   #copyright

Cattle

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Food and agriculture

                     iCattle
   Friesian/Holstein cow
   Friesian/Holstein cow

                             Conservation status

   Domesticated
            Scientific classification

   Kingdom:   Animalia
   Phylum:    Chordata
   Class:     Mammalia
   Order:     Artiodactyla
   Family:    Bovidae
   Subfamily: Bovinae
   Genus:     Bos
   Species:   B. taurus

                                Binomial name

   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. They are raised as livestock
   for meat (called beef and veal), dairy products (milk), leather and as
   draught animals (pulling carts, plows and the like). In some countries,
   such as India, they are subject to religious ceremonies and respect. It
   is estimated that there are 1.4 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; Bos indicus, the zebu; and the extinct Bos
   primigenius, the aurochs. The aurochs is ancestral to both zebu and
   European cattle. More recently these three have increasingly been
   grouped as one species, sometimes using the names Bos primigenius
   taurus, Bos primigenius indicus and Bos primigenius primigenius.
   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. It
   derives from the latin caput, head, and thus originally meant "unit of
   livestock" or "one head". The word is closely related to "chattel" (a
   unit of property) and to "capital" in the sense of "property."

   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.

   The term cattle itself is not a plural, but a mass noun. Thus one may
   refer to some cattle, but not three cattle. There is no universally
   used singular equivalent in modern English to cattle other than the
   various gender and age-specific terms (though "catron" is occasionally
   seen as a half-serious proposal). Strictly speaking, the singular noun
   for the domestic bovine is ox: a bull is a male ox and a cow is a
   female ox. That this was once the standard name for domestic bovines is
   shown in placenames such as Oxford. But "ox" is now rarely used in this
   general sense. Today "cow" is frequently used by the general population
   as a gender-neutral term, although it is meant to be used solely to
   mean female (females of other animals, such as whales or elephants, are
   also called cows). To refer to a specific number of these animals
   without specifying their gender, it must be stated as (for example)
   "ten head of cattle." Some Australian, Canadian, New Zealand and
   Scottish farmers use the term "cattlebeast" or simply "beast".

   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. Cows of certain breeds that are
   kept for the milk they give are called dairy cows.

   Young cattle are called calves. A young female before she has calved
   the second time is called a heifer (pronounced "heffer"). A young
   female that has had only one calf is sometimes called a "first-calf
   heifer." In the USA male cattle bred for meat are castrated unless
   needed for breeding. The castrated male is then called a bullock or
   steer, unless kept for draft purposes, in which case it is called an ox
   (plural oxen), not to be confused with the related wild musk ox. If
   castrated as an adult, it is called a stag. An intact male is called a
   bull. An adult female over two years of age (approximately) is called a
   cow. The archaic plural of cow is kine or kyne (which comes from the
   same English stem as cow). The adjective applying to cattle is bovine.

Biology

   Close-up of an Austrian cattle
   Enlarge
   Close-up of an Austrian cattle

   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." The cud is then reswallowed
   and further digested by specialized microorganisms that live in the
   rumen. These microbes are primarily responsible for generating the
   volatile fatty acids (VFAs) that cattle use as their primary metabolic
   fuel. The microbes that live inside of the rumen are also able to
   synthesize amino acids from non-protein nitrogenous sources such as
   urea and ammonia. These features allow cattle to thrive on grasses and
   other vegetation.

   Cattle have four stomachs, with four compartments in each stomach. They
   are the rumen, reticulum, omasum, and abomasum. The rumen is the
   largest compartment and the reticulum is the smallest compartment.
   Cattle sometimes consume pie plates which are deposited in the
   reticulum, and this is where hardware disease occurs. The reticulum is
   known as the "Honeycomb." The omasum's main function is to absorb water
   and nutrients from the digestible feed. The omasum is known as the
   "Many Plies." The abomasum is most like the human stomach; this is why
   it is known as the "True Stomach."

