Livestock are the domesticated animals that are raised in an agricultural setting mainly to provide labor and produce diversified animal products for human consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals which are raised for consumption, and sometimes used to refer solely to farmed ruminants, such as cattle, sheep, and goats.
The breeding, maintenance, slaughter and general subjugation of livestock, called animal husbandry, is a part of modern agriculture and 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 periods. They continue to play a major economic and cultural role in numerous communities.
Livestock farming practices have largely shifted to intensive animal farming. Such farming increases the yield of the various commercial outputs, but also impairs animal welfare, the environment, and public health. In particular, beef, dairy and sheep are an outsized source of greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture.
Etymology
The word livestock was first used between 1650 and 1660, as a compound word combining the words "live" and "stock". In some periods, "cattle" and "livestock" have been used interchangeably. Over the 19th century, the meaning of livestock and cattle shifted, leading to the modern meaning of cattle referring to domesticated bovines, whilst livestock is used in a wider sense. 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".
Horses are considered livestock in the United States. The USDA classifies pork, veal (meat of young cows, usually 5–8 months old), beef, and lamb (mutton) as livestock, and all livestock as red meat. Poultry and fish are not included in the category. The latter is likely because fish products are not governed by the USDA, but by the FDA.
Deadstock is defined in contradistinction to or as the opposite of 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.cbc.ca: "Police launch investigation into Aylmer Meat Packers", 28 August 2003
History
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 natural world.
Dogs were domesticated early; dogs appear in Europe and the Far East from about 15,000 years ago. Goats and sheep were domesticated in multiple events sometime between 11,000 and 5,000 years ago in Southwest Asia. Pigs were domesticated by 8,500 BC in the Near East and 6,000 BC in China. Domestication of horses dates to around 4,000 BC. Cattle have been domesticated since approximately 10,500 years ago. Chickens and other poultry may have been domesticated around 7,000 BC.
Types
The term "livestock" is indistinct and may be defined narrowly or broadly. Broadly, livestock refers to any population of animals kept by humans for a useful, commercial purpose.
Animal Ancestor Domestication Utilization Picture Horse Tarpan Eurasia Riding, racing, carrying and pulling loads, meat, milk Donkey African wild ass Africa Carrying loads and draught Cow Eurasian aurochs Eurasia Meat, milk and draught Zebu Indian aurochs Eurasia Milk, meat and draught Bali cattle Banteng SE Asia Meat, milk and draught Yak Wild yak Tibet Pack animals, milk, meat and hide Water buffalo Wild water buffalo India and SE Asia Meat, milk and carrying loads Gayal Gaur India and Malaysia Carrying loads and draught Sheep Mouflon Iran and Asia Minor Meat, milk and fleece. Goat Bezoar ibex Greece and Pakistan Meat, milk and fleece Reindeer Reindeer Eurasia Draught, milk, flesh and hide Bactrian camel Wild Bactrian camel Central Asia Riding, racing, meat, milk and fur Arabian camel Thomas' camel North Africa and SW Asia Riding, racing, meat and milk Llama Guanaco Andes Pack animals, meat, fleece Alpaca vicuña Andes Meat, fleece Domestic Pig Wild boar Eurasia Meat, Companionship, truffle hunting Domestic Dog Wolf Eurasia and North America Companionship, hunting Chicken red junglefowl Southeast Asia Meat, egg Domestic duck Mallard Southern China Meat, egg Domestic goose Greylag goose, swan goose Egypt, Siberia Meat, egg Domestic turkey Wild turkey Central Mexico Meat, egg Domestic guinea fowl Helmeted guinea fowl North Africa Meat, egg Rabbit European rabbit Europe Meat, wool, fur Guinea pig Montane guinea pig Andes Meat
Micro-livestock Micro-livestock is the term used for much-smaller animals, usually mammals. The two predominant 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), but does include poultry (poultry farming).
Farming practices
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 their products, such as wool, eggs, milk and blood (by the Maasai) were harvested while the animal was still alive.
In the traditional system of transhumance, humans 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.
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. 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. 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.
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. At the other extreme, in the more Western 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; pigs may be housed in climate-controlled buildings and never go outdoors; 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.
Predation Livestock farmers have often dealt with natural world animals' predation and theft by rustlers. In North America, animals such as gray wolves, grizzly bears, cougars, and coyotes are sometimes considered a threat to livestock. In Eurasia and Africa, predators include wolves, leopards, tigers, lions, dholes, Asiatic black bears, crocodiles, spotted hyenas, and other carnivores. In South America, feral dogs, jaguars, anacondas, and spectacled bears are threats to livestock. In Australia, dingoes, foxes, and wedge-tailed eagles are common predators, with an additional threat from domestic dogs who may kill in response to a hunting instinct, leaving the carcass uneaten.Northern Daily Leader, 20 May 2010, Dogs mauled 30 sheep (and killed them), p.3, Rural Press
Disease
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 the animals, they are required to follow the guidelines for treatment and to record the treatments given.
Animals are susceptible to a number of diseases and conditions that may affect their health. Some, like classical swine fever and scrapie are specific to one population of animals, while others, like foot-and-mouth disease affect all cloven-hoofed animals. Where the condition is serious, governments impose regulations on import and export, on the movement of livestock, 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 considered poor practice in many countries because of the risk that it may lead to antibiotic resistance. Animals living under intensive conditions are particularly prone to internal and external parasites; increasing numbers of sea lice are affecting farmed salmon in Scotland. Reducing the parasite burdens of livestock results in increased productivity and profitability.
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.
Transportation and marketing
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.
Truck transport is now common in developed countries.
Local and regional livestock auctions and specialized agricultural 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 Canada's capacity. It closed when some of its workers became infected with coronavirus disease 2019. 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. 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 non-Western 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.Markets from research to outcomes , Farming Matters, Challenge Program on Water and Food, June 2013
In stock shows, farmers bring their best livestock to compete with one another.Australian Screen: Agricultural shows
Biomass
Humans and livestock make up more than 90% of the biomass of all terrestrial vertebrates, and almost as much as all insects combined.
Economic and social benefits