Domesticated mammals, developed from wild aurochs (Bos taurus); now worldwide with numerous breeds; kept for milk and/or meat or for hauling loads; also known as oxen. The world's cattle population doubled, 196080. The name cattle is sometimes used to include other species (eg banteng, gaur, yak, bison, buffalo, anoa). (Family: Bovidae.)
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Friesian/Holstein cow |
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Bos taurus Linnaeus, 1758 |
Cattle (often called cows in vernacular and contemporary usage, or kye as the Scots plural of cou) are domesticated ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. It is estimated that there are 1.3 billion head of cattle in the world today.
Cattle were originally identified by Carolus Linnaeus as three separate species. These were Bos taurus, the European cattle, including similar types from Africa and Asia; The aurochs is ancestral to both zebu and European cattle. Complicating the matter is the ability of cattle to interbreed with other closely related species. Hybrid individuals and even breeds exist, not only between European cattle and zebu but also with yaks, banteng, gaur, and bison, a cross-genera hybrid. For example, genetic testing of the Dwarf Lulu breed, the only humpless "Bos taurus-type" cattle in Nepal, found them to be a mix of European cattle, zebu and yak. Cattle cannot successfully be bred with water buffalo or African buffalo. (See aurochs for the history of domestication, and zebu for peculiarities of that group.)
Terminology
The word "cattle" did not originate as a name for bovine animals.
Older English sources like King James Version of the Bible refer to livestock in general as cattle. Additionally other species of the genus Bos are often called cattle or wild cattle. This article refers to the common modern meaning of "cattle", the European domestic bovine. To refer to a specific number of these animals without specifying their gender, it must be stated as (for example) "ten head of cattle."
Obsolete terms for cattle include "neat" (horned oxen, from which "neatsfoot oil" is derived), "beef" (young ox) and "beefing" (young animal fit for slaughtering). Cattle raised for human consumption are called beef cattle. Within the beef cattle industry in parts of the United States, the older term beef (plural beeves) is still used to refer to an animal of either gender.
Young cattle are called calves. In the USA male cattle bred for meat are castrated unless needed for breeding. The adjective applying to cattle is bovine.
Biology
Cattle are ruminants, meaning that they have a digestive system that allows them to utilize otherwise undigestible foods by repeatedly regurgitating and rechewing them as "cud." These microbes are primarily responsible for generating the volatile fatty acids (VFAs) that cattle use as their primary metabolic fuel. These features allow cattle to thrive on grasses and other vegetation.
Cattle have four stomachs, with four compartments in each stomach. Cattle sometimes consume pie plates which are deposited in the reticulum, and this is where hardware disease occurs.
The aurochs was originally spread throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia. Breeders have attempted to recreate the original gene pool of the aurochs by careful crossing of commercial breeds, creating the Heck cattle breed.
A popular conception about cattle (primarily bulls) is that they are enraged by the color red. This is incorrect, as cattle are color-blind.
The gestation period for a cow is nine months.
A single cow emits enough nitrogen gas in a single day to fill 144 litre bottles.
Uses of cattle
Cattle occupy a unique role in human history, domesticated since at least the early Neolithic. They are raised for meat (beef cattle), milk (dairy cattle), and hides. Some consider cattle the oldest form of wealth, and cattle raiding consequently the earliest form of theft.
In Portugal, Spain and some Latin American countries, bulls are used in the sport of bullfighting while a similar sport Jallikattu is seen in South India;
The outbreaks of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease) have limited some traditional uses of cattle for food, for example the eating of brains or spinal cords.
Cattle husbandry
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Cattle are often raised by allowing herds to graze on the grasses of large tracts of rangeland called ranches. Raising cattle in this manner allows the productive use of land that might be unsuitable for growing crops. The most common interactions with cattle involve daily feeding, cleaning and milking. some of these enhancing the cattle's welfare in the long term but tending to create negative qualities to human-animal interactions. A stockperson’s attitude, behaviour, gender, previous experiences, and culture are known to be important in cattle handling. The importance of cultural factors is emphasised when comparing cattle management in Europe compared to nomadic Fulani cattle management in Africa. The cattle husbandry of Fulani men rests on behavioural techniques, whereas in Europe cattle are controlled primarily by physical means like fences.
Breeders utilise cattle husbandry to reduce the susceptibility of cattle to M. Cattle are farmed for beef, veal, dairy, leather and they are sometimes used simply to maintain grassland for wildlife e.g Epping Forest, England. Depending on the breed, cattle can survive on hill grazing, heaths, marshes, moors and semi desert. When more people started to settle in America farmers tended to have huge herds of cattle over massive pieces of land - this is ranching.
Ox
Oxen (plural of ox) are large and heavy set breeds of Bos Taurus cattle trained as draft animals.
An ox is nothing more than a mature bovine with an "education."
American ox trainers favored larger breeds for their ability to do more work and for their intelligence.
Oxen can pull harder and longer than horses, particularly on obstinate or almost un-movable loads.
An "ox" is not a unique breed of bovine, nor have any "blue" oxen lived outside the folk tales surrounding Paul Bunyan, the mythical American logger.
Many oxen are still in use worldwide, especially in developing countries.
Cattle in religion, traditions and folklore
The Evangelist St. Luke is depicted as an Ox in Christian art. A humorous anecdote among farmers suggests that instant death will come to anyone bitten by a cattle's upper front teeth. It said that all cattle and pigs have to have a registered brand or earmark by May 1, 1644.Cattle in popular culture
Cattle are thought by many to be inherently funny, and appear often in popular culture. Most of the time, the cattle in question is a Holstein cow, since this breed's black on white markings best represent a stereotypical 'cow'.
Gallery
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Highland cow |
Texas Longhorn |
Hereford heifer grazing |
A champion bull |
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Riding an ox in Hova, Sweden. |
A cow in the San Diego Zoo. |
Brahman. |
Pottery Bull from Chogha Zanbil, Iran. |
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Bull |
A clipart image of a Bull. |
Bull with ring in nose |
A well dressed cow in Vrindavan, India |
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