   The aurochs was originally spread throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia.
   In historical times, their range was restricted to Europe, and the last
   animals were killed by poachers in Masovia, Poland, in 1627. 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 colour red. This is incorrect, as cattle are
   colour-blind. The myth arose from the use of red capes in the sport of
   bullfighting; in fact, two different capes are used. The capote is a
   large, flowing cape that is magenta and yellow. The more famous muleta
   is the smaller, red cape, used exclusively for the final, fatal segment
   of the fight. It is not the colour of the cape that angers the bull,
   but rather the movement of the fabric that irritates the bull and
   incites it to charge.

   The gestation period for a cow is nine months. A newborn calf weighs
   approximately 80-100 pounds. Cows' natural lifespan could be 55 years,
   however most modern dairy cows are slaughtered at about 5 to 7 years.

   A single cow emits enough nitrogen gas in a single day to fill 144
   litre bottles.

Uses of cattle

   Cow with calf.
   Enlarge
   Cow with calf.

   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. They are also used as draft animals
   and in certain sports. 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; in many other countries this is illegal. Other sports such
   as bull riding are seen as part of a rodeo, especially in North
   America. Bull-leaping, a central ritual in Bronze Age Minoan culture
   (see Bull (mythology)), still exists in south-western France.

   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

   Hereford cattle grazing in a field at the Nullamunjie Olive Grove in
   Tongio, in Victoria, Australia.
   Enlarge
   Hereford cattle grazing in a field at the Nullamunjie Olive Grove in
   Tongio, in Victoria, Australia.

   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. Many routine husbandry practices involve ear
   tagging, dehorning, loading, medical operations, vaccinations and hoof
   care; 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 can utilise cattle husbandry to reduce M. bovis infection
   susceptibility by selective breeding and maintaining herd health to
   avoid concurrent disease. Cattle are farmed for beef, veal, dairy,
   leather and they are sometimes used simply to maintain grassland for
   wildlife e.g Epping Forest, England. They are often used in some of the
   most wild places for livestock. Depending on the breed, cattle can
   survive on hill grazing, heaths, marshes, moors and semi desert. Modern
   cows are more commercial than older breeds and having become more
   specialised are less versatile. For this reason many smaller farmers
   still favour old breeds, e.g Jersey. 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

   Ploughing with oxen. A miniature from an early-sixteenth-century
   manuscript of the Middle English poem God Spede ye Plough, held at the
   British Museum
   Enlarge
   Ploughing with oxen. A miniature from an early-sixteenth-century
   manuscript of the Middle English poem God Spede ye Plough, held at the
   British Museum
   Draft Zebus in Mumbai, India.
   Enlarge
   Draft Zebus in Mumbai, India.
   Riding an ox in Hova, Sweden.
   Enlarge
   Riding an ox in Hova, Sweden.

   Oxen (plural of ox) are large and heavy set breeds of Bos Taurus cattle
   trained as draft animals. Often they are adult, castrated males.
   Usually an ox is over four years old due to the need for training and
   to allow it to grow to full size. Oxen are used for plowing, transport,
   hauling cargo, grain-grinding by trampling or by powering machines,
   irrigation by powering pumps, and wagon drawing. Oxen were commonly
   used to skid logs in forests, and sometimes still are, in low-impact
   select-cut logging. Oxen are most often used in teams of two, paired,
   for light work such as carting. In the past, teams might have been
   larger, with some teams exceeding twenty animals when used for logging.

