Cattle

Cattle are considered to have been one of the first animals domesticated by man for agricultural purposes. They were tamed to provide milk, meat and hides and for draft purposes. It is thought they were probably first domesticated in Europe and Asia about 8500 years ago.

Cattle are ruminants, which gives them a unique digestive system that allows the digestion of otherwise unusable foods by regurgitating and re-chewing them as cud. They thrive on grasses and other low quality plants built predominantly of cellulose. Cattle have one stomach that has four compartments.

All breeds of British and European cattle like Angus, Hereford, Charolais and Simmental belong to the tarus species. The humped cattle of the tropical countries like Brahman and Africander belong to the indicus species. Many modern breeds are the result of crossing two or more of the older breeds. Most of the new breeds originating in the United States were developed in the Southern states where the standard breeds lacked resistance to heat and insects and did not thrive on the native grasses. Other animals that are so closely related to true cattle that they can interbreed include the bison, buffalo, and yak.

Purebred cattle breeds have been selectively bred over a long period of time to possess a distinctive identity in color, size, conformation, function and have the ability to transmit more genetic traits to their offspring.

The world cattle population is estimated to be about 1.3 billion head with less than 14% in North America.

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