[Peer Review]Animal Husbandry

[Sisas]

Article: Animal Husbandry

• Approval

Author(s): Sisas
Other development: Not at the moment
Additional Info:

Peer Review Thread: Here
Founder Review Thread: -

Synopsis: Animal husbandry is the interaction between sentient races and the animals they care for; animal husbandry is not generally applicable to wild or undomesticated animals. The animal husbandry skill covers such activities as breeding, raising, training, healing, and caring for animals.

Outline:

• Overview
  
  • It is rare for most people in Mizahar to go more than a day without coming into contact with some kind of animal. Whether it’s an animal a farmer keeps for fur, milk, or meat, or a cart pony a marketplace vendor uses to cart his goods around, animals are a vital part of life in Mizahar. Some races, such as the Drykas, depend more heavily on animals than others; for these, Animal Husbandry is almost a required skill. Others don’t acquire this skill until they become the owner of an animal themselves, be it a companion, a protector, or a hunting partner.
• Prerequisites/Related Skills
  
  • While there are no prerequisites required for the Animal Husbandry skill, there are a few related skills: Beekeeping, Birdkeeping, Falconry, Horsemanship, and Medicine.
• Application
  
  • Animal Husbandry is an important skill to have if your character has any kind of animal they regularly interact with; this skill will allow characters to better understand animals’ general body language and behavior, as well as allow them to become better trainers and caretakers of said animals. The higher the skill in Animal Husbandry, the more a trainer can teach, and the more loyalty they can inspire in those animals under their care. Animal Husbandry is not specific to one species of animal, allowing characters to be able to interact with and understand animals of all kinds. See Related Skills for specialized skills.
    
    • Care
      Animal Husbandry can also dictate the level of care that a character can give to the animals in their possession; a novice can give basic care(brushing, feeding, knowing when something is wrong with the animal that requires specialized care), and a master would only need to consult specialists for those cases they do not already have personal experience with.
      General care requires feed, an animal brush(suited to the owned animal’s species), shelter, and water. As more specialized care is able to be given, those with the Animal Husbandry skill will find themselves possibly needing the same equipment that those who work in specialized animal careers utilize.
      
      • Feed
        The amount of feed required for each species varies, and the price for feed can be found here. This can be a useful guideline for the amount of feed to be given to a dog over twenty-four hours(image source); Here is a guideline for the feed per day for a cat(Source). These are guidelines; individual animal’s activity and lifestyle will affect how much feed to be given. For example, a dog who works all day with his Drykas owner herding zibri will need more food. A dog who is a lap pet in Lhavit will need less. Cats who exceed the listed weight on the second image should refer to the first, adjusting accordingly to find the proper feed amount.
      • Water
        Water is essential to all life; it should be made readily available, though intake should be monitored. Excessive water intake may indicate a health problem.
      • Shelter
        All animals must be provided shelter to get away from the elements. The shelter should be large enough for them to move around in comfortably; a horse’s stall should have enough room that they can take two or three comfortable steps from the center in any direction, or be able to walk an easy circle. Dogs and cats usually share shelter with their masters, making their shelter requirements much easier to meet.
      • Care
        Care most often means the usual grooming, feeding, and medical attention, though can be expanded to include more agricultural-related tasks, such as monitoring and adjusting feed to fatten an animal for slaughter, or adding to the feed to help encourage better production of milk, or better coat condition for an animal that is kept for its fur.
    • Breeding
      Those with Animal Husbandry can also - once the skill is high enough - begin breeding animals. Masters in the skill can attempt to create new breeds of those animals they are most familiar with, though most focus on enhancing already existing breeds, purifying the family lines and attempting to breed even better animals. Breeding requires a male and a female of the same species - dog, cat, raptor, etc - as well as knowledge of the mating habits of the species(including mating rituals as well as heat and estrus cycles). Research into the animals’ family lines to determine risk of undesirable or unhealthy traits is recommended in order to produce the best and healthiest animals possible.
      Creating and perfecting a new breed is a lifelong commitment, and is not recommended for anyone below the level of Master both in Animal Husbandry and the skill related to the species the new breed will belong to(Horsemanship, Falconry, etc). Such an endeavor will require extensive roleplay and research.
      
