Livestock

1. Livestock
For other uses, see Livestock (disambiguation).
Cattle on a pasture in Austria
Sheep in the Parc National des Ecrins (France)
Livestock is commonly defined as domesticated animals raised in
an agricultural setting to produce labor and commodities such
as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to
refer solely to those that are bred for consumption, while other times it refers
only to farmed ruminants, such as cattle, sheep and goats.[1]
Horses are
considered livestock in the United States.[2]
The USDA classifies pork, veal,
beef, and lamb (mutton) as livestock and all livestock as red
meat. Poultry and fish are not included in the category.[3]
The breeding, maintenance, and slaughter of livestock, known as animal
husbandry, is a component of modern agriculture that has been practiced in
many cultures since humanity's transition to farming from hunter-
gatherer lifestyles. Animal husbandry practices have varied widely across
cultures and time periods, and continues to play a major economic and
cultural role in numerous communities.
Livestock farming practices have largely shifted to intensive animal farming,
sometimes referred to as "factory farming"; over 99% of livestock in the US
are now raised in this way.[4]
Intensive animal farming increases the yield of
the various commercial outputs, but has also led to negative impacts
on animal welfare, the environment, and public health.[5]
In particular,
livestock, especially beef, dairy and sheep stocks, have out-sized influence
on greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. Due to these negative
impacts, but also for reasons of farming efficiency (see Food vs. feed), one
projection argues there will be a large decline of livestock at least some
animals (e.g. cattle) in certain countries by 2030,[6][7]
and the book The End
of Animal Farming argues that all animal husbandry will end by 2100.[8]
Etymology[edit]
This Australian road sign uses the less common term "stock" for livestock.
The word livestock was first used between 1650 and 1660, as a compound
word combining the words "live" and "stock".[9]
In some periods, "cattle" and

2. "livestock" have been used interchangeably. Today,[specify]
the modern
meaning of cattle is domesticated bovines, while livestock has a wider
sense.[10]
United States federal legislation defines the term to make specified
agricultural commodities eligible or ineligible for a program or activity. For
example, the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act of 1999 (P.L. 106–78, Title
IX) defines livestock only as cattle, swine, and sheep, while the 1988 disaster
assistance legislation defined the term as "cattle, sheep, goats, swine,
poultry (including egg-producing poultry), equine animals used for food or in
the production of food, fish used for food, and other animals designated by
the Secretary".[11]
Deadstock is defined in contradistinction to livestock as "animals that have
died before slaughter, sometimes from illness or disease". It is illegal in many
countries, such as Canada, to sell or process meat from dead animals for
human consumption.[12]
History[edit]
Further information: History of agriculture
Animal-rearing originated during the cultural transition to settled farming
communities from hunter-gatherer lifestyles. Animals are domesticated when
their breeding and living conditions are controlled by humans. Over time, the
collective behaviour, lifecycle and physiology of livestock have changed
radically. Many modern farmed animals are unsuited to life in the wild.
The dog was domesticated early; dogs appear in Europe and the Far East
from about 15,000 years ago.[13]
Goats and sheep were domesticated in
multiple events sometime between 11,000 and 5,000 years ago in Southwest
Asia.[14]
Pigs were domesticated by 8,500 BC in the Near East[15]
and 6,000
BC in China.[16]
Domestication of the horse dates to around 4,000
BC.[17]
Cattle have been domesticated since approximately 10,500 years
ago.[18][specify]
Chickens and other poultry may have been domesticated
around 7,000 BC.[19]
Types[edit]
The term "livestock" is indistinct and may be defined narrowly or broadly.
Broadly, livestock refers to any breed or population of animal kept by humans
for a useful, commercial purpose.

3. Animal
Wild
ancestor
Domestication Utilization Picture
Horse Tarpan Mongolia
Riding, racing,
carrying and pulling
loads, meat, milk
Donkey
African
wild ass
Africa
Beast of burden and
draught
Cattle
Eurasian
aurochs
Eurasia
Meat, milk and
draught
Zebu
Indian
aurochs
Eurasia
Milk, meat and
draught
Bali
cattle
Banteng SE Asia
Meat, milk and
draught

4. Yak Wild yak Tibet
Pack animal, milk,
meat and hide
Water
buffalo
Wild water
buffalo
India and SE
Asia
Meat, milk and beast
of burden
Micro-livestock[edit]
Main articles: Rodent farming and Rabbit farming
See also: Animal husbandry § Range of species
Micro-livestock is the term used for much-smaller animals, usually mammals.
The two predominate categories are rodents and lagomorphs (rabbits).
Even-smaller animals are kept and raised, such as crickets and honey bees.
Micro-livestock does not generally include fish (aquaculture) or chickens
(poultry farming).
Farming practices[edit]
Goat family with 1-week-old kid
Farrowing site in a natural cave in northern Spain
Main article: Animal husbandry
Traditionally, animal husbandry was part of the subsistence farmer's way of
life, producing not only the food needed by the family but also the fuel,
fertiliser, clothing, transport and draught power. Killing the animal for food
was a secondary consideration, and wherever possible its products, such as
wool, eggs, milk and blood (by the Maasai) were harvested while the animal
was still alive.[20]
In the traditional system of transhumance, people and livestock moved
seasonally between fixed summer and winter pastures; in montane regions
the summer pasture was up in the mountains, the winter pasture in the
valleys.[21]

