117-725: Cattle ( Bos taurus ) are large, domesticated , bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock . They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus Bos . Mature female cattle are called cows and mature male cattle are bulls . Young female cattle are called heifers , young male cattle are oxen or bullocks , and castrated male cattle are known as steers . Cattle are commonly raised for meat , for dairy products , and for leather . As draft animals , they pull carts and farm implements . In India , cattle are sacred animals within Hinduism, and may not be killed. Small breeds such as
234-513: A dominance hierarchy . This is maintained in several ways. Cattle often engage in mock fights where they test each other's strength in a non-aggressive way. Licking is primarily performed by subordinates and received by dominant animals. Mounting is a playful behavior shown by calves of both sexes and by bulls and sometimes by cows in estrus, however, this is not a dominance related behavior as has been found in other species. Dominance-associated aggressiveness does not correlate with rank position, but
351-448: A feedlot for "45 days or more in a 12-month period". Historically, the cattle population of Britain rose from 9.8 million in 1878 to 11.7 million in 1908, but beef consumption rose much faster. Britain became the "stud farm of the world" exporting livestock to countries where there were no indigenous cattle. In 1929 80% of the meat trade of the world was products of what were originally English breeds. There were nearly 70 million cattle in
468-420: A "broad" definition: "a coevolutionary process that arises from a mutualism, in which one species (the domesticator) constructs an environment where it actively manages both the survival and reproduction of another species (the domesticate) in order to provide the former with resources and/or services." He comments that this adds niche construction to the activities of the domesticator. Domestication syndrome
585-413: A cow is about nine months long. The ratio of male to female offspring at birth is approximately 52:48. A cow's udder has two pairs of mammary glands or teats. Farms often use artificial insemination , the artificial deposition of semen in the female's genital tract ; this allows farmers to choose from a wide range of bulls to breed their cattle. Estrus too may be artificially induced to facilitate
702-412: A dairy, which may be onsite at the farm or the milk may be shipped to a dairy plant for eventual sale of a dairy product. Lactation is induced in heifers and spayed cows by a combination of physical and psychological stimulation, by drugs, or by a combination of those methods. For mother cows to continue producing milk, they give birth to one calf per year. If the calf is male, it is generally slaughtered at
819-403: A diurnal pattern, with a stronger preference for clover in the morning, and the proportion of grass increasing towards the evening. When grazing, cattle vary several aspects of their bite, i.e. tongue and jaw movements, depending on characteristics of the plant they are eating. Bite area decreases with the density of the plants but increases with their height. Bite area is determined by the sweep of
936-860: A few have been domesticated, including squid , cuttlefish and octopus , all used in research on behaviour and neurology . Terrestrial snails in the genera Helix are raised for food. Several parasitic or parasitoidal insects, including the fly Eucelatoria , the beetle Chrysolina , and the wasp Aphytis are raised for biological control. Conscious or unconscious artificial selection has many effects on species under domestication; variability can readily be lost by inbreeding, selection against undesired traits, or genetic drift, while in Drosophila , variability in eclosion time (when adults emerge) has increased. Humans foraged for wild cereals, seeds, and nuts thousands of years before they were domesticated; wild wheat and barley, for example, were gathered in
1053-614: A learning experiment had higher heart rates, indicating an emotional reaction to their own learning. After separation from their mothers, Holstein calves react, indicating low mood. Similarly, after hot-iron dehorning , calves react to the post-operative pain. The position of the ears has been used as an indicator of emotional state. Cattle can tell when other cattle are stressed by the chemicals in their urine. Cattle are gregarious , and even short-term isolation causes psychological stress . When heifers are isolated, vocalizations, heart rate and plasma cortisol all increase. When visual contact
1170-500: A longer period of time than horses . Oxen are used worldwide, especially in developing countries . There are some 11 million draft oxen in sub-Saharan Africa, while in 1998 India had over 65 million oxen. At the start of the 21st century, about half the world's crop production depended on land preparation by draft animals. Cattle are not often kept solely for hides, and they are usually a by-product of beef production. Hides are used mainly for leather products such as shoes. In 2012, India
1287-484: A means of communication between far-flung places through the exploitation of the pigeon's homing instinct; research suggests it was domesticated as early as 10,000 years ago. Chicken fossils in China have been dated to 7,400 years ago. The chicken's wild ancestor is Gallus gallus , the red junglefowl of Southeast Asia. The species appears to have been kept initially for cockfighting rather than for food. Two insects ,
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#17327655695371404-629: A misfolded brain protein , in contaminated meat. Among the intestinal parasites of cattle are Paramphistomum flukes, affecting the rumen, and hookworms in the small intestine. Climate change is expected to exacerbate heat stress in cattle, and for longer periods. Heat-stressed cattle may experience accelerated breakdown of adipose tissue by the liver, causing lipidosis . Cattle eat less when heat stressed, resulting in ruminal acidosis , which can lead to laminitis . Cattle can attempt to deal with higher temperatures by panting more often ; this rapidly decreases carbon dioxide concentrations at
1521-678: A mix of taurine cattle, zebu, and yak. The aurochs originally ranged throughout Europe, North Africa, and much of Asia. In historical times, its range became restricted to Europe, and the last known individual died in Mazovia , Poland, around 1627. Breeders have attempted to recreate a similar appearance to the aurochs by crossing traditional types of domesticated cattle, producing the Heck breed . A group of taurine-type cattle exist in Africa; they either represent an independent domestication event or were
1638-409: A pair pulling 6,045 kg (13,327 lb) on a stoneboat . In beef production, Chianina cattle are chosen for their growth rate, which may exceed 2 kg (4.4 lb) per day, the high yield and high quality of the meat, and their tolerance of heat and sunlight. They are good foragers and have better resistance to disease and insects than many other domestic cattle. The ideal slaughter weight
