RNA is a polymeric molecule which is involved in various biological processes including the coding, decoding, regulation, and expression of genes. Whole transcriptome sequencing is the dominant method for studying RNA functions which assists researchers to deepen the exploration and analysis of gene structure and function and to reveal intrinsic links between gene expression and life phenomena. To date, extensive research has been done in animal husbandry models including swine and poultry by using high-throughput RNA sequencing technology. These studies included transcript structure, gene expression level and non-coding region function. In this review, we briefly introduce the general processes and strategies of RNA-seq and small RNA-seq technologies, and summarize the various achievements of the application of whole transcriptomics in animal husbandry.