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The beginning

People first began to keep and look after animals thousands of years ago. They discovered this was the best way to get the meat, bones and skin they needed to survive. Farming was born!

Ever since, farmers have been breeding and taking care of animals that give them meat - such as cattle, chickens and pigs. They have also been getting milk from goats and cows, eggs from hens and wool from sheep.

These days farmers look after their animals to sell, as well as to provide food for themselves. Farming is often a big business, involving thousands of animals kept on huge areas of land.

As the world’s population increases, the demand also increases for meat and milk.

The way farms used to be

A hundred years ago, a small farm would have had a range of different animals that provided food for the family and the local neighbourhood.

The farmer would have had a farmyard with some outbuildings. One of these buildings would have housed a family of pigs. There would have been a stable for a horse that pulled the cart, and a shed in which to milk the cows. A collection of hens would have scratched in the yard during the day and slept in a little henhouse at night

In the surrounding fields there would probably have been cattle or sheep. They were fattened up on lush grass until it was time to bring them to be sold at the local market.

The farmer would have cut and stored hay at the end of summer to feed the animals in winter. A dog would have helped herd the sheep, and farm cats kept the mice and rats at bay.

Vegetables would have been grown, and maybe some crops such as wheat or barley.

Farmers were people who understood animals and the land and all the ways they needed to be managed throughout the year.

Farming today

These days there are fewer and fewer small farms.

Farmers often have to specialise in producing beef, chicken, milk or vegetables so that they can sell their produce to the big processors that supply supermarkets.

Dairy farmers manage hundreds of cows that are milked by machine, with hundreds of thousands of litres of milk flowing into tankers.

These tankers then head off to big dairies where the milk is prepared and packed, ready for the supermarket fridges.

Sustainable farming

Many farmers in Northern Ireland are trying to find new ways to manage animals and produce food that is more sustainable. This means they look after the animals and the land in a way that doesn’t damage the environment.

Many of the beef and dairy farms across the world are absolutely enormous compared to our farms here. The trouble is that they damage the environment. Dairy cows produce methane gas, a big contributor to the production of greenhouse gases which cause global warming.

Also, some beef producers in Brazil illegally cut down rainforests so that they can graze thousands of cattle where the trees used to be. But these trees are vital to the health of the planet.

Alternatives to meat and dairy

Many people are turning to alternatives to meat and dairy.

They believe that the production of these alternatives is less destructive to the environment.

You can see these products the supermarket aisles.

Farmers today have to be very adaptable.

They must respond to changes in attitudes to how we produce our food, and to the kinds of food people want to eat.

It’s a lot more complicated now than it was a hundred years ago!