1755-468: A population bottleneck where genetic drift is enhanced by the small population size. Mutations can also be fixed in a population by a selective sweep . Mutational load can be increased by reduced selective pressure against moderately harmful traits when reproductive fitness is controlled by human management. However, there is evidence against a bottleneck in crops, such as barley, maize, and sorghum, where genetic diversity slowly declined rather than showing
1872-759: A powerful greenhouse gas, as a byproduct of enteric fermentation , with each cow belching out 100kg a year. Additional methane is produced by anaerobic fermentation of stored manure . The FAO estimates that in 2015 around 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions were due to cattle, but this is uncertain. Reducing methane emissions quickly helps limit climate change . Concentrated animal feeding operations in particular produce substantial amounts of wastewater and manure, which can cause environmental harms such as soil erosion, human and animal exposure to toxic chemicals, development of antibiotic resistant bacteria and an increase in E. coli contamination. In many world regions, overgrazing by cattle has reduced biodiversity of
1989-779: A predictable supply of a resource, resulting in mutual benefits . She noted further that it is not synonymous with agriculture since agriculture depends on domesticated organisms but does not automatically result from domestication. Michael D. Purugganan notes that domestication has been hard to define, despite the "instinctual consensus" that it means "the plants and animals found under the care of humans that provide us with benefits and which have evolved under our control." He comments that insects such as termites , ambrosia beetles , and leafcutter ants have domesticated some species of fungi , and notes further that other groups such as weeds and commensals have wrongly been called domesticated. Starting from Zeder's definition, Purugganan proposes
2106-676: A principal aim was the establishment of a herdbook. Since the Second World War the Chianina has become a world breed, raised almost exclusively for its high quality meat. Through exportation of breeding stock, of frozen semen and of embryos, it has reached China, Russia, Asian countries and the Americas. The Chianina is both the tallest and the heaviest breed of cattle. Mature bulls stand up to 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in), and oxen may reach 2 m (6 ft 7 in). It
2223-425: A protracted coevolutionary process with multiple stages along different pathways. There are three proposed major pathways that most mammal domesticates followed into domestication: Humans did not intend to domesticate mammals from either the commensal or prey pathways, or at least they did not envision a domesticated animal would result from it. In both of those cases, humans became entangled with these species as
2340-501: A quarter of the world's meat comes from cattle. World cattle meat production in 2021 was 72.3 million tons. Certain breeds of cattle, such as the Holstein-Friesian , are used to produce milk , much of which is processed into dairy products such as butter , cheese , and yogurt . Dairy cattle are usually kept on specialized dairy farms designed for milk production. Most cows are milked twice per day, with milk processed at
2457-427: A range of production and behavioral characteristics for both dairy and beef cattle. Cattle have played a key role in human history , having been domesticated since at least the early neolithic age. Archaeozoological and genetic data indicate that cattle were first domesticated from wild aurochs ( Bos primigenius ) approximately 10,500 years ago. There were two major areas of domestication: one in central Anatolia ,
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#17327655695372574-575: A rapid initial fall at the point of domestication. Further, the genetic diversity of these crops was regularly replenished from the natural population. Similar evidence exists for horses, pigs, cows, and goats. At least three groups of insects, namely ambrosia beetles, leafcutter ants, and fungus-growing termites, have domesticated species of fungi . Ambrosia beetles in the weevil subfamilies Scolytinae and Platypodinae excavate tunnels in dead or stressed trees into which they introduce fungal gardens, their sole source of nutrition. After landing on
2691-402: A suitable tree, an ambrosia beetle excavates a tunnel in which it releases its fungal symbiont . The fungus penetrates the plant's xylem tissue, extracts nutrients from it, and concentrates the nutrients on and near the surface of the beetle gallery. Ambrosia fungi are typically poor wood degraders and instead utilize less demanding nutrients. Symbiotic fungi produce and detoxify ethanol, which
2808-466: A third independent domestication from the North African aurochs. Whether there have been two or three domestications, European, African, and Asian cattle share much of their genomes both through their species ancestry and through repeated migrations of livestock and genetic material between species, as shown in the diagram. Cattle were originally identified as three separate species: Bos taurus ,
2925-452: A wider study mapped a further 4.2% of the cattle genome. Behavioral traits of cattle can be as heritable as some production traits, and often, the two can be related. The heritability of temperament (response to isolation during handling) has been calculated as 0.36 and 0.46 for habituation to handling. Rangeland assessments show that the heritability of aggressiveness in cattle is around 0.36. Quantitative trait loci have been found for
3042-514: A young age to produce veal . Cows produce milk until three weeks before birth. Over the last fifty years, dairy farming has become more intensive to increase the yield of milk produced by each cow. The Holstein-Friesian is the breed of dairy cow most common in the UK, Europe and the United States. It has been bred selectively to produce the highest yields of milk of any cow. The average in the UK
3159-409: Is 650–700 kg (1,430–1,540 lb), reached at 16–18 months, where the yield may be 64–65%. The meat is renowned for its quality and nutritional values. In Italy it is sold by name at premium prices by approved butchers, the sales receipt detailing the breed, birth and slaughter dates, identification number and other data of the animal in order to guarantee its origin. Each of the 18 principal cuts
3276-716: Is a diurnal rhythm in suckling, peaking at roughly 6am, 11:30am, and 7pm. Under natural conditions, calves stay with their mother until weaning at 8 to 11 months. Heifer and bull calves are equally attached to their mothers in the first few months of life. Cattle have a variety of cognitive abilities. They can memorize the locations of multiple food sources, and can retain memories for at least 48 days. Young cattle learn more quickly than adults, and calves are capable of discrimination learning, distinguishing familiar and unfamiliar animals, and between humans, using faces and other cues. Calves prefer their own mother's vocalizations to those of an unfamiliar cow. Vocalizations provide information on