      • Training
        Training methods will vary from species to species. When training is done properly, the animal should be as calm or calmer than it was when the session started; this indicates that you have managed to communicate efficiently to the animal in a way that it understands. Consistency is key; there is no way to communicate to an animal that it must do this behavior in all situations - except this one or that one. Your job as the trainer is to guide the animal into the behavior that you wish to train to be repeated upon command. You must reward for the same behavior every time, and keep any reprimands or corrections mild and to the point; once the correction is done, it is done. Timing is key in both rewarding and punishing; the animal will have no way of knowing that you punished them for the wrong behavior they displayed five minutes ago. When training, the trainer must keep in mind that they must learn to speak and act as the other animal’s species would, to the best of their ability; the trainer becomes part of the herd/flock/pack, and should act as such.
  • Jobs/Specializations
    
    • Veterinarian: From the Price List: Animals are an essential part of life and living in Mizahar. Horses, livestock, pets, all require health maintenance and it is the local veterinarian who helps. Although medicine and herbalism skills are extremely helpful, the primary skill of any vet is Animal Husbandry. It is this skill that is required above all others in order to gain access to this occupation.
      
      • Required Skills: There are no other required skills for this occupation; specialized skills, such as Horsemanship or Falconry, may prove useful.
    • Beekeeper: From the Price List: Beekeepers are somewhat rare outside of larger cities where demand for honey is greater. They tend to a number of hives and help maintain the health of their hives while harvesting as much sweet honey as they can.
      
      • Required Skills: Beekeeping
    • Falconer: From the Price List: Those who train hawks, falcons and other large raptors are known as falconers. Such individuals train these birds to hunt, entertain and even protect. These individuals are often found employed by those with a specific taste for the unique.
      
      • Required Skills: Falconry
    • Animal Handler: From the Price List: Those who make a living handling animals (both wild and domestic) are found throughout Mizahar. Most individuals who operate businesses that deal in the sale of various types of animals require those involved to have some ability to handle said animals. This occupation covers the care and/or sale of animals otherwise not listed in other occupations.
      
      • May also assist those working as a veterinarian, so long as they are not actively using a healing skill.
      • Required Skills: No other required skills
    • Groom: From the Price List: Not to be confused with a Groomer, the Groom is one who tends a stable and cares for horses. While there isn't a skill requirement for this occupation, Animal Husbandry is needed to advance in wages.
      
      • Required Skills: No other required skills, though Horsemanship may prove helpful.
  • Learning Animal Husbandry
    
    • Animal Husbandry is relatively easy to learn; all one must do is interact with animals in a detailed way, observing things about the animals. Caution is advised at lower levels unless interacting with a fully-trained and well-behaved animal. More detailed interactions will, of course, earn more experience points. As the skill progresses, characters are able to teach more complex commands, and can reasonably expect more obedience from animals that they work frequently with.
  • Skill Progression
  • Novice(1-25)
    
    • At the novice level, one may attempt to teach an animal the three basic commands(sit, stay, heel), as well as one command specialized to the breed’s purpose, such as teaching a hunting partner to retrieve a downed prey animal. Success is not guaranteed, and the animal will only become proficient at one trained command, unless purchased already knowing the commands. One must keep in mind, at this level, that commands are around 40-60 in terms of success; chance of success at performing a requested command may be increased with bribes in the form of an animal’s favored treat, though it is not guaranteed. In general, felines and birds will be more reluctant to perform commands, while canines are usually more eager to impress their handlers.
      Purchased fully-trained animals will obey commands 75% of the time.
      
    • Only basic care can be given to any animal, unless the specialized skill related to the animal in question is higher than Novice. Basic care covers feeding, watering, and simple grooming. Novices may also be able to recognize unusual behavior in an animal they are extremely familiar with that could be an indicator of an underlying medical issue.
    • Breeding is not recommended at this level; if attempted, will most likely result in average offspring, with a high possibility of at least one of the offspring carrying an undesirable trait or possessing at least one health issue.
  • Competent(26-50)
    
