Agriculture and food production was significant milestone in the evolution of modern civilization. The capacity to expand the essentials of life relieved humans of the necessity to scrounge and survive a nomadic existence. Just about everything we need for our survival has now developed intensively for our expedience.
Like every other aspect of civilization, agriculture has grown far beyond—ranches house more than just cows, lambs, and ponies in the present era. And, of course, chickens, pigs, buffalos, and other domesticated animals belong to a farm, but what about the snakes and moose?
The 10 unique animal farms below are a quick glimpse of the long list of non-traditional farm animals.
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1. Spider Goats Farm
| Farm Name | Spider Goats Farm |
| Locality | Utah, United States |
| Owner | University of Utah |
Scientists invented the spider-goat as a mutant species. Synthetic biologists across the globe have been chemically developing spider goats for nearly ten years now. The spider-goats are normal goats, except their genetics have been altered to include a golden orb spider genome.
The genes that contribute to the production of milk in goats have indeed been altered to create spider silk proteins. Spider silk is high in strength and can be utilized in various items, such as body armor, parachutes, and fishing gear.
If you want to see these web-slinging goats in person, the University of Utah offers frequent excursions.
2. Myotonic Goats Farm
| Farm Name | Openherd: Webber’s Grove Myotonic Farm |
| Locality | Manor, Texas |
| Owner | Eve & John Williams |
Most of us are already discreetly acquainted with the Myotonic or “lightheaded” goat, kudos to YouTube content creators! As a matter of fact, we are charmed by these goats, aren’t we?
When scared, these goats have a peculiar pathway in their system that causes all the muscle fibers to stop functioning for about ten seconds, potentially causing them to tumble amusingly. This humorous oddity is pretty much why they are reared presently merely for our entertainment.
However, they were initially grown with much more violent intent. When farmers had sizable swarms of cattle in fields and an offender approached, the fainting goats would become terrified and crumble, indicating that they were especially susceptible to the predator so that the entirety of the swarm might flee.
Having used these wee creatures as bait is terrible, and it is nice that today they are only preferred as a means of entertainment and comedy.
3. Wasp Farm
| Farm Name | Wasp Farm |
| Locality | S. Jersey |
| Owner | John Maccherone |
Biological control is a type of pest management technique in which bugs are used to attack other pests so that you might continue living a life free of unpleasant critters.
Pest extermination comes in many different forms, and all of them necessitate bug farms to cultivate and raise insects that devour others, such as the teeny wasps sold by Biocontrol Network to battle fly outbreaks.
Simply place these tiny wasps in spots where you suspect fly eggs or hatching, and they will kill the babies by laying their eggs on top of them. Wasps aren’t pests, and they will eliminate the flies before they can reproduce.
4. Moose Milk Farm
| Farm Name | Kostroma Moose Farm |
| Locality | Kostroma Oblast, Russia |
| Owner | Kostroma Agricultural Research Institute |
Moose milk is a truly unique product. It has a higher concentration of vital amino acids than regular milk. It constitutes double the fat content and has a pine-like aroma. However, the issue is that moose are large, hefty, and unpredictable.
Elk milk is commonly utilized to cure various ailments at the Ivan Susanin sanatorium in Russia. The milking moose are not confined to the ranch; instead, they roam the forest until they conceive a calf and rejoin the farm.
The ranchers then take on the potentially dangerous process of milking the elk. They have wireless sensors on their elk to guarantee that they do not escape and migrate to a different location.
Considering its alleged therapeutic properties, the farmer does not generate tons of revenue from its milk due to the restricted quantity of milk supplied just once a year. The ranch accounts for most of its income from travelers who come to see the moose.
5. Leech Farm
| Farm Name | International Medical Leech Center |
| Locality | Moscow |
| Owner | Russian Government |
Leech caretakers care for the gooey critters at the International Medical Leech Center located in Moscow. For centuries, leeches have been employed in medical therapies. But, to meet the demand for leeches, they would have to be harvested from native habitats in streams.
Leech collection proved to be among the most unpleasant jobs on the planet since the simplest method to lure a leech was to swim into a puddle or stream and allow them to sting you. When one leech had hooked on, the collectors had to watch until it was bloated with blood before removing it.
Even though the previously common bloodletting technique has happily gone out as an antidote, leeches are indeed used in therapeutic applications.
Leeches create a potent anticoagulant to maintain blood pumping while feeding on blood. After operations, leeches help blood flow through the injured area. Fortunately, we have discovered how to harvest these creatures. Producers are now using sausage casings packed with sheep blood to raise these low-key vampires.
Once every six months, the leeches bite this instead of the farmer. They are bundled and shipped to health facilities once they have reached total growth for a full-time position.
The International Medical Leech Center, located near Moscow, Russia’s capital, generates up to 3 million leeches every year. As per the Los Angeles Times, the enterprise apparently supplied Joseph Stalin with the leeches he needed to relieve his migraines and despair.
