Domestication of Animals

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Domestication of Animals

• Domesticate to adapt the behavior of an animal
  to fit the needs of people

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• Domestication of animals began when humans had
  contact with wild animals long ago. Humans then
  started to confine wild animals to ensure a
  supply of food and clothing.
• These animals were bred in captivity. Later
  humans picked animals with desirable traits to
  use for breeding.
• When man started to domesticate animals he began
  a more settled way of life.

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• With a more consistent food supply came a higher
  population, therefore, the labor was divided
  amongst the tribe.
• Some historians believe without the domestication
  of animals the human race may have never become
  civilized.

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Cattle

• Bos taurus are domestic cattle that came from
  either the Aurochs or the Celtic Shorthorn.
• Bos indicus are the humped cattle found in
  tropical climates. They are more tolerant to
  some diseases, parasites, and heat than are
  cattle that came from Bos taurus.

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• Early man used cattle for work, meat, and milk.
  Cattle were also a sign of wealth.
• Selection and crossbreeding of cattle for
  different purposes began early in the history of
  agriculture

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• Cattle are not native to the US. Cattle were
  brought to America in 1493 by Christopher
  Columbus on his second voyage. The first large
  numbers of cattle were brought to America by the
  English with the founding of Jamestown in 1611.

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• The number of cattle began to grow. The pioneers
  took them with them as they traveled west. There
  was a major increase in the Great Plains of large
  cattle herds because of the plentiful grazing
  land.

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• Early pioneers took both dairy cattle and beef
  cattle with them on their journey west. Before
  the 1850s, every family had at least one or two
  dairy cows to provide milk and butter. By the
  second half of the nineteenth century, however,
  dairy herds began to become larger because of the
  increase in the dairy market.

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• The number of dairy cattle increased until the
  middle of the 1940s when they reached a peak..
  Since then, the dairy cattle population has been
  steadily declining.

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• Selection to identify and use for breeding
  purposes those animals with traits that are
  considered by the breeder to be desirable.
• Crossbreeding the mating of animals of
  different breeds.

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Swine

• American breeds of swine come form two wild
  stocks the European wild boar and the East
  Indian pig.

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• The first use of pigs for food probably occurred
  in the Neolithic Age. Chinese were the first
  people to tame swine. Swine were brought to the
  US by Christopher Columbus in 1493 on his second
  voyage. More swine were brought later by the
  Spanish explorers.

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• English settlers brought swine with them also.
  Herds grew quickly in size and soon production
  was soon more than the local need.
• The main expansion in the swine industry occurred
  in the Corn Belt states because of the available
  feed for finishing hogs for market.

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Sheep

• Sheep were one of the first animals tamed by the
  human race. The ancestry of sheep is not as
  known as the other domestic animals. There are
  more than 200 breeds of sheep in the world. All
  of them are timid, defenseless, and the least
  intelligent of the tamed animals.

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• Most of the sheep today probably came from the
  wild sheep called moufflons and the Asiatic
  urial.
• The only sheep native to North America are the
  Big Horn or Rocky Mountain sheep. The
  present-day sheep were imported by Christopher
  Columbus in 1493 on his second voyage.

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• Sheep were used by the early colonist mainly for
  their wool production
• The Northeastern part of the US was the
  sheep-producing center of the country by the
  1810. The sheep population increased until, by
  1840, there were 19 million sheep in the US. The
  center of the sheep-producing moved west when
  inexpensive rangeland became available.

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Goats

• Goats may have been the first tamed animals in
  Western Asia.
• Goats are closely related to sheep.

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• Early goat importations into the US came from
  Switzerland.
• Most of the increase in milk goat numbers has
  occurred since 1900.
• Milk goats are found all over the US.
• Many are kept on small farms, and there are few
  large herds of milk goats.

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Differences Between Goats and Sheep

• Sheep have stockier bodies than goats.
• Goats have shorter tails than sheep.
• Goat horns are long and grow upward, backward,
  and outward sheep horns are spirally twisted.

