[Tagging] Livestock=* to specify the livestock animals in a farmyard or meadow?

Warin 61sundowner at gmail.com
Mon Aug 19 11:13:40 UTC 2019


On 19/08/19 20:17, Joseph Eisenberg wrote:
> What is the best tag to specify the livestock animals in a farmyard or meadow?
>
> I checked, and currently a number of farmyards are tagged with
> farmyard=*, but most values describe the feature, like
> farmyard=feedlot. Landuse=meadow can be tagged with meadow=pasture or
> =paddock, but again this does not specify the type of animal in the
> pasture.
>
> Some mappers have used animal=* or livestock=* with landuse=farmyard
> and landuse=meadow.
>
> The tag animal=* has been 2137 times - but most of the values are
> animal=yes (unhelpful!), leaving slightly under 200 uses of animal
> types like chicken, cow, cattle, goat, sheep, horse and pig.

What reason is there not to us animal? It already exists as a tag, has some use.

Animal in OSM has low usage for animal facilities, and some use for the actual kind of animal.

>
> Unfortunately, the key animal=* has also been used for zoo animals
> (see elephant, etc) and some of the values are rare, proposed separate
> features like animal=wellness and animal=cemetery.

Ostriches are zoo animals... but I think they were farmed, and may still be?
No reason to reject animal simply because it has use for other animals?

>
> The tag livestock=* is more specific for farming - livestock are
> domestic, agricultural animals, and livestock=* has been used 132
> times with landuse=farmyard or =meadow, mostly with values cattle,
> poultry, horse, pig, and chicken.

Specific to farming, so it cannot be used elsewhere?

That is a negative for me, I like property tags that can be used anywhere appropriate.
OSM does not have separate  height tags for buildings, bridges, signs, fences etc etc. One tag makes much more sense.

>
> There's also the key produce=, which has been used about 190 times
> with the two features, however most values used on these features are
> products like meat=, eggs=, milk= and dairy= - only 61 features have
> an animal name like goat= or hen= (chicken?), so it appears that most
> mappers do not use this tag to specify types of animals raised on
> farmland or meadows.

Produce: Describes a feature's agricultural output produced though a natural process of growing or breeding.

So the produce key is used for the output, if that is live animals then they can be tagged that way.
If the output is milk then produce=milk not produce=cow.

If the output is goats then produce=goats.
  

>
> So it looks like livestock=* is probably the best option.
>
> I'm asking about these landuse=meadow and landuse=farmyard in
> particular, because the other agricultural features already have a way
> to specify the plant or animal that is grown or raised:

If the animal is grown or raised there and is the output of that feature then use the produce key - that is what it is for.

There is use of livestock:goat=yes/some number... and I like it some and can be used to indicate the presence of goats.

The output could be milk, meat and/or hides as well as live goats.

> * landuse=orchard (that is, the plants or trees in the orchard or
> plantation), trees=* is used (also includes shurbs like tea and tall
> plants like bananas).
> * landuse=aquaculture area, aquaculture=* is used (eg =shrimp, fish, mussels)
> * landuse=farmland, crop=* is usually used.

Is there a need to specify the output of  landuse=meadow in some way that is separate from all the others?

meadow:output=*

And then yet another key to specify the output for landuse=farmyard?

farmland:output=*
I don't think so. Nor do I like the other examples - yes they have some use, but I don't regard them as good tags.

---------------------------
There are two things here - the presence of something and the output of something.
These are 2 separate features and need separate tags.
But the tags should not be artificially limited, the more universal they are the easier for people to learn them, remember them, use them and perhaps render them.

The key produce works well as it will work for any output (other than man made - ie product).


For the presence of an animal? Livestock limits it to agricultural activities.

animal:goat=yes/number ??? Can be used on anything that has these animals, zoos or farms.




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