6. Bird’s Nest Farm
| Farm Name | Swiftlet houses |
| Locality | Malaysia |
| Owner | Chiam and his cofounder, Stuart Ho |
In some regions of Asia, bird’s nest soup is prepared from the nesting of swiftlet birds. And, it is regarded as a great delight. Fans are ready to pay up to $100 for a dish sample, which is basically a plate with bird excrement.
The nests are typically collected from higher overhead cliff faces, but far too many individuals are now finding more imaginative ways to get them. Today, high-rise apartment buildings in Indonesia’s cities are converted into swiftlet bird ranches.
Swiftlet song records, insect baits, and particular odors are utilized to lure wild birds into the top floor of the structures, which are perforated with access pores.
Even though many people consider swiftlet farms as a solution to the industry’s over-harvesting crisis, their larger cities may pose a health risk to adjacent populations.
7. Elephant Farm
| Farm Name | Thai High Ventures |
| Locality | Thailand |
| Owner | Ray Buerger |
The planet’s most expensive coffee is currently in production in Thailand’s Golden Triangle, an area best recognized for yet another pricey, if illicit export, the opium. Elephants are raised for their excrement on Thailand’s Black Ivory farm, but not for the tusks or any sort of shooting.
These intelligent and kind mammals stroll around the property munching on coffee beans, to your surprise. Then, the Black Ivory Coffee Elephant dung farm gathers their poop. As per several types of research, the elephants metabolize the coffee beans, which reduces the sharpness and enhances the flavor.
An elephant baby raised on a specific coffee farm will keep in mind where it was born throughout its lifespan and will guarantee that it returns periodically, and these signs can be observed at all times. The elephants maintain the same path design to seek food regularly.
However, the trail passes through a coffee plantation, leaving the coffee farmer with no choice but to allow the elephants to maintain their usual schedule while accepting the damages as part of the coffee growing process.
8. Oyster Farm
| Farm Name | Kamoka Pearl |
| Locality | Ahe, a French Polynesian island |
| Owner | Josh Humbert |
Whenever an abrasive substance enters an oyster, it gets coated with the mineral components that make up the shell. Hence, pearls are formed. Rather than randomly cracking wild oysters and praying for pearls, pearl producers have devised a method to speed up the mechanism.
Oysters are stored in protected cages or receptacles hanging on ropes tethered off the shoreline on pearl farms like Kamoka Pearl, situated on Ahe, a French Polynesian island. Once an oyster is adequately mature, a specialist opens the casing and inserts a core to develop the pearl.
Even though almost all pearls are cultivated in Japan, China, Australia, and Tahiti, the cores are traditionally formed from mussel shells from the Mississippi River basin, which is of a perfect size and diameter for pearl jewelry.
9. Octopus Farm
| Farm Name | Octopus Farm |
| Locality | Spain |
| Owner | Nueva oescanova Group |
Every year, over 350,000 tons of octopus are collected from their natural habitat, and world consumption of the variety and costs for the crustaceans keep increasing. While octopuses are short-lived, they develop quickly, generate many progenies, and sell reasonably, rendering them particularly enticing to commercial aquaculture enterprises.
In 2023, the planet’s first octopus farm, with a production of 3,000 tons of octopus per year, will begin selling aquaculture species. Nueva Pescanova Group, a Spanish corporation, has been planning the location but has not disclosed the farm’s design.
The species is frequently portrayed as complex and super intelligent. Nevertheless, the embryonic octopus farming industry has battled to surmount a range of obstacles, along with the complexity of incubation, hatching, and growing octopus embryos in confinement. As a result, rearing wild-caught octopuses has become more frequent than farming.
10. Snake Farm
| Farm Name | Animal World & Snake Farm Zoo |
| Locality | Texas, United States |
| Owner | Eric Trager |
The Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute is a renowned tourist attraction and a prominent farm in Bangkok. However, they tend to be less adorable creatures than calves, although they can indeed be milked.
They raise deadly snakes, harvest their toxins, and undertake experiments to remedy snake bites. The antivenoms created here are critical in the treatment of snakebite victims.
The snake farm’s experts use multitudes of venomous snakes and a lot of experience to persuade their critters to chomp into receptacles. The antivenom is made by collecting the poison that drops from their fangs.
Those interested in learning more might spend a nominal price to observe a poisonous snake being squeezed out of venom.
There are several other snake farms all around the globe, and snakes prove to be surprisingly good farm pets. They are glad to linger around in cabinets till milked as long as they are well-nourished and appropriately maintained.
To Wrap Up
Which of these extraordinary farms is your favorite? Would you want to drink elephant-poop coffee, and, more importantly, would you like to try bird’s nest soup? If that’s the case, you know where to search.
Nowadays, we have a lot of strange animal farm concepts in our heads, and who knows, maybe we will come across tiger, lion, and crocodile farms someday when we realize what potential they hold.
(Last Updated on May 16, 2022 by Sadrish Dabadi)
