Have you ever had your truck make a strange knock or sound you knew was not quite right?  How did you know? Because you knew how your vehicle sounds when it is working right. The important part is, what did you do?  Did you ignore it and hope it would get better, or did you get it looked at before it cost you lots of money?

Successful animal agricultural practices are based on having healthy animals. In simple terms, physiology can be thought of as what is happening in an animal's biology when everything is going right, and it is healthy. Why should the producer have to learn physiology? Because just like your equipment, the sooner you recognize you have a problem with an animal, the better.  This means that the animals will be healthier, improving both the animal's welfare and the operation's productivity.  Further, it generally costs less to fix issues when caught early. Understanding normal physiology will allow you as a producer to develop practices that improve animal welfare, operation efficiency, and improve your bottom line.

This book was designed to be a practical introduction to animal physiology.  The goal is to provide the animal scientist with an overview of livestock animals' natural physiology and practical examples that can be applied directly to the production world.