5. Animals can be kept extensively or intensively. Extensive systems involve
animals roaming at will, or under the supervision of a herdsman, often for
their protection from predators. Ranching in the Western United
States involves large herds of cattle grazing widely over public and private
lands.[22]
Similar cattle stations are found in South America, Australia and
other places with large areas of land and low rainfall. Ranching systems have
been used for sheep, deer, ostrich, emu, llama and alpaca.[23]
In the uplands
of the United Kingdom, sheep are turned out on the fells in spring and graze
the abundant mountain grasses untended, being brought to lower altitudes
late in the year, with supplementary feeding being provided in winter.[24]
In rural locations, pigs and poultry can obtain much of their nutrition from
scavenging, and in African communities, hens may live for months without
being fed, and still produce one or two eggs a week.[20]
At the other extreme,
in the more developed parts of the world, animals are often intensively
managed; dairy cows may be kept in zero-grazing conditions with all their
forage brought to them; beef cattle may be kept in high
density feedlots;[25]
pigs may be housed in climate-controlled buildings and
never go outdoors;[26]
poultry may be reared in barns and kept in cages as
laying birds under lighting-controlled conditions. In between these two
extremes are semi-intensive, often family-run farms where livestock graze
outside for much of the year, silage or hay is made to cover the times of year
when the grass stops growing, and fertiliser, feed and other inputs are bought
onto the farm from outside.[27]
Predation[edit]
Livestock farmers have suffered from wild animal predation and theft
by rustlers. In North America, animals such as the gray wolf, grizzly
bear, cougar, and coyote are sometimes considered a threat to livestock. In
Eurasia and Africa, predators include the
wolf, leopard, tiger, lion, dhole, Asiatic black bear, crocodile, spotted hyena,
and other carnivores. In South America, feral dogs, jaguars, anacondas,
and spectacled bears are threats to livestock. In Australia, the dingo, fox,
and wedge-tailed eagle are common predators, with an additional threat from
domestic dogs that may kill in response to a hunting instinct, leaving the
carcass uneaten.[28][29]
Disease[edit]

6. Good husbandry, proper feeding, and hygiene are the main contributors to
animal health on farms, bringing economic benefits through maximised
production. When, despite these precautions, animals still become sick, they
are treated with veterinary medicines, by the farmer and the veterinarian. In
the European Union, when farmers treat their own animals, they are required
to follow the guidelines for treatment and to record the treatments given.[30]
Animals are susceptible to a number of diseases and conditions that may
affect their health. Some, like classical swine fever[31]
and scrapie[32]
are
specific to one type of stock, while others, like foot-and-mouth disease affect
all cloven-hoofed animals.[33]
Where the condition is serious, governments
impose regulations on import and export, on the movement of
stock, quarantine restrictions and the reporting of suspected
cases. Vaccines are available against certain diseases, and antibiotics are
widely used where appropriate.
At one time, antibiotics were routinely added to certain compound foodstuffs
to promote growth, but this is now[specify]
considered poor practice in many
countries because of the risk that it may lead to antibiotic
resistance.[34]
Animals living under intensive conditions are particularly prone
to internal and external parasites; increasing numbers of sea lice are
affecting farmed salmon in Scotland.[35]
Reducing the parasite burdens of
livestock results in increased productivity and profitability.[36]
According to the Special Report on Climate Change and Land, Livestock
diseases are expected to get worse as climate change increases
temperature and precipitation variability.[37]
Transportation and marketing[edit]
Pigs being loaded into their transport
Main article: Livestock transportation
Further information: Agricultural show
Since many livestock are herd animals, they were historically driven to
market "on the hoof" to a town or other central location. The method is still
used in some parts of the world.[38]
Truck transport is now common in developed countries.[39]
Local and regional livestock auctions and commodity markets facilitate trade
in livestock. In Canada at the Cargill slaughterhouse in High River, Alberta,
2,000 workers process 4,500 cattle per day, or more than one-third of