3393-462: Is a dual purpose breed, raised both for meat and for draught use; the milk is barely sufficient for suckling. Until recent years, when it was replaced by machinery, the Chianina ox was used with excellent results both in agriculture and for road transport in its area of origin, the provinces of Arezzo , Florence , Livorno , Perugia , Pisa (parts only) and Siena, and in some parts of the more distant provinces of Caserta , Latina and Terni . It
3510-405: Is an attractant for ambrosia beetles and likely prevents the growth of antagonistic pathogens and selects for other beneficial symbionts. Ambrosia beetles mainly colonise wood of recently dead trees. The leafcutter ants are any of some 47 species of leaf-chewing ants in the genera Acromyrmex and Atta . The ants carry the discs of leaves that they have cut back to their nest, where they feed
3627-466: Is around 22 litres per day. Dairy is a large industry worldwide. In 2023, the 27 European Union countries produced 143 million tons of cow's milk; the United States 104.1 million tons; and India 99.5 million tons. India further produces 94.4 million tons of buffalo milk , making it (in 2023) the world's largest milk producer; its dairy industry employs some 80 million people. Oxen are cattle trained as draft animals . Oxen can pull heavier loads and for
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3744-528: Is based also on factors such as growth rate, meat yield and, in cows, maternal ability. While one source reports a herdbook dating from 1856, others date the institution of the Libro Genealogico ("genealogical herdbook") to 1933, when a breed standard was established and commissions were set up by the then Ministero dell'Agricoltura e delle Foreste (ministry of agriculture and forestry) to identify, mark and register morphologically suitable animals;
3861-467: Is better than that of horses, but worse at localising sounds than goats, and much worse than dogs or humans. They can distinguish between live and recorded human speech. Olfaction probably plays a large role in their social life, indicating social and reproductive status. Cattle can tell when other animals are stressed by smelling the alarm chemicals in their urine. Cattle can be trained to recognise conspecific individuals using olfaction only. Cattle live in
3978-734: Is branded with the "5R" symbol of the Consorzio Produttori Carne Bovina Pregiata delle Razze Italiane (consortium of producers of quality beef from Italian breeds), signifying the five indigenous beef breeds of Italy, the Chianina, the Marchigiana , the Maremmana , the Romagnola and the Podolica , in accordance with a ministerial decree of 5 July 1984. For the three breeds present in central Italy,
4095-426: Is closely related to rank distance between individuals. The horns of cattle are honest signals used in mate selection. Horned cattle attempt to keep greater distances between themselves and have fewer physical interactions than hornless cattle, resulting in more stable social relationships. In calves, agonistic behavior becomes less frequent as space allowance increases, but not as group size changes, whereas in adults,
4212-502: Is contentious, and authorities such as the American Society of Mammalogists treat these taxa as separate species. Complicating the matter is the ability of cattle to interbreed with other closely related species. Hybrid individuals and even breeds exist, not only between taurine cattle and zebu (such as the sanga cattle ( Bos taurus africanus x Bos indicus ), but also between one or both of these and some other members of
4329-432: Is domesticated wheat, which relies on farmers for its reproduction and dissemination. Domesticated plants differ from their wild relatives in many ways, including Plant defenses against herbivory , such as thorns, spines, and prickles , poison, protective coverings, and sturdiness may have been reduced in domesticated plants. This would make them more likely to be eaten by herbivores unless protected by humans, but there
4446-445: Is gradual and geographically diffuse, based on trial and error. Domestication affected genes for behavior in animals, making them less aggressive. In plants, domestication affected genes for morphology, such as increasing seed size and stopping the shattering of cereal seedheads. Such changes both make domesticated organisms easier to handle and reduce their ability to survive in the wild. The first animal to be domesticated by humans
4563-482: Is not unusual for bulls to exceed 1,600 kg (3,500 lb) in weight. Males standing over 1.51 m (4 ft 11 in) at 12 months are considered top-grade. A Chianina bull named Donetto holds the world record for the heaviest bull, reported by one source as 1,740 kg (3,840 lb) when exhibited at the Arezzo show in 1955, but as 1,780 kg (3,920 lb) and 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) tall at
4680-485: Is now northern Syria. Although European cattle are largely descended from the taurine lineage, gene flow from African cattle (partially of indicine origin) contributed substantial genomic components to both southern European cattle breeds and their New World descendants. A study on 134 breeds showed that modern taurine cattle originated from Africa, Asia, North and South America, Australia, and Europe. Some researchers have suggested that African taurine cattle are derived from
4797-669: Is only weak support for most of this. Farmers did select for reduced bitterness and lower toxicity and for food quality, which likely increased crop palatability to herbivores as to humans. However, a survey of 29 plant domestications found that crops were as well-defended against two major insect pests ( beet armyworm and green peach aphid ) both chemically (e.g. with bitter substances) and morphologically (e.g. with toughness) as their wild ancestors. During domestication, crop species undergo intense artificial selection that alters their genomes, establishing core traits that define them as domesticated, such as increased grain size. Comparison of
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4914-499: Is re-instated, vocalizations rapidly decline; heart rate decreases more rapidly if the returning cattle are familiar to the previously isolated individual. Mirrors have been used to reduce stress in isolated cattle. The average sleep time of a domestic cow is about 4 hours a day. Cattle do have a stay apparatus , but do not sleep standing up; they lie down to sleep deeply. In 2009, the National Institutes of Health and
5031-498: Is some 25–30 years. Beef cattle go to slaughter at around 18 months, and dairy cows at about five years. Cattle are ruminants , meaning their digestive system is highly specialized for processing plant material such as grass rich in cellulose , a tough carbohydrate polymer which many animals cannot digest. They do this in symbiosis with micro-organisms – bacteria , fungi , and protozoa – that possess cellulases , enzymes that split cellulose into its constituent sugars . Among
5148-407: Is spread by midges . Psoroptic mange is a disabling skin condition caused by mites . Bovine tuberculosis is caused by a bacterium; it causes disease in humans and in wild animals such as deer and badgers. Foot-and-mouth disease is caused by a virus, affects a range of hoofed livestock and is highly contagious. Bovine spongiform encephalopathy is a neurodegenerative disease spread by a prion ,
