Honeybees, fur- & companion animals
Honeybees
The production of honey is one benefit from honeybees. Another important benefit is the pollination of plants. The 25 geographical honeybee races arose from natural selection. Natural honeybee populations are strongly affected by the transport of non-native races. Breeding honeybees for resistance to parasites is becoming increasingly important. Fur animals
The focus of breeding fur animals is on mink and foxes. This is mainly concentrated in Nothern Europe, in national organised schemes. In non-European countries, e.g. China, the production costs lay much lower. Rabbits
The common breeding policy in rabbits is cross-breeding. This is done with specialised dam and sire lines. Traits where rabbits are selected on are litter size, milk production in dam lines, and meat % in sire lines. Farmed rabbits are genetically not far removed from rabbits in the wild. Their needs and their susceptibility to disease are very similar. Dogs
Europe plays an important role globally in training of working dogs, such as for police, army or customs. Besides dogs are used as companion animals. The breeding of companion animals is done by private people, largely non-commercial. Working dogs are mainly a relatively new field of breeding. |