    • At the competent level, one may teach three more commands to an animal; the three basic commands now have 75-25 odds of being obeyed without question. One more specialized command may be taught, and the first taught command follows the same odds as the basic commands. At this level, encounters with wild animals(mainly omnivores and predators, as prey will generally run at the first sign of danger) may be successfully walked away from approximately 35% of the time.
      Purchased fully-trained animals will obey known commands 85% of the time.
    • At this level, one may begin to administer basic first aid to an animal(salve or poultice to a wound with minimal bandaging), as well as knowing more reliably when there is a medical issue behind any unusual behavior.
    • Breeding, if attempted at the Competent level, will result in purely average offspring, with a lower chance of undesirable traits or hidden health issues than if breeding were attempted at the Novice level. This risk can be reduced further by IC research of the prospective dam and sire’s bloodlines.
  • Expert(51-75)
    
    • Once the level of ‘Expert’ has been obtained, an animal may learn a further three commands; the basic commands and the first specialized command will be obeyed 85% of the time. The second specialized command will be obeyed 75% of the time, and if possible depending on breed, one more specialized command may be taught. Wild animal encounters may be successfully walked away from 50% of the time.
      Purchased fully-trained animals will obey known commands 95% of the time.
    • Care now expands to include more advanced first aid; the owner of the animal may now bandage wounds and administer common medicines, such as general pain relief or fever reducers. Specialist care is recommended for anything requiring more specific treatment.
    • Breeding will now begin to result in the occasional above-average offspring; the risk of undesirable traits and hidden health issues is minimized further, and with proper research and precautions, only around one in six offspring will have an undesirable trait, and one in eight will have a health issue.
  • Master(76-100)
    
    • A true master of the Animal Husbandry skill is a friend to all domesticated animals, and rarely - unless attacking - seen as a threat by wild animals. Masters may teach as many commands as the animal is capable of learning, although specialized commands will only be learned by the breed that is capable of performing the specified action, with the expectation of full obedience if the handler frequently interacts with and/or personally trained the animal. Animals personally unfamiliar with the handler will obey commands they know almost 80% of the time, and will respond instantly to a handler who carries themselves with confidence.
      Masters in Animal Husbandry will successfully walk away from wild animal encounters 75% of the time.
      Purchased fully-trained animals will always obey known commands.
    • Masters can administer care of any level short of specialized; their first aid is always successful in stabilizing any injury or illness that is not immediately fatal, allowing for more time for a veterinarian to arrive and provide the needed medical care. A master in Animal Husbandry can identify unusual behavior in any animal, familiar to them or not, and if the animal is familiar, will often be able to pinpoint the exact cause.
    • Masters can now attempt to create new breeds of animals from already-existing breeds, and the risk of undesirable traits and/or health problems has been fully minimized. Only one in ten animals will show an undesirable trait, and one in twenty will have a health issue.

[Vellichor]

Seems to me that this is a good start.

I suggest adding medicine as a related skills, as it can be useful when treating/caring for animals.
Novice level sounds overpowered to be honest, this is the level where the practitioner should be learning about the behavior of animals and how to comminicate/care for them. They can of course try to teach them commands, but shouldn't expect much results. If the animals are previously trained, that's a different matter.

You mentioned a lot about training, however, I'd like to see the article expand into breeding and care. I know there are a lot of animals to cover, so this can be a generalization. What do these activities entail? What should one provide for animals? What are some tools needed?

[Sisas]

I suggest adding medicine as a related skills, as it can be useful when treating/caring for animals.

Added!

Novice level sounds overpowered to be honest, this is the level where the practitioner should be learning about the behavior of animals and how to comminicate/care for them. They can of course try to teach them commands, but shouldn't expect much results. If the animals are previously trained, that's a different matter.

That is a good point; I've adjusted the Novice description to something that is perhaps more reasonable. I was basing the original description off of personal experience with both myself and friends, but we have all been around animals practically our whole lives, so perhaps we could be considered more of a 'Competent' level than a 'Novice' level

You mentioned a lot about training, however, I'd like to see the article expand into breeding and care. I know there are a lot of animals to cover, so this can be a generalization. What do these activities entail? What should one provide for animals? What are some tools needed?

I have added sections for both breeding and care both under the Application and the Skill Progression sections.

Thank you for the comments; if you see anything else, please let me know! I want to make this as detailed an article as I can.

[Efforvescent]

Coming from someone who has taken care of a small hobby farm, this article makes me sad.