   An ox is nothing more than a mature bovine with an "education." The
   education consists of the animal's learning to respond appropriately to
   the teamster's (ox driver's) signals. These signals are given by verbal
   commands or by noise (whip cracks) and many teamsters were known for
   their voices and language. In North America, the commands are (1) get
   up, (2) whoa, (3) back up, (4) gee (turn to the right) and (5) haw
   (turn to the left). Oxen must be painstakingly trained from a young
   age. Their teamster must make or buy as many as a dozen yokes of
   different sizes as the animals grow. A wooden yoke is fastened about
   the neck of each pair so that the force of draft is distributed across
   their shoulders. From calves, oxen are chosen with horns since the
   horns hold the yoke in place when the oxen lower their heads, back up,
   or slow down (particularly with a wheeled vehicle going downhill).
   Yoked oxen cannot slow a load like harnessed horses can; the load has
   to be controlled downhill by other means. The gait of the ox is often
   important to ox trainers, since the speed the animal walks should
   roughly match the gait of the ox driver who must work with it.

   American ox trainers favored larger breeds for their ability to do more
   work and for their intelligence. Because they are larger animals, the
   typical ox is the male of a breed, rather than the smaller female.
   Females are potentially more useful producing calves and milk.

   Oxen can pull harder and longer than horses, particularly on obstinate
   or almost un-movable loads. This is one of the reasons that teams were
   dragging logs from forests long after horses had taken over most other
   draught uses in Europe and the New World. Though not as fast as horses,
   they are less prone to injury because they are more sure-footed and do
   not try to jerk the load.

   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. In the Third World oxen can lead lives of misery, as they
   are frequently malnourished. Oxen are driven with sticks and goads when
   they are weak from malnutrition. When there is insufficient food for
   humans, animal welfare has low priority.

Cattle in religion, traditions and folklore

   A religious illustration from 1890 by the Nagpur Cow Protection League.
   Enlarge
   A religious illustration from 1890 by the Nagpur Cow Protection League.
     * The Evangelist St. Luke is depicted as an Ox in Christian art.
     * In Judaism, as described in Numbers 19:2, the ashes of a sacrificed
       unblemished red heifer that has never been yoked can be used for
       ritual purification of people who came into contact with a corpse.
     * Cows are venerated within the Hindu religion of India. According to
       Vedic scripture they are to be treated with the same respect 'as
       one's mother' because of the milk they provide; "The cow is my
       mother. The bull is my sire.".. They appear in numerous stories
       from the Puranas and Vedas, for example the deity Sri Krishna is
       brought up in a family of cowherders and Lord Shiva is said to ride
       on the back of a bull. Bulls in particular are seen as a symbolic
       emblem of selfless duty and religion. In ancient India every
       household had a few cows which provided a constant supply of milk
       and a few bulls that helped as draft animals. Thus the Hindus felt
       it was economically wise to keep them rather than consume their
       flesh for a single meal. See Sacred cow for more on this topic.
     * The ox is one of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the
       Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. See: Ox (Zodiac).
     * The constellation Taurus represents a bull.
     * For the mythology and lore connected with the bull, see Bull
       (mythology).
     * An apocryphal story has it that a cow started the Great Chicago
       Fire by kicking over a kerosene lamp. Michael Ahern, the reporter
       who created the cow story, admitted in 1893 that he had made it up
       because he thought it would make colorful copy.
     * On February 18, 1930 Elm Farm Ollie became the first cow to fly in
       an airplane and also the first cow to be milked in an airplane.
     * A humorous anecdote among farmers suggests that instant death will
       come to anyone bitten by a cattle's upper front teeth. The joke is
       apparent to anyone who knows that a cow possesses no such teeth.
     * The first known law requiring branding in North America was enacted
       on February 5, 1644 by Connecticut. 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'. This is largely because of the essentially
   stationary and unreactive nature of the domestic cow, which makes them
   appear wry, as well as their propensity for flatulence. The discordant
   sound made by a cow in distress is also held to be very funny.

Gallery

   Highland cow

   Texas Longhorn

   Hereford heifer grazing

   A champion bull

   Riding an ox in Hova, Sweden.

   A cow in the San Diego Zoo.

   Brahman. Heredia Province, Costa Rica.

   Pottery Bull from Chogha Zanbil, Iran.

   Bull

   A clipart image of a Bull.

   Bull with ring in nose

   A well dressed cow in Vrindavan, India

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
