 2013.

Laboratory animals, including ferrets, play an important role in biomedical research and advances. The humane care and management of these animals remains an ongoing concern. Published in color to provide greater clarity to the techniques and concepts discussed, The Laboratory Ferret presents basic information and common procedures in detail to provide a quick reference for investigators, technicians, and caretakers in the laboratory setting. The book presents a greater understanding of the use of the ferret in research, such as in studies on influenza. It is a valuable, handy reference for experienced individuals and for those without extensive training in working with ferrets.

Modern commercial beekeeping has changed from primarily honey production to crop pollination. With this change has come extraordinary stress-colonies are moved multiple times a year, increasing their exposure to diseases, parasites, and hive pests. Antibiotics and acaricides are being applied more frequently, resulting in resistance and comb contamination. The future use of bee colonies as mobile pollinator populations requires modern management methods with fresh perspectives on nutrition, breeding practices, and the role of microbes in sustaining colony health. Honey Bee Colony Health: Challenges and Sustainable Solutions summarizes the current status of honey bees and possible reasons for their decline. This beautifully illustrated volume provides a foundation for management methods that maintain colony health. Integrating discussions of Colony Collapse Disorder, the chapters range from information on the new microsporidian Nosema ceranae pathogens, the current status of the parasitic bee mites, updates on bee viruses, and the effects of these problems on our important bee pollinators. This indispensable text also presents methods for diagnosing diseases and updated information on the current status of bee breeding. Honey bee colonies are in greater demand and are renting for higher fees than ever before. Finding ways to prevent outbreaks of disease and to control parasites is essential for reducing colony losses. The accumulation of knowledge from a range of bee scientists, Honey Bee Colony Health: Challenges and Sustainable Solutions aims to inspire future generations of researchers, beekeepers, and students to continue to study bees and keep them healthy and pollinating.

This book provides a concise and up to date review of current knowledge on the biological processes affecting animal welfare, and the implications emerging from our improved understanding of those biological principles in terms of options available to assess and manage the welfare status of individuals and populations. Biological principles are embedded within wider consideration of the ethical basis for our concern about animals and their welfare, in recognition of the fact that concern and responsibility for welfare is strongly affected by cultural and ethical norms. The Biology and Management of Animal Welfare covers several topics not addressed in other texts. Thus it pays attention to the difference between animal welfare and animal rights and distinguishes between welfare and evolutionary fitness (which often causes confusion). The thorny problem of necessary versus unnecessary suffering is considered; most legislation provides for the prevention of unnecessary suffering but never defines it. In addition a box feature explores how human psychological development can affect attitudes to animals and how psychological dysfunctions (in terms of attitudes to other humans) can often be detected in advance from attitudes to animals. The book also includes consideration of alternatives to animal experimentation with a chapter devoted to the 3 Rs (Refine, Reduce, Replace). Written by authors who work in the field and all regularly contribute to postgraduate courses in animal welfare, in veterinary faculties and elsewhere, the text is deliberately kept short and concise to emphasise the essential principles, but is comprehensively referenced throughout in order to guide the reader in their own wider background reading around the framework provided by this overview. The book includes a number of dedicated box features that offer more detailed illustration or worked examples for some of the topics addressed in the text, or to focus attention on additional special topics.

If it's fun, funky, jazzy and is to do with butter, it's in this book. From how to make butter at home, to where to use it, and if that raises your 'yeah, sure, I know about butter, pal' eyebrows, this book is going to surprise and delight you into next week. Split into four sections: * What you need to know * Making butter * Getting creative * Recipes Make Your Own Butter will * Whip you into a frenzy so you can't wait to start churning * Thrill and surprise with its sheer range of buttery creations like cocktails and beauty products * Enthral with QI style buttery facts * Equip you with a life skill to be passed on to others

A practical book for new beekeepers and those interested in keeping their own bees, explaining everything they need to know to get started. It also covers how to make your garden attractive for bees. Published to coincide with the biggest beginners' day for beekeeping which takes place in February each year.

Although biologists recognize evolutionary ecology by name, many only have a limited understanding of its conceptual roots and historical development. Conceptual Breakthroughs in Evolutionary Ecology fills that knowledge gap in a thought-provoking and readable format. Written by a world-renowned evolutionary ecologist, this book embodies a unique blend of expertise in combining theory and experiment, population genetics and ecology. Following an easily-accessible structure, this book encapsulates and chronologizes the history behind evolutionary ecology. It also focuses on the integration of age-structure and density-dependent selection into an understanding of life-history evolution.