7. Canada's capacity. It closed when some of its workers became infected
with coronavirus disease 2019.[40][41]
The Cargill plant together with the JBS
plant in Brooks, Alberta and the Harmony Beef plant in Balzac,
Alberta represent fully three-quarters of the Canadian beef supply.[41]
In other
areas, livestock may be bought and sold in a bazaar or wet market, such as
may be found in many parts of Central Asia.
In developing countries, providing access to markets has encouraged
farmers to invest in livestock, with the result being improved livelihoods. For
example, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid
Tropics (ICRISAT) has worked in Zimbabwe to help farmers make their most
of their livestock herds.[42]
In stock shows, farmers bring their best livestock to compete with one
another.[43]
Environmental impact[edit]
Main article: Environmental effects of meat production
Mean greenhouse gas emissions for different food types[44]
Food Types
Greenhouse Gas Emissions (g CO2-Ceq per g
protein)
Ruminant Meat 62
Recirculating Aquaculture 30
Trawling Fishery 26
Non-recirculating
Aquaculture
12
Pork 10
Poultry 10
Dairy 9.1
Non-trawling Fishery 8.6

8. Eggs 6.8
Starchy Roots 1.7
Wheat 1.2
Maize 1.2
Legumes 0.25
Animal husbandry has a significant impact on the world environment. It is
responsible for somewhere between 20 and 33% of the fresh water usage in
the world,[45]
and livestock, and the production of feed for them, occupy about
a third of Earth's ice-free land.[46]
Livestock production is a contributing factor
in species extinction, desertification,[47]
and habitat destruction.[48]
Meat is
considered one of the prime factors contributing to the current sixth mass
extinction.[49][50][51][52]
Animal agriculture contributes to species extinction in
various ways. Habitat is destroyed by clearing forests and converting land to
grow feed crops and for animal grazing (for example, animal husbandry is
responsible for up to 91% of the deforestation in the Amazon region[53]
), while
predators and herbivores are frequently targeted and hunted because of a
perceived threat to livestock profits.
Livestock production requires large areas of land.
In addition, livestock produce greenhouse gases. The IPCC
(Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has estimated that agriculture
(including not only livestock, but also food crop, biofuel and other production)
accounted for about 10 to 12 percent of global anthropogenic greenhouse
gas emissions (expressed as 100-year carbon dioxide equivalents) in
2005[54]
and in 2010.[55]
Cows produce some 570 million cubic metres of
methane per day,[56]
that accounts for from 35 to 40% of the overall methane
emissions of the planet.[57]
Livestock is responsible for 65% of all human-
related emissions of the powerful and long-lived greenhouse gas nitrous
oxide.[57]
As a result, ways of mitigating animal husbandry's environmental
impact are being studied. Strategies include using biogas from manure.[58]
Economic and social benefits[edit]
Global distribution data for cattle, buffaloes, horses, sheep, goats, pigs,
chickens and ducks in 2010.

9. The value of global livestock production in 2013 has been estimated at 883
billion dollars, (constant 2005–2006 dollars).[59]
Livestock provide a variety of food and nonfood products; the latter include
leather, wool, pharmaceuticals, bone products, industrial protein, and fats.
For many abattoirs, very little animal biomass may be wasted at slaughter.
Even intestinal contents removed at slaughter may be recovered for use as
fertilizer. Livestock manure helps maintain the fertility of grazing lands.
Manure is commonly collected from barns and feeding areas to fertilize
cropland. In some places, animal manure is used as fuel, either directly (as
in some developing countries), or indirectly (as a source of methane for
heating or for generating electricity). In regions where machine power is
limited, some classes of livestock are used as draft stock, not only
for tillage and other on-farm use, but also for transport of people and goods.
In 1997, livestock provided energy for between an estimated 25 and 64% of
cultivation energy in the world's irrigated systems, and that 300 million draft
animals were used globally in small-scale agriculture.[60]
Although livestock production serves as a source of income, it can provide
additional economic values for rural families, often serving as a major
contributor to food security and economic security. Livestock can serve as
insurance against risk[61]
and is an economic buffer (of income and food
supply) in some regions and some economies (e.g., during some African
droughts). However, its use as a buffer may sometimes be limited where
alternatives are present,[62]
which may reflect strategic maintenance of
insurance in addition to a desire to retain productive assets. Even for some
livestock owners in developed nations, livestock can serve as a kind of
insurance.[63]
Some crop growers may produce livestock as a strategy for
diversification of their income sources, to reduce risks related to weather,
markets and other factors.[64][65]
Many studies[which?]
have found evidence of the social, as well as economic,
importance of livestock in developing countries and in regions of rural
poverty, and such evidence is not confined to pastoral
and nomadic societies.[61][66][67][68][69]
Social values in developed countries can also be considerable. For example,
in a study of livestock ranching permitted on national forest land in New
Mexico, US, it was concluded that "ranching maintains traditional values and
connects families to ancestral lands and cultural heritage", and that a "sense
of place, attachment to land, and the value of preserving open space were
common themes". "The importance of land and animals as means of

10. maintaining culture and way of life figured repeatedly in permittee responses,
as did the subjects of responsibility and respect for land, animals, family, and
community."[70]