Domestication of cattle

Cattle were the first domestic animas capable of pulling a plough. The earliest evidence for the domestication of cattle, during the 8,000 BC, points toward the marshland and forest of the Middle Euphrates Basin. 

Humped Zebu (Bos indicus) are believed to have been domesticated around 7000 to 8000 years ago, in the Indus Valley region of modern Pakistan.

Early man used cattle for draft, meat and milk. Cattle were also a measure of wealth.

Several breeds of domesticated cattle were known by 2500 B.C. An interesting frieze from Ur, dating from 3000 B.C, shows that cows were then milked from the rear.

About this same time the fattening of cattle by forced feeding was practiced in Egypt.

In the late nineteenth century, Eduard Hahn has argued that domestication of cattle emerged from religious practices based on awe, fear and admiration of the great bulls, which sometimes stood two meters at the withers.

Modern cattle are descendants of Bos taurus and Bos indicus. Bos taurus are domestic cattle that came from either the Aurochs or the Celtic Shorthorn.
Domestication of cattle

Domesticated cattle

Taxonomy places domesticated cattle within the mammalian Bovidae family, which belongs to the order Artiodactyla or even toed ungulates.

The two main groups of domesticated cattle, Bos Taurus (European) and B. indicus (India and Africa), are descended from B. primigenius, the original wild cattle or aurochs.

The last representatives of the aurochs died in Poland in 1627. Bos Taurus cattle predominated in the temperate lands of Europe, West Africa and northern Asia, whereas Bos indicus cattle generally inhabit the hot-arid or semi-arid regions of South Asia and Africa.

Although variation in type was high amongst the aurochs, the bulls frequently had large horns and a dark coat with a white stripe along the back. These characteristics are found in the cave paintings of Lascaux. Selection and crossbreeding of cattle for different purposes began early in the history of agriculture.

Selection and crossbreeding resulting in improvement of the animal and the development of different breeds.

In the developing world cattle served many functions, including food production as work animals and to maintain grassland.

In the industrialized world, specialized breeds dominate milk and meat