Cattle

Cattle (often called cows in vernacular and modern usage or key as the Scots plural of cow) are domesticated ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovine of the family Bovidae. They are raised as cattle for meat (called beef and veal), dairy products (milk), and leather and as draught animals (pulling carts, plows and the like). In some countries, such as India, they are subject to religious ceremonies and respect. It is predictable that there are 1.4 billion head of cattle in the world today.

Cattle were initially identified by Carol’s Linnaeus as three separate species. These were Bos Taurus, the European cattle, including parallel types from Africa and Asia; Bos indices, the zebu; and the dead Bos primigenius, the aurochs. The aurochs is ancestral to both zebu and European cattle. More newly these three have increasingly been grouped as one species, occasionally using the names Bos primigenius Taurus, Bos primigenius indices and Bos primigenius. Complicating the matter is the aptitude of cattle to interbreed with other closely related species. Hybrid individuals and even breeds exist, not only between European cattle and zebu but also with yaks, banteng, gaur, and bison, a cross-genera hybrid. For instance, genetic testing of the Dwarf Lulu breed, the only hump less "Bos taurus-type" cattle in Nepal, found them to be a mix of European cattle, zebu and yak. Cattle cannot profitably be bred with water buffalo or African buffalo.

Cattle occupy a single role in human history, domesticated because at least the early Neolithic. They are raised for meat (beef cattle), milk (dairy cattle), and hides. They are also used as draft animals and in convinced sports. Some consider cattle the oldest form of wealth, and cattle raiding consequently one of the initial forms of theft.

In Portugal, Spain and some Latin American countries, bulls are used in the sport of bullfighting while a alike sport, Jallikattu, is seen in South India; in many other countries this is illegal. Other sports such as bull riding are seen as division of a rodeo, especially in North America. Bull-leaping, a central ritual in Bronze Age Minoan culture still exists in south-western France. The outbreaks of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease) have limited some customary uses of cattle for food, for example the eating of brains or spinal cords.

In modern times, cattle are also used for judging in agricultural competitions. In these competitions, the cows are judged in a class, where the judge, after judging the cattle, announces a champion. These competitions can involve live cattle or carcasses, which are both judged to decide which cow is the best.