animal husbandry

noun

|Updated on: 14 May 2018

Definition of animal husbandry

: a branch of agriculture concerned with the production and care of domestic animals

See animal husbandry defined for English-language learners

Recent Examples of animal husbandry from the Web

Part of the farm's animal husbandry involves collecting the hair that's shed from musk ox undercoats each spring.

— bailey berg, Anchorage Daily News, "A primer on Alaska animals and where to see them (safely)," 2 May 2018
The switch from hunting and gathering and nomadism to settled agriculture and animal husbandry seems to have brought about a profound change in people’s treatment of animals.

— Longreads, "The Way We Treat Our Pets Is More Paleolithic Than Medieval," 22 Mar. 2018
She seemed taken with the two Americans who were completely ignorant of the difference between Texel and any other kind of sheep, and enjoyed explaining aspects of animal husbandry to us.

— ellen perlman, BostonGlobe.com, "Cheers to Dingle Peninsula, which doesn’t disappoint," 7 Mar. 2018
She is fascinated by the characteristics and variations that selective breeding and animal husbandry have produced in her chickens; her large-format prints are designed to render the birds faithfully in detail.

— milwaukee, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Weekly Reads from Art City (March 2)," 1 Mar. 2018
Winners were determined after a blind tasting of entries that met standards for environmentally sound agriculture practices, good animal husbandry, sourcing transparency and responsible relationships throughout the supply chain.

— AJC.com, "Eight Georgia food producers win 2018 Good Food Awards," 28 Jan. 2018
The monks operate an agriculture and animal husbandry school, and design and build koras, a type of West African harp that is played during a transcendent daily musical mass.

— alexandra marshall, WSJ, "The Senegalese Chef Sharing His Cuisine with the World," 4 Dec. 2017
But despite their shared interest in zoology and animal husbandry, the brothers’ paths diverged greatly as the Nazis rose to power.

— lorraine boissoneault, Smithsonian, "When the Nazis Tried to Bring Animals Back From Extinction," 31 Mar. 2017
The catteries at the temples of Bastet are our first efforts at raising cats in a manner of animal husbandry.

— martin mejia, National Geographic, "How Cats Clawed Their Way Into Our Hearts," 13 Nov. 2016

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'animal husbandry.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.