Bee keeping is not related to animal husbandry. Not in the slightest.

Do not confuse falconry with animal husbandry. Taking care of an aviary or an apiary vs a farm are entirely different skill sets.

YOU CAN NOT DOMESTICATE WILD ANIMALS

Wild animals do not become domesticated till after centuries of being kept and the wildness being ‘bred’ out of them. Even then, the instinct to revert back to wild is strong. Wild animals are not Pets. Period.

The part about Care is way too broad and makes no sense. Animal husbandry is defined as a branch of agriculture that deals in the care and production of domesticated animals. That should be your focus.

What does care of an animal mean? Is this a butchering animal for meat and leather? Or is this an animal being raised for sale? Is the animal being trained?

Are you being consulted for a behavioral problem (master level obviously) to assist in training this out of an animal.

Feed? Correcting nutritional issues so you get better wool of fatten up an animal for slaughter.

Animal husbandry isn’t just about lovie dovie with your pet.
This part

General care requires feed, an animal brush(similar to a brush that most races would use on their own hair), shelter, and water.

Animal brushes are NOT similar to human brushes. You cant use a horse brush on a dog. A brush for a cat (usually cats don’t need this but long haired cats do need to be brushed to avoid hairballs) is different from a dog brush.
You didn’t go into feed at all or shelter or water. And yes there is details to water.

The thing is you go straight into master and don’t explain anything about the progression of knowledge. None.

Same with breeding. You fail to even bring up the various estrus and heat cycles. You can’t gloss this over at all. The person would need to learn something for instance what coat combinations would produce which coat color. That is just one small example.

You never once touched on training. which is a whole other section that this article should have.

The article is not even close to the article it should be and is lacking in a great deal of information it should have and im not going through all of it. This needs to be completely redone.

[Sisas]

Firstly, I would like to thank you for the review; I am doing my best to make this article the best that it can be, and I appreciate constructive criticism.

Now, allow me to break your post down, Efforvescent.

First, the points you brought up:

• Falconry and Beekeeping not being related to Animal Husbandry
  
  -Animal Husbandry is defined as "a branch of agriculture concerned with the production and care of domestic animals."(Source) Mizahar has expanded this to include all general interactions with animals. As Falconry and Beekeeping are the breeding and care of raptors and bees(though 'breeding' does not apply so much to the latter), they are indeed related skills. Which is where they are listed, under the 'Prerequisites and Related Skills' section of the article.
• Cannot domesticate wild animals
  
  -I have changed 'domesticate' in the Master section of skill progression to 'tame', and adjusted the description under the Overview as well. However, I would like to point out that there are numerous articles of people with experience with these animals and who have been working closely with animals for their whole lives making friends with wild animals and even owning them as pets; personally, my family is friends with a woman who owns two bobcats who live in her house, are trained to walk on the leash with harnesses, and are essentially pets. Terri Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter's wife, once owned a cougar as a pet - and not, as often happens, as an animal that was kept in a cage and barely interacted with; this was an animal that was truly a companion, regularly interacted with in a meaningful way. There are numerous cases of animals who were brought into wildlife shelters as newborns and were never able to be released into the wild because they - though they were born as wild animals - became domesticated and too used to human contact. And what about those trainers who work with bears, lions, tigers, and wolves in movies? Those are wild animals who have been domesticated, but they are in the care of people who understand them and that they are still wild animals, even if they were born in captivity.
• 'Care' being too broad
  
  -I have added a section labeled 'care' to the article; however, this is a general skill, and thus a general article. It does not need to get into the specifics of every species in Mizahar.
• Feed, water, shelter needing clarification
  
  -I have added subsections for each of these, and provided additional information. Again, however, this is a general article.
• Erroneous description of animal brush
  
  -There is no listing in the Price List that I was able to find for an animal brush of any kind; however, I have changed the description in parentheses that you quoted.
• Glossing over breeding, no description of genetics
  
  -Once again, this is a general article; information regarding the heat and estrus cycles of specific species would be found under their related skills. Genetics, however, would be its own skill, and would then be a related skill to Animal Husbandry, which covers breeding for good animals, not necessarily animals with specific coats. Mizahar on the whole, however, does not have much to do with genetics, except for the Eypharian race, as I understand it.
• No section on training
  
  -I have added a section on training, with general tips; specifics would, again, be found under the specific related skill.