5265-619: Is the number of animals within a specified area. High stocking density can affect cattle health, welfare, productivity, and feeding behaviour. Densely-stocked cattle feed more rapidly and lie down sooner, increasing the risk of teat infection, mastitis, and embryo loss . The stress and negative health impacts induced by high stocking density such as in concentrated animal feeding operations or feedlots , auctions, and transport may be detrimental to cattle welfare. To produce milk from dairy cattle , most calves are separated from their mothers soon after birth and fed milk replacement in order to retain
5382-668: Is the suite of phenotypic traits that arose during the initial domestication process and which distinguish crops from their wild ancestors . It can also mean a set of differences now observed in domesticated mammals, not necessarily reflecting the initial domestication process. The changes include increased docility and tameness, coat coloration, reductions in tooth size, craniofacial morphology, ear and tail form (e.g., floppy ears), estrus cycles, levels of adrenocorticotropic hormone and neurotransmitters, prolongations in juvenile behavior, and reductions in brain size and of particular brain regions. The domestication of animals and plants
5499-725: Is today Baluchistan in Pakistan. In East Asia 8,000 years ago, pigs were domesticated from wild boar genetically different from those found in the Fertile Crescent. The cat was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent, perhaps 10,000 years ago, from European wildcats , possibly to control rodents that were damaging stored food. The domestication of vertebrate animals is the relationship between non-human vertebrates and humans who have an influence on their care and reproduction. In his 1868 book The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication , Charles Darwin recognized
5616-636: Is widely grown for food. The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae have been used for thousands of years to ferment beer and wine , and to leaven bread . Mould fungi including Penicillium are used to mature cheeses and other dairy products, as well as to make drugs such as antibiotics . Selection of animals for visible traits may have undesired consequences for the genetics of domestic animals. A side effect of domestication has been zoonotic diseases. For example, cattle have given humanity various viral poxes , measles , and tuberculosis ; pigs and ducks have contributed influenza ; and horses have brought
5733-718: The Indian Ocean and those in the Pacific Ocean . The coconut experienced a founder effect , where a small number of individuals with low diversity founded the modern population, permanently losing much of the genetic variation of the wild population. Population bottlenecks which reduced variation throughout the genome at some later date after domestication are evident in crops such as pearl millet , cotton , common bean and lima bean . In wheat, domestication involved repeated hybridization and polyploidy . These steps are large and essentially instantaneous changes to
5850-451: The Levant and Western Iran , giving rise to the taurine line, and a second in the area that is now Pakistan, resulting in the indicine line. Modern mitochondrial DNA variation indicates the taurine line may have arisen from as few as 80 aurochs tamed in the upper reaches of Mesopotamia near the villages of Çayönü Tepesi in what is now southeastern Turkey, and Dja'de el-Mughara in what
5967-917: The Levant and Western Iran . A separate domestication event occurred in the Indian subcontinent , which gave rise to zebu. There were over 940 million cattle in the world by 2022. Cattle are responsible for around 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions . They were one of the first domesticated animals to have a fully-mapped genome . The term cattle was borrowed from Anglo-Norman catel (replacing native Old English terms like kine , now considered archaic, poetic, or dialectal), itself from Medieval Latin capitale 'principal sum of money, capital', itself derived in turn from Latin caput 'head'. Cattle originally meant movable personal property , especially livestock of any kind, as opposed to real property (the land, which also included wild or small free-roaming animals such as chickens—they were sold as part of
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#17327655695376084-582: The Levant at least 23,000 years ago. Neolithic societies in West Asia first began to cultivate and then domesticate some of these plants around 13,000 to 11,000 years ago. The founder crops of the West Asian Neolithic included cereals ( emmer , einkorn wheat , barley ), pulses ( lentil , pea , chickpea , bitter vetch ), and flax . Other plants were independently domesticated in 13 centers of origin (subdivided into 24 areas) of
6201-464: The US Department of Agriculture reported having mapped the bovine genome . Cattle have some 22,000 genes, of which 80% are shared with humans; they have about 1000 genes that they share with dogs and rodents, but not with humans. Using this bovine "HapMap", researchers can track the differences between breeds that affect meat and milk yields. Early research focused on Hereford genetic sequences;
6318-619: The coding DNA of chromosome 8 in rice between fragrant and non-fragrant varieties showed that aromatic and fragrant rice, including basmati and jasmine , is derived from an ancestral rice domesticate that suffered a deletion in exon 7 which altered the coding for betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase (BADH2). Comparison of the potato genome with that of other plants located genes for resistance to potato blight caused by Phytophthora infestans . In coconut , genomic analysis of 10 microsatellite loci (of noncoding DNA ) found two episodes of domestication based on differences between individuals in
6435-470: The domestication of wheat . Wild wheat shatters and falls to the ground to reseed itself when ripe, but domesticated wheat stays on the stem for easier harvesting. This change was possible because of a random mutation in the wild populations at the beginning of wheat's cultivation . Wheat with this mutation was harvested more frequently and became the seed for the next crop. Therefore, without realizing it, early farmers selected for this mutation. The result
6552-417: The domestication syndrome , traits presumed essential in the early stages of domestication, while others represent later improvement traits. Domesticated mammals in particular tend to be smaller and less aggressive than their wild counterparts; other common traits are floppy ears, a smaller brain, and a shorter muzzle. Domestication traits are generally fixed within all domesticates, and were selected during
6669-528: The genus Bos – yaks (the dzo or yattle), banteng , and gaur . Hybrids such as the beefalo breed can even occur between taurine cattle and either species of bison , leading some authors to consider them part of the genus Bos , as well. The hybrid origin of some types may not be obvious – for example, genetic testing of the Dwarf Lulu breed, the only taurine-type cattle in Nepal, found them to be