Animal Agriculture: Sustainability, Challenges and Innovations discusses the land-based production of high-quality protein by livestock and poultry and how it plays an important role in improving human nutrition, growth and health. With exponential growth of the global population and marked rises in meat consumption per capita, demands for animal-source protein are expected to increase 72% between 2013 and 2050. This raises concerns about the sustainability and environmental impacts of animal agriculture. An attractive solution to meeting increasing needs for animal products and mitigating undesirable effects of agricultural practices is to enhance the efficiency of animal growth, reproduction, and lactation. Currently, there is no resource that offers specific knowledge of both animal science and technology, including biotechnology for the sustainability of animal agriculture for the expanding global demand of food in the face of diminishing resources. This book fills that gap, giving readers all the necessary information on important issues facing modern animal agriculture, namely its sustainability, challenges and innovative solutions.

"I love your ideas, but I only have a few acres. How do I do this at my scale?" Success with domestic livestock does not require large land bases. Joel Salatin and his family's Polyface Farm in Virginia lead the world in animal-friendly and ecologically authentic, commercial, pasture-based livestock production. In Polyface Micro he adapts the ideas and protocols to small holdings (including apartments)! Homesteaders can increase production, enjoy healthy animals, and create aesthetically and aromatically pleasant livestock systems. Whether you're a new or seasoned homesteader, you'll find tips and inspiration as Joel coaches you toward success and abundance.

This volume provides a current look at how development of intensive live stock production, particularly hogs, has affected human health with respect to zoonotic diseases primarily transmitted by food but also by water, air and oc cupational activity. While information presented focuses on the development of increasing livestock production in Canada, examples are given and compar isons are made with other countries (Denmark, Taiwan, the Netherlands and the United States) where the levels of livestock production are much more intense and where the industry is more mature. Canada is also searching for solutions to enable handling the growing volume of its livestock waste properly. Lessons learned from the experience of those who have gone before are invaluable and are drawn together in this volume to serve as useful guidance for others in plot ting the courses of action possible to avoid serious environmental setbacks and negative human health effects through foodborne illness. A significant portion of the text is devoted to a discussion of enteric illness in humans caused by zoonotic pathogens. The second chapter deals with sur vival of pathogens (which cause foodborne illness) in manure environments. An evaluation of the human health hazard likely to occur from the use of ma nure as fertilizer is important because of the recent trend toward an increase in foodborne illness from the consumption of minimally processed fruits and vegetables that may have been fertilized with animal-derived organic materials."

Prenatal life is the period of maximal development in animals, and it is well recognised that factors that alter development can have profound effects on the embryonic, fetal and postnatal animal. Scientists involved in research on livestock productivity have for decades studied postnatal consequences of fetal development on productivity. Recently, however, there has been a surge in interest in how to manage prenatal development to enhance livestock health and productivity. This has occurred largely due to the studies that show human health in later life can be influenced by events during prenatal life, and establishment of the Fetal Origins and the Thrifty Phenotype Hypotheses. This book, Managing the Prenatal Environment to Enhance Livestock Productivity reviews phenotypic consequences of prenatal development, and provides details of mechanisms that underpin these effects in ruminants, pigs and poultry. The chapters have been divided into three parts: Quantification of prenatal effects on postnatal productivity, mechanistic bases of postnatal consequences of prenatal development and regulators of fetal and neonatal nutrient supply.

Managing the Prenatal Environment to Enhance Livestock Productivity is a reference from which future research to improve the level of understanding and capacity to enhance productivity, health and efficiency of livestock in developing and developed countries will evolve. It is particularly timely given the development of molecular technologies that are providing new insight into regulation and consequences of growth and development of the embryo, fetus and neonate.

Catalytic Naphtha Reforming, Second Edition presents modern, crystal-clear explanations of every aspect of this critical process for generating high-octane reformate products for gasoline blending and production of benzene, toluene, and xylene (BTX) aromatics. The book details the chemistry of naphtha reforming, the preparation and characterization of catalysts, and the very latest commercial technologies and industrial applications. With more than 300 tables and figures, it addresses the development of new catalysts and revamp process improvements propelled by regulations on sulfur, benzene, and oxygenate content in gasoline and refinery pressure to maximize utilization of existing assets.

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is currently regarded as one of the world's worst animal plagues. But how did this label become attached to a curable disease that poses little threat to human health? And why, in the epidemic of 2001, did the government's control strategy still rely upon Victorian trade restrictions and mass slaughter? This groundbreaking and well-researched book shows that, for over a century, FMD has brought fear, tragedy and sorrow- damaging businesses and affecting international relations. Yet these effects were neither inevitable nor caused by FMD itself but were, rather, the product of the legislation used to control it, and in this sense FMD is a 'manufactured' plague rather than a natural one. A Manufactured Plague turns the spotlight on this process of manufacture, revealing a rich history beset by controversy, in which party politics, class relations, veterinary ambitions, agricultural practices, the priorities of farming and the meat trade, fears for national security and scientific progress all made FMD what it is today.