Now, I have addressed the points that you brought up, after sifting through the condescension that they were cloaked in. While reading your review, I got the distinct feeling of being spoken down to by someone who knows roughly the same amount as I do, if perhaps in a different area of expertise. As someone who also lives on a hobby farm, and who lives in an area full of commercial farms, your response makes me sad. I have grown up with horses, dogs, and cats, and have gone to school for over twelve years with people who grew up with cattle, both dairy and beef. I have been friends with people who worked closely with the local wildlife shelter, and worked under a woman who is one of the only approved breeders of the Knabstrupper horse in the United States. I have been curious and asked questions in the past about a variety of topics concerning various aspects of real-life animal husbandry, and have used that knowledge to influence the writing of this article.

I was raised by a horseback riding instructor and horse trainer; I have been working with animals my entire life, and drew upon personal experience when listing skill progression and other aspects of this article. I know that I am not an expert, but I have utilized the resources available to me to help fill in the blanks in my own knowledge as best I can; I welcome constructive criticism on this article, and your review was much more 'criticisim' than 'constructive'; it was reminiscent of reading an amateur review of a novel or movie. As a user of this site who wants only to help contribute to it, I am disappointed in the attitude you, as a storyteller, displayed in your post; had I been someone with much less self-confidence, your review very well might have put me off of working on this article. Period.

Your last comment - "The article is not even close to the article it should be and is lacking in a great deal of information it should have and im not going through all of it. This needs to be completely redone." That is not constructive in the least; it is condescending at best. There was nothing in the article that needed to be completely redone; some things needed to be tweaked, I will give you that, but the article itself had a solid foundation. The bit about 'not going through all of it' seems a bit odd, considering you had something to say about almost every section of the article, and reviews are supposed to be going through at least the generalities of what you see wrong with the article and pointing them out to the author.

Thank you for your consideration of my article.

[Gossamer]

We do not allow wild animals to be pets on Miz with the sole exception of ravens, crows, and raptors to those with falconry skills.

That being said, articles that stem defensiveness or harsh wording in responses to reviews and suggestions generally get shut down. This is not a place for emotion. By submitting an article for review you are asking for critique. You cannot infer tone or meaning accurately from text as it does not convey well. If this continues ill shut down this article. Respond politely. Make corrections or not.

The WDF deserves nothing less.

[Amunet]

Ask yourself this question:

Can an average rper who has no experience real life in animal husbandry, take this article and rp taking care of any domesticated animal, rp it with sufficient detail and display the competency as prescribed?


In my mind, it does not.

This article is missing so much. This is a chance to go granular with the data.

[Sisas]

Thank you for pointing out the bit about wild animals, Gossamer; I have adjusted the article accordingly.

Ask yourself this question:

Can an average rper who has no experience real life in animal husbandry, take this article and rp taking care of any domesticated animal, rp it with sufficient detail and display the competency as prescribed?


In my mind, it does not.

This article is missing so much. This is a chance to go granular with the data.

Thank you for the clarification on your first post. Could you please clarify what you mean by the last sentence? I'm not certain that I get your meaning, and I would like to be sure that there are no further misunderstandings in the review process for this article.

[Efforvescent]

life cycle of animals. and you have to be granular between ruminants, equines, bovines, canine, feline, porcine, rodents (rabbits are in the rodent family) and fowl/water fowl.

Rumnants for example. you have mainly cows, goats and zibri. (zibri is mizahar animal) they all have care needs. some are similar some are vastly different. the care changes from young to senior. care changes depending on what your doing with the animal or expect out of them.

This includes marine animals as the water races deal with domesticated sea horses dolphins and other marine animals that become companions.

Thats another topic: companioned animals like the drykas with their strider. The Inarta with their great eagle and the svefra with marine animals. there is a different level of care there.

training needs even as simple as to get them from chewing on the fence or responding to herding cues to more complex training of tricks and complex behaviors.

i would also advise the font and box code is a little hard to read. that is my opinion only though. the above is the tip of the iceberg in what this article needs.

[Shimoje]

Any update on this?