6786-591: The miniature Zebu are kept as pets . Taurine cattle are widely distributed across Europe and temperate areas of Asia, the Americas, and Australia. Zebus are found mainly in India and tropical areas of Asia, America, and Australia. Sanga cattle are found primarily in sub-Saharan Africa . These types, sometimes classified as separate species or subspecies, are further divided into over 1,000 recognized breeds . Around 10,500 years ago, taurine cattle were domesticated from wild aurochs progenitors in central Anatolia ,
6903-437: The rhinoviruses . Many parasites , too, have their origins in domestic animals. Alongside these, the advent of domestication resulted in denser human populations, which provided ripe conditions for pathogens to reproduce, mutate, spread, and eventually find a new host in humans. Scholars have expressed widely differing viewpoints on domestication's effects on society. Anarcho-primitivism critiques domestication as destroying
7020-411: The rumen , reticulum , omasum , and abomasum . The rumen is the largest compartment and it harbours the most important parts of the microbiome. The reticulum, the smallest compartment, is known as the "honeycomb". The omasum's main function is to absorb water and nutrients from the digestible feed. The abomasum has a similar function to the human stomach. Cattle regurgitate and re-chew their food in
7137-436: The silkworm and the western honey bee , have been domesticated for over 5,000 years, often for commercial use. The silkworm is raised for the silk threads wound around its pupal cocoon; the western honey bee, for honey , and, from the 20th century, for pollination of crops. Several other invertebrates have been domesticated, both terrestrial and aquatic, including some such as Drosophila melanogaster fruit flies and
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#17327655695377254-519: The western honey bee were domesticated over 5,000 years ago for silk and honey , respectively. The domestication of plants began around 13,000–11,000 years ago with cereals such as wheat and barley in the Middle East , alongside crops such as lentil , pea , chickpea , and flax . Beginning around 10,000 years ago, Indigenous peoples in the Americas began to cultivate peanuts , squash , maize , potatoes , cotton , and cassava . Rice
7371-592: The Americas, Africa, and Asia (the Middle East, South Asia, the Far East, and New Guinea and Wallacea); in some thirteen of these regions people began to cultivate grasses and grains. Rice was first cultivated in East Asia. Sorghum was widely cultivated in sub-Saharan Africa, while peanuts, squash, cotton, maize , potatoes , and cassava were domesticated in the Americas. Continued domestication
7488-494: The Chianina may reach slaughter weight a month earlier than normal. In 1971 semen was first exported to the United States, where there are now many half-blood and quarter-blood animals. The first American Chianina x Angus calf was born on 31 January 1972 at Tannehill Ranch, near King City, California . Within four years the American Chianina Association had established a Chiangus register, since then
7605-846: The Chianina of the Valdichiana, the Chianina of the Valdarno , the Calvana (since 1985 considered a separate breed) in the hilly country of the province of Florence, and the Perugina in the province of Perugia. The oxen, both male and female, were invariably worked in pairs, yoked with a type of neck yoke . Today Chianina oxen are rarely seen in Italy other than at public events such as the Palio di Siena. In North America Chianina oxen are trained for participation in ox-pulling contests. Conroy shows
7722-815: The Chianina, the Marchigiana and the Romagnola, there is also an Indicazione Geografica Protetta , or certification of region of origin, in accordance with European Community regulation 2081/92. The Chianina breed is widely used for cross-breeding. In the United States the Chianina has been cross-bred with British breeds to reduce the fat content of meat in line with current fashion; elsewhere it has been used to transmit size, growth-rate and its relatively low skeleton weight to local breeds. It has been found to transmit well qualities such as growth-rate, meat quality, resistance to heat and cold and to insects and disease, and adaptation to rough terrain. Stock cross-bred with
7839-537: The European or "taurine" cattle (including similar types from Africa and Asia); Bos indicus , the Indicine or "zebu" ; and the extinct Bos primigenius , the aurochs . The aurochs is ancestral to both zebu and taurine cattle. They were later reclassified as one species, Bos taurus , with the aurochs ( B. t. primigenius ), zebu ( B. t. indicus ), and taurine ( B. t. taurus ) cattle as subspecies. However, this taxonomy
7956-595: The Late Pleistocene. Domestication reduces genetic diversity of the domesticated population, especially of alleles of genes targeted by selection. One reason is a population bottleneck created by artificially selecting the most desirable individuals to breed from. Most of the domesticated strain is then born from just a few ancestors, creating a situation similar to the founder effect . Domesticated populations such as of dogs, rice, sunflowers, maize, and horses have an increased mutation load , as expected in
8073-453: The US by the early 1930s. Cattle have the largest biomass of any animal species on Earth, at roughly 400 million tonnes, followed closely by Antarctic krill at 379 million tonnes and humans at 373 million tonnes. In 2023, the countries with the most cattle were India with 307.5 million (32.6% of the total), Brazil with 194.4 million, and China with 101.5 million, out of a total of 942.6 million in
8190-504: The age of 8 by others including the Tenuta La Fratta, near Sinalunga in the province of Siena , where he was bred. Cows usually weigh 800–900 kg (1,800–2,000 lb), but commonly exceed 1,000 kg (2,200 lb); those standing over 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in) are judged top-grade. Calves routinely weigh over 50 kg (110 lb) at birth. The coat of the Chianina is white; very slight grey shading round
8307-453: The age, sex, dominance status and reproductive status of the caller, and may indicate estrus in cows and competitive display in bulls. Cows can categorize images as familiar and unfamiliar individuals. Cloned calves from the same donor form subgroups, suggesting that kin discrimination may be a basis of grouping behaviour. Cattle use visual/brain lateralisation when scanning novel and familiar stimuli. They prefer to view novel stimuli with
8424-513: The animals. In Spain, the Running of the bulls faces opposition due to the stress and injuries incurred by the bulls during the event. Domestication Domestication is a multi-generational mutualistic relationship in which an animal species, such as humans or leafcutter ants , takes over control and care of another species, such as sheep or fungi, to obtain from them a steady supply of resources, such as meat, milk, or labor. The process