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• Male goats have beards male sheep do not.
• Male goats give off a strong odor in the rutting
  (breeding) season male sheep do not.
• Goats do not have scent glands in the face and
  feet sheep do have these scent glands.

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• Goats are more intelligent than sheep and have a
  greater ability to fight and fend for themselves
  than do sheep.
• Goats can easily return to the wild state sheep
  cannot.

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Horses

• The horse evolved from a tiny four-toed ancestor
  called Eohippus.
• Eohippus was about a foot high and lived in
  swamps about 58 million years ago. The Eohippus
  grew gradually, and eventually adapted to the
  prairie.

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• The horse was more than likely tamed later than
  other farm animals. The horse was brought to the
  US by Christopher Columbus on his second voyage
  in 1493.
• Early colonist brought saddle horses and draft
  horses to US.

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• Oxen had been the main draft animal of the
  colonists
• Draft animal animal used to pull loads.
• Horses served mainly as pack animals and for
  riding.

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• The early development of the horse was in the US
  was mostly associated with riding on plantations.
• Horse racing developed into a sport in the 1700s
  and early 1800s.
• With development of other power sources, the use
  of the draft horse on farms became less common.
• Most Horses in US are used for recreation.

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Poultry

• Chickens were being raised by the Chinese about
  1400 B.C.
• Although poultry and eggs were used for food
  early in history, poultry raising has only
  recently become a major commercial enterprise.

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• In the past, most poultry were raised for the
  familys own use.
• The turkey was probably tamed by the people
  originally living in America. Most of the
  American breeds were probable developed from the
  species found in the United States.

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• Ducks were tamed at an early date. The wild
  mallard duck is thought to be the ancestor of all
  domestic reeds of ducks.
• The goose was probably tamed shortly after the
  chicken. It was regarded as a sacred bird in
  Egypt 4,000 years ago.

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• Poultry were brought to the New World by the
  early pioneers and colonists.
• The American poultry industry grew out o f the
  small home flocks raised by early settlers.
  Poultry raising used to be mainly a small
  enterprise on the farm, however, as the
  population grew, the demand for poultry products
  increased.

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• Today most poultry is raised in large confinement
  flocks and few small farm flocks remain. Much of
  the poultry industry is concentrated in the
  southern part of the United States.

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Consumption of Livestock Products

• In recent years, there has been a decrease in per
  capita consumption of red meats, dairy products,
  and eggs.
• Per capita consumption of chicken and turkey has
  increased.

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• Eating habits have also been influenced by more
  food consumption away form home and an increase
  in demand for meals that are quick and easy.
• Milk and animal fats are a source of cholesterol
  in the diet.

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• A greater effort is being made to coordinate meat
  production among producers, packers, and
  processors to meet consumer concerns.
• The meat industry is promoting and marketing
  meats that will meet the needs of the consumer.

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Animal Identification

• There are a variety of methods currently used to
  identify animals. These include ear tags, ear
  notching, tattoos, electronic collars, electronic
  ear tags, ear buttons, implants, microchips, and
  rumen boluses with microchips installed.

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• The livestock industry is in the process of
  developing a system of unique identifying
  numbers that can be utilized with one or more of
  the methods currently in use of livestock ID and
  that can be used to establish a database of
  information about individual animals.

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Food Safety

• Even though the US has the safest food supply in
  the world, food safety is becoming a major area
  of concern among consumers. Much of this concern
  is fueled by special-interest groups consumer
  groups, and the news media.

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• Some of the major issues regarding food safety
  include
• Bacteria contamination
• Pesticides in food
• Drug residues in food
• Irradiation of food
• Genetic engineering
• Contamination of food by processors

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• Consumers are looking for zero health risk in
  relation to their food.
• Most of the problems with food-borne illness are
  caused by bacteria (66). Other sources include
  chemical (25),viral (5), and parasitic(4).