“Livestock” means farm animals that are domesticated; “minilivestock” (or “mini-livestock”) has developed to mean domesticated bugs for edible consumption. “Mini-livestock” has been cited in print since at least 1989, when it meant small livestock. “Microlivestock” was used in 1990 to mean what “minilivestock” now does.
 
Authors J. Hardouin, et al., explain in the paper Mini-livestock breeding with indigenous species in the tropics (2003):
 
”‘Mini-livestock’ has also been referred to as ‘micro-livestock’ or ‘unconventional livestock’. Following exchanges of views, especially with colleagues from developing countries, the interested scientific community decided in 1992 that only the term ‘Mini-livestock’ (‘mini-élevage’, in French) should be used when speaking of animals such as edible rodents, guinea-pigs for meat, giant snails, frogs, manure worms, insects, and similar animals when used for food, as animal feed or as a source of income (Hardouin and Stiévenart 1993). FAO Animal Production and Health Division has now included mini-livestock amongst the animal systems that fall within its remit, thus showing the validity of this approach (Branckaert et al 1992; Branckaert 1995).”
 
   
Wiktionary: livestock
Noun
livestock (uncountable)
1. Farm animals; animals domesticated for cultivation.
 
Google Books
Abstracts on Sustainable Agriculture
Volumes 1-2
By German Appropriate Technology Exchange.
Eschborn: Deutsches Zentrum für Entwicklungstechnologies
1989
Pg. 82:
Research has now begun on “mini-livestock” and the initial results are promising. This concerns small, native animals that are already quite familiar to many African hunters. Rodents, for example, are particularly favored by some people who consumer considerable numbers. Some are already domesticated, like the guinea pigs that are commonly kept and fed with kitchen wastes.
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Micro-livestock
Author: Preston, T. R.; Rosales, M.; Osorio, H.; Hardouin, J.
Publisher: Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) Wageningen-Ede 1990
Edition/Format:   eBook : English
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Microlivestock : little-known small animals with a promising economic future
Author: National Research Council (U.S.). Board on Science and Technology for International Development.
Publisher: Washington, D.C. : National Academy Press, 1991.
Edition/Format:   Book : English
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Invertebrates (minilivestock) farming; proceedings of a seminar he at La Union, Philippines, November 1992
Author: Hardouin, J.; Stiévenart, C.
Publisher: Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM), Tropical Animal Production Unit Antwerpen 1993
Edition/Format:   Downloadable archival material : English
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Place of minilivestock in development to-day and to-morrow
Author: Hardouin, J.; Stiévenart, C.; Hardouin, J.
Publisher: Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM), Tropical Animal Production Unit Antwerpen 1993
Edition/Format:   eBook : English
   
Google Books 
Ontario Insects
Volumes 1-4
By Toronto Entomologists Association
Aurora, Ont.: Toronto Entomologists’ Association
1995
Pg. 20:
As mini-livestock, insects such as crickets have been shown to have food conversion efficiencies that are three times better than conventional livestock (Nakagaki & DeFoliart 1991) and can live in higher biomass densities ( 1000 kilos per ha.) ...
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Edible insects as minilivestock
Author: Gene R Defoliart
Edition/Format:   Article : English
Publication: Biodiversity and Conservation, v4 n3 (199504): 306-321
Database: CrossRef
Pg. 310:
Although the term “microlivestock” has been, and continues to be, widely used for insects exploited for food or animal feed, increasingly they are called “minilivestock” (Hardouin, 1994).
Pg. 320:
Hardouin, J. (1995) Minilivestock: from gathering to controlled production. Biodiv. Conserv. 4, 220-32.
     
Livestock Research for Rural Development, (15) 4 2003
Mini-livestock breeding with indigenous species in the tropics
J Hardouin, É Thys*, V Joiris** and D Fielding***
BEDIM, Unité de Zoologie Générale et Appliquée, Faculté Universitaire des Sciences Agronomiques,
2 Passage des Déportés, B-5030 Gembloux, Belgium.
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
*Animal Health Department, Prince Leopold Institute of Tropical Medicine, 155 Nationalestraat, B-2000 Antwerp, Belgium.
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
**Centre d’Anthropologie Culturelle, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 44 Avenue Jeanne, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium.
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
***C.T.V.M., University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush, Roslin, Midlothian, Scotland EH25 9RG, United Kingdom
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
(...)
Introduction
Over the years many large-scale/intensive government and donor-sponsored animal production projects in the tropics have proved to be unsustainable. Around 1985 in part response to this situation a new approach, ‘mini-livestock’, was initiated. Instead of species such as cattle, sheep, pigs, etc., ‘mini-livestock’ involves a wide range of small, indigenous, land animals that have been used for centuries in the tropics through gathering, hunting and sometimes poaching (Hardouin 1995).
 
‘Mini-livestock’ has also been referred to as ‘micro-livestock’ or ‘unconventional livestock’. Following exchanges of views, especially with colleagues from developing countries, the interested scientific community decided in 1992 that only the term ‘Mini-livestock’ (‘mini-élevage’, in French) should be used when speaking of animals such as edible rodents, guinea-pigs for meat, giant snails, frogs, manure worms, insects, and similar animals when used for food, as animal feed or as a source of income (Hardouin and Stiévenart 1993). FAO Animal Production and Health Division has now included mini-livestock amongst the animal systems that fall within its remit, thus showing the validity of this approach (Branckaert et al 1992; Branckaert 1995).
 
The objectives of this paper are to explain the concept of mini-livestock, to describe the advantages and limitations of mini-livestock and to indicate the action required to progress this new emphasis in livestock development in the tropics.
   
OCLC WorldCat record
Ecological implications of minilivestock : potential of insects, rodents, frogs, and snails / [...] XA-GB
Author: M G Paoletti
Publisher: Enfield, NH Science Publishers 2005
Edition/Format:   Book : English
 
Vibe Ghana
Could caterpillars be the new beef?
May 15, 2013 | Filed under: Health,Opinions | Posted by: VibeGhana
A new report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) calls to eat more insects. Edible insects are now being aggressively promoted as a low-fat, high-protein food for people, pets and livestock. 2 billion people eat insects but the report says it’s not enough. The world’s food supply needs to double by 2050 to feed the projected population growths.
(...)
Ants, bees, termites, crickets, locusts, caterpillars, beetles and wasps are now being called “mini livestock”. Insect farming has been found to produce far less pollution and environmental impact than traditional farming.
 
Eater
Colbert Mocks the UN’s Recommendation to Eat Insects
Thursday, May 16, 2013, by Hillary Dixler
Last night on the Colbert Report, comedian Stephen Colbert addressed the UN’s suggestion that insects are a possible solution to world hunger. As Colbert puts it, “The UN bullies want to make us eat a bug.” (The Nordic Food Lab is already working on making them delicious.) Colbert’s disgust with what the UN is calling “minilivestock” is palpable as he offers the following analysis: “Let me get this straight. According to the UN, all you New Yorkers with bed bugs are technically ranchers.”