8541-671: The available food; foraging velocity decreases and intake rate increases in areas of abundant palatable forage. Cattle avoid grazing areas contaminated by the faeces of other cattle more strongly than they avoid areas contaminated by sheep, but they do not avoid pasture contaminated by rabbits. In cattle, temperament or behavioral disposition can affect productivity, overall health, and reproduction. Five underlying categories of temperament traits have been proposed: shyness–boldness, exploration–avoidance, activity, aggressiveness , and sociability. There are many indicators of emotion in cattle. Holstein–Friesian heifers that had made clear improvements in
8658-458: The beginning of the Holocene 11,700 years ago, a warmer climate and increasing human populations led to small-scale animal and plant domestication and an increased supply of food. The appearance of the domestic dog in the archaeological record, at least 15,000 years ago, was followed by domestication of livestock and of crops such as wheat and barley , the invention of agriculture , and
8775-475: The bulls weigh 1,000–1,200 kg (2,200–2,600 lb). Before 1790, beef cattle averaged only 160 kg (350 lb) net. Thereafter, weights climbed steadily. Cattle breeds vary widely in size; the tallest and heaviest is the Chianina , where a mature bull may be up to 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) at the shoulder, and may reach 1,280 kg (2,820 lb) in weight. The natural life of domestic cattle
8892-477: The climate warms, increasing the risk of tick-borne diseases. Both beef and milk production are likely to experience declines due to climate change. Cattle health is at once a veterinary issue (for animal welfare and productivity), a public health issue (to limit the spread of disease), and a food safety issue (to ensure meat and dairy products are safe to eat). These concerns are reflected in farming regulations. These rules can become political matters, as when it
9009-497: The cows' milk for human consumption. Animal welfare advocates are critical of this practice , stating that this breaks the natural bond between the mother and her calf. The welfare of veal calves is also a concern. Two sports involving cattle are thought to be cruel by animal welfare groups: rodeos and bullfighting . Such groups oppose rodeo activities including bull riding , calf roping and steer roping , stating that rodeos are unnecessary and cause stress, injury, and death to
9126-509: The domestication of animals involved violence against animals and damage to the environment. This, in turn, he argues, corrupted human ethics and paved the way for "conquest, extermination, displacement, repression, coerced and enslaved servitude, gender subordination and sexual exploitation, and hunger." Domesticated ecosystems provide food, reduce predator and natural dangers, and promote commerce, but their creation has resulted in habitat alteration or loss, and multiple extinctions commencing in
9243-515: The domestication syndrome; it is predicted that domestic animals are less resistant to parasites than their wild relatives. Domesticated birds principally mean poultry , raised for meat and eggs: some Galliformes ( chicken , turkey , guineafowl ) and Anseriformes (waterfowl: ducks , geese , and swans ). Also widely domesticated are cagebirds such as songbirds and parrots ; these are kept both for pleasure and for use in research. The domestic pigeon has been used both for food and as
9360-493: The eyes and on the foreparts is tolerated. The skin, muzzle, switch, hooves and the tips of the horns are black, as are the natural openings – the anus , vulva , eyelids, palate, tongue, and lower part of the scrotum . At the end of 2010 there were 47,236 head registered in Italy, of which more than 90% were in Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio; it is, after the Marchigiana , the second indigenous beef breed of Italy. The Chianina
9477-724: The first English translation is " Umbria has such as are huge, and of a white colour". Chianina oxen were the principal source of agricultural power in the area until displaced by mechanisation and the collapse of the mezzadria system following the Second World War ; they were in use in agriculture until at least 1970 and are still used in processions such as the corteo storico of the Palio di Siena . From 1931 breeders began to favour selection of animals more suited to meat production, with shorter limbs, longer bodies and more heavily muscled rump and thighs; recently, selection
9594-447: The freshwater cnidarian Hydra for research into genetics and physiology. Few have a long history of domestication. Most are used for food or other products such as shellac and cochineal . The phyla involved are Cnidaria , Platyhelminthes (for biological pest control ), Annelida , Mollusca , Arthropoda (marine crustaceans as well as insects and spiders), and Echinodermata . While many marine mollusks are used for food, only
9711-810: The genome and the epigenome , enabling a rapid evolutionary response to artificial selection. Polyploidy increases the number of chromosomes, bringing new combinations of genes and alleles, which in turn enable further changes such as by chromosomal crossover . The microbiome , the collection of microorganisms inhabiting the surface and internal tissue of plants, is affected by domestication. This includes changes in microbial species composition and diversity. Plant lineage, including speciation , domestication, and breeding , have shaped plant endophytes ( phylosymbiosis ) in similar patterns as plant genes. Several species of fungi have been domesticated for use directly as food, or in fermentation to produce foods and drugs. The cultivated mushroom Agaricus bisporus
9828-477: The grazed plants and of animals at different trophic levels in the ecosystem . A well documented consequence of overgrazing is woody plant encroachment in rangelands, which significantly reduces the carrying capacity of the land over time. Cattle husbandry practices including branding , castration , dehorning , ear tagging , nose ringing , restraint, tail docking , the use of veal crates, and cattle prods have raised welfare concerns. Stocking density
9945-532: The homogenizing effect of gene flow from wild boars into pigs, and created domestication islands in the genome. The same process may apply to other domesticated animals. The 2023 parasite-mediated domestication hypothesis suggests that endoparasites such as helminths and protozoa could have mediated the domestication of mammals. Domestication involves taming, which has an endocrine component; and parasites can modify endocrine activity and microRNAs . Genes for resistance to parasites might be linked to those for
10062-426: The initial episode of domestication of that animal or plant, whereas improvement traits are present only in a proportion of domesticates, though they may be fixed in individual breeds or regional populations . Certain animal species, and certain individuals within those species, make better candidates for domestication because of their behavioral characteristics: The beginnings of mammal domestication involved
