Cattle: characteristics and countries where they are bred, classification

Cattle breeding is practiced in different countries of the world. After all, cows are a source of milk and meat. Animals feed mainly on grass and hay. The costs of their breeding and cultivation are minimal (with grazing and stall maintenance). But the profitability of cattle breeding is high. The main thing is to provide cattle with full care and quality feed.

What is this?

When they say "cattle", they mean domesticated mammals of the Bovine subfamily, usually cows and bulls. Wild representatives - bison, buffaloes, bison.Animals belong to the Bovid family. Cattle have a large dense physique. Body length - 1.3-2 meters, height at the withers - 1.2-1.5 meters, weight - 350-1000 kilograms. Both females and males have horns that grow throughout their lives and are never shed. There are breeds with hereditary polled (hornless).

Cattle are ruminants with a 4-chamber stomach. They feed on grass in summer and hay in winter. They have 32 teeth in their mouths, with no upper incisors or fangs. When grazing in the meadow, the animals grab the grass, tear it off or bite it. After the food is lightly chewed, then swallowed, burped and chewed several more times. This is done for the breakdown and microbial digestion of plant foods.

Animals are bred for milk, meat, skins. There are dairy, meat, milk-meat breeds. One cow gives about 15-20 liters of milk per day. The period of productive use is 10-15 years. The slaughter yield of meat is 50 percent.At the age of 15-18 months, females are ready to mate. Their pregnancy lasts 277-285 days. It's 9 months. Usually the female gives birth to one, less often two or three calves. The weight of a newborn baby cow is 20-30 kg. Until 3-4 months of age, calves feed on mother's milk, and from 1 month of age they begin to nibble grass.

History of domestication

The wild ancestors of cattle are considered tours that were found in Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. Unlike today's cows and bulls, they had a larger body and massive horns.

In the beginning, the ancestors of modern humans simply hunted wild animals. The domestication of tours occurred approximately 8.5 thousand years ago.

The first domestic animals were used for meat and as draft labor. Such cattle had long horns. Relatively small short-horned animals originate from the Celtic and Iberian cattle.Humpbacked cattle appeared in Asian and African countries. The hump in such animals has evolved to adapt to the hot climate.

Domesticated animals were kept and bred in captivity. Over time, people learned to get milk from cows over a long period. Then natural selection began: more productive individuals were selected, new breeds were created. This is how animal husbandry and the opportunity to receive meat and milk at any time of the year appeared.

Most domesticated animals were piebald, white or black. Over time, the body proportions of domestic cattle changed. Those parts that were of great value developed more strongly. This is how the modern cow appeared with a long body, a huge stomach, a short neck, a small head, small horns and a large rounded udder.

Why cattle are bred

Cows and bulls are bred for milk, meat and skins. There is no such country where these animals would not be known and appreciated. Animal husbandry is the main branch of agriculture. Thanks to cattle breeding, farms make a profit all year round, uninterruptedly providing the population with basic food products (milk, cheese, sour cream, beef).

The number of such animals in the world today is about 1.3-1.4 billion heads.

Classification of cattle

There are such classifications of cattle: craniological, economic, geographical, as well as by age and sex.

Craniology

The following types of cattle are distinguished by the shape and parameters of the skull:

narrow-minded (descended from the Asian tour) - Yaroslavl, Dutch, Red Steppe;
broad-browed (derived from the Asian tur with developed frontal bones) - Simmental;
short-horned (from the European tour, having straight and short horns) - Kostroma, Jersey;
short-headed (from the European tour, with a shortened front part of the skull) - Hereford, Tyrolean;
straight-horned (from the African tur, with a narrow head, short forehead, growing upward and crescent-shaped horns) - Kalmyk, Mongolian;
polled (the main characteristic is the absence of horns) - hornless northern European breeds.

By age and gender

Classification by gender and age:

oxen - males castrated in infancy over 3 years old;
cows - females with calves;
bulls - uncastrated males over 3 years old;
calves - young males older than 3 months (but younger than 3 years);
dairy calves - young animals from 14 days to 3 months, fed with milk;
castrated bulls - castrated males from 3 months to 3 years;
heifers are young females that have not yet calved.

Natural areas

Cows are bred in different countries and in different natural and climatic zones. Cattle are grown even in those regions where there are no pastures suitable for grazing. Animals can be housed all year round. Most cows and bulls are in India (about 270 million heads), slightly less in Brazil (153 million) and the USA (100 million). In Russia, this figure is 45 million heads, in Ukraine - 3.5 million heads.

By geographical type, cattle are:

lowland (all dairy breeds);
mountain (Switzerland, Tyrolean);
steppe (red, Ukrainian steppe).

Dairy and meat-and-dairy animal husbandry is developing in the forest and forest-steppe areas of the temperate zone. Animals in these zones are kept in a pasture-stall type. Meat breeds are bred mainly in arid regions of the temperate and subtropical zones.

Hornless animals live in Northern Europe. Humpback cattle dominate the tropics and subtropics.

Main Breeds

Cattle are divided into the following main breeds:

Meat. There are British (Hereford, Shorthorn), French (Saler, Limousin), Italian (Markijian, Kian), Asian (Kalmyk, Kazakh, gray Ukrainian) and hybrid origin (Santa Gertrude, Brangus).
Dairy. The most popular breeds are Yaroslavl, Holstein, Ayrshire, Jersey, Guernsey.
Combined (meat and dairy). Popular species are Alatau, Kostroma, Bestuzhev, Simmental.

Subtleties of breeding

Cattle can be on pasture, pasture-stall and stall content. Animals are raised by farms and people living in rural areas. The main thing when breeding cattle is to provide livestock with feed all year round and create acceptable living conditions for them.

Cows eat mainly grass and hay. In summer, animals are recommended to graze on the pasture. Desirable herbs are legume-grass type, 15 cm high. One cow eats about 55 kilograms of vegetation per day.Drinks almost 30-40 liters of water. For the winter, one animal needs to prepare about 0.5 tons of hay.

During the cold season, cattle should be kept indoors. Cowsheds are equipped with nurseries, feeders, drinkers, maintain a temperature of at least 15 degrees Celsius. Cows are milked 2-3 times a day. One female gives about 15-20 liters of milk per day.

Diseases

Usually, farmers grow those breeds of cattle that are most adapted to the climate of a particular region and have lived in a particular area since time immemorial. Such animals are not prone to colds.

The he alth of cattle depends on the conditions and quality of feed. Errors in care and feeding can lead to mastitis, digestive problems. Animals are protected from infectious diseases at an early age by vaccination. Cattle are vaccinated against anthrax, foot-and-mouth disease, rabies, pneumonia of viral origin.