10179-692: The land). The word is a variant of chattel (a unit of personal property) and closely related to capital in the economic sense. The word cow came via Anglo-Saxon cū (plural cȳ ), from Common Indo-European gʷōus ( genitive gʷowés ) 'a bovine animal', cf. Persian : gâv , Sanskrit : go- . In older English sources such as the King James Version of the Bible, cattle often means livestock, as opposed to deer , which are wild. Cattle are large artiodactyls , mammals with cloven hooves , meaning that they walk on two toes,
10296-580: The leaf material to the fungi that they tend. Some of these fungi are not fully domesticated: the fungi farmed by Mycocepurus smithii constantly produce spores that are not useful to the ants, which eat fungal hyphae instead. The process of domestication by Atta ants, on the other hand, is complete; it took 30 million years. Some 330 fungus-growing termite species of the subfamily Macrotermitinae cultivate Termitomyces fungi to eat; domestication occurred exactly once, 25–40 mya . The fungi, described by Roger Heim in 1942, grow on 'combs' formed from
10413-399: The left eye (using the right brain hemisphere), but the right eye for familiar stimuli. Individual cattle have also been observed to display different personality traits, such as fearfulness and sociability. Vision is the dominant sense; cattle obtain almost half of their information visually. Being prey animals, cattle evolved to look out for predators almost all around, with eyes that are on
10530-438: The many bacteria that contribute are Fibrobacter succinogenes , Ruminococcus flavefaciens , and Ruminococcus albus . Cellulolytic fungi include several species of Neocallimastix , while the protozoa include the ciliates Eudiplodinium maggie and Ostracodinium album . If the animal's feed changes over time, the composition of this microbiome changes in response. Cattle have one large stomach with four compartments;
10647-645: The number of agonistic encounters increases with group size. Dominance relationships in semi-wild highland cattle are very firm, with few overt aggressive conflicts: most disputes are settled by agonistic (non-aggressive, competitive) behaviors with no physical contact between opponents, reducing the risk of injury. Dominance status depends on age and sex, with older animals usually dominant to young ones and males dominant to females. Young bulls gain superior dominance status over adult cows when they reach about 2 years of age. Cattle eat mixed diets, but prefer to eat approximately 70% clover and 30% grass. This preference has
10764-435: The price of increasing pH , respiratory alkalosis . To deal with this, cattle are forced to shed bicarbonate through urination , at the expense of rumen buffering. These two pathologies can both cause lameness . Another specific risk is mastitis . This worsens as Calliphora blowflies increase in number with continued warming, spreading mastitis-causing bacteria. Ticks too are likely to increase in temperate zones as
10881-436: The process of chewing the cud , like most ruminants. While feeding, cows swallow their food without chewing; it goes into the rumen for storage. Later, the food is regurgitated to the mouth, a mouthful at a time, where the cud is chewed by the molars, grinding down the coarse vegetation to small particles. The cud is then swallowed again and further digested by the micro-organisms in the cow's stomach. The gestation period for
10998-479: The process. Copulation lasts several seconds and consists of a single pelvic thrust . Cows seek secluded areas for calving. Semi-wild Highland cattle heifers first give birth at 2 or 3 years of age, and the timing of birth is synchronized with increases in natural food quality. Average calving interval is 391 days, and calving mortality within the first year of life is 5%. Beef calves suckle an average of 5 times per day, spending some 46 minutes suckling. There
11115-514: The relationship between them intensified, and humans' role in their survival and reproduction gradually led to formalized animal husbandry . Although the directed pathway for draft and riding animals proceeded from capture to taming, the other two pathways are not as goal-oriented, and archaeological records suggest that they took place over much longer time frames. Unlike other domestic species selected primarily for production-related traits, dogs were initially selected for their behaviors. The dog
11232-478: The result of crossing taurines domesticated elsewhere with local aurochs, but they are genetically distinct; some authors name them as a separate subspecies, Bos taurus africanus . The only pure African taurine breeds remaining are the N'Dama , Kuri and some varieties of the West African Shorthorn. Feral cattle are those that have been allowed to go wild. Populations exist in many parts of
11349-491: The sides of their head rather than the front. This gives them a field of view of 330°, but limits binocular vision (and therefore stereopsis ) to some 30° to 50°, compared to 140° in humans. They are dichromatic , like most mammals. Cattle avoid bitter-tasting foods, selecting sweet foods for energy. Their sensitivity to sour-tasting foods helps them to maintain optimal ruminal pH . They seek out salty foods by taste and smell to maintain their electrolyte balance. Their hearing
11466-459: The small number of traits that made domestic species different from their wild ancestors. He was also the first to recognize the difference between conscious selective breeding in which humans directly select for desirable traits and unconscious selection, in which traits evolve as a by-product of natural selection or from selection on other traits. There is a difference between domestic and wild populations; some of these differences constitute
11583-634: The standard of the Chianina breed was fixed by ministerial decree of 7 August 1935. A private register was previously kept by the largest cattle breeder of the Sienese Valdichiana, the Eredi del conte Bastogi of Abbadia di Montepulciano , and a group of breeders had in 1899 formed a society, the Società degli Agricoltori della Valdichiana (society of farmers of the Valdichiana), of which
11700-451: The supposed primitive state of harmony with nature in hunter-gatherer societies, and replacing it, possibly violently or by enslavement, with a social hierarchy as property and power emerged. The dialectal naturalist Murray Bookchin has argued that domestication of animals, in turn, meant the domestication of humanity, both parties being unavoidably altered by their relationship with each other. The sociologist David Nibert asserts that
11817-410: The termites' excreta, dominated by tough woody fragments. The termites and the fungi are both obligate symbionts in the relationship. Chianina The Chianina ( Italian pronunciation: [kjaˈniːna] ) is an Italian breed of large white cattle. It was formerly principally a draught breed; it is now raised mainly for beef . It is the largest and one of the oldest cattle breeds in
11934-550: The termites, the relationship is a fully obligate symbiosis on both sides. Domestication (not to be confused with the taming of an individual animal ), is from the Latin domesticus , 'belonging to the house'. The term remained loosely defined until the 21st century, when the American archaeologist Melinda A. Zeder defined it as a long-term relationship in which humans take over control and care of another organism to gain
12051-414: The third and fourth digits. Like all bovid species, they can have horns, which are unbranched and are not shed annually. Coloration varies with breed; common colors are black, white, and red/brown, and some breeds are spotted or have mixed colors. Bulls are larger than cows of the same breed by up to a few hundred kilograms. British Hereford cows, for example, weigh 600–800 kg (1,300–1,800 lb), while
12168-417: The tongue; in one study observing 750-kilogram (1,650 lb) steers, bite area reached a maximum of approximately 170 cm (30 sq in). Bite depth increases with the height of the plants. By adjusting their behavior, cattle obtain heavier bites in swards that are tall and sparse compared with short, dense swards of equal mass/area. Cattle adjust other aspects of their grazing behavior in relation to
12285-637: The transition of humans from foraging to farming in different places and times across the planet. For instance, small-scale trial cultivation of cereals began some 28,000 years ago at the Ohalo II site in Israel. In the Fertile Crescent 11,000–10,000 years ago, zooarchaeology indicates that goats, pigs, sheep, and taurine cattle were the first livestock to be domesticated. Two thousand years later, humped zebu cattle were domesticated in what
12402-567: The world, Fulani husbandry rests on behavioural techniques, whereas in Europe, cattle are controlled primarily by physical means, such as fences . Breeders use cattle husbandry to reduce tuberculosis susceptibility by selective breeding and maintaining herd health to avoid concurrent disease. In the United States, many cattle are raised intensively, kept in concentrated animal feeding operations , meaning there are at least 700 mature dairy cows or at least 1000 other cattle stabled or confined in
12519-715: The world, sometimes on small islands. Some, such as Amsterdam Island cattle , Chillingham cattle , and Aleutian wild cattle have become sufficiently distinct to be described as breeds. Cattle are often raised by allowing herds to graze on the grasses of large tracts of rangeland . Raising cattle extensively in this manner allows the use of land that might be unsuitable for growing crops. The most common interactions with cattle involve daily feeding , cleaning and milking . Many routine husbandry practices involve ear tagging , dehorning , loading, medical operations , artificial insemination , vaccinations and hoof care, as well as training for agricultural shows and preparations. Around
12636-403: The world. Cattle are kept on farms to produce meat, milk, and leather, and sometimes to pull carts or farm implements. The meat of adult cattle is known as beef , and that of calves as veal . Other body parts are used as food products, including blood, liver , kidney , heart and oxtail . Approximately 300 million cattle, including dairy animals, are slaughtered each year for food. About
12753-579: The world. The bistecca alla fiorentina is produced from its meat. The Chianina is one of the oldest breeds of cattle. It originates in the area of the Valdichiana , from which it takes its name, and the middle Tiber Valley . Chianina cattle have been raised in the Italian regions of Tuscany , Umbria and Lazio for at least 2200 years. Columella , writing about types of oxen in about 55 AD, says " Umbria vastos et albos ..." (VI.I.2), which in
12870-500: Was domesticated long before other animals, becoming established across Eurasia before the end of the Late Pleistocene era, well before agriculture . The archaeological and genetic data suggest that long-term bidirectional gene flow between wild and domestic stocks – such as in donkeys , horses , New and Old World camelids, goats, sheep, and pigs – was common. Human selection for domestic traits likely counteracted
12987-405: Was first domesticated in China some about 9,000 years ago. In Africa, crops such as sorghum were domesticated. Agriculture developed in some 13 centres around the world, domesticating different crops and animals. Three groups of insects, namely ambrosia beetles , leafcutter ants , and fungus-growing termites have independently domesticated species of fungi, on which they feed. In the case of
13104-532: Was gradual and geographically diffuse – happening in many small steps and spread over a wide area – on the evidence of both archaeology and genetics. It was a process of intermittent trial and error and often resulted in diverging traits and characteristics. Whereas domestication of animals impacted most on the genes that controlled behavior, that of plants impacted most on the genes that controlled morphology (seed size, plant architecture, dispersal mechanisms) and physiology (timing of germination or ripening), as in
13221-463: Was highly adapted to the steep hill terrain and entirely suitable to the farms of the time, to mixed agriculture and to the smallholdings of the mezzadri . A typical casa colonica or rural farmhouse in the area had substantial stabling for oxen on the ground floor, while the habitable part was on the floor above. At this time four varieties were distinguishable within the breed, based on phenotypic differences resulting from different environments:
13338-505: Was proposed in the UK in 2011 that milk from tuberculosis -infected cattle should be allowed to enter the food chain. Cattle disease attracted attention in the 1980s and 1990s when bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease) broke out in the United Kingdom . BSE can cross into humans as the deadly variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease ; 178 people in the UK had died from it by 2010. The gut flora of cattle produce methane ,
13455-408: Was the dog , as a commensal , at least 15,000 years ago. Other animals, including goats , sheep , and cows , were domesticated around 11,000 years ago. Among birds, the chicken was first domesticated in East Asia, seemingly for cockfighting, some 7,000 years ago. The horse came under domestication around 5,500 years ago in central Asia as a working animal. Among invertebrates , the silkworm and
13572-411: Was the world's largest producer of cattle hides. Cattle hides account for around 65% of the world's leather production. Cattle are subject to pests including arthropod parasites such as ticks (which can in turn transmit diseases caused by bacteria and protozoa), and diseases caused by pathogens including bacteria and viruses . Some viral diseases are spread by insects - i.e. bluetongue disease
13689-557: Was triggered by the climatic and environmental changes that occurred after the peak of the Last Glacial Maximum and which continue to this present day. These changes made obtaining food by hunting and gathering difficult. The first animal to be domesticated was the dog at least 15,000 years ago. The Younger Dryas 12,900 years ago was a period of intense cold and aridity that put pressure on humans to intensify their foraging strategies but did not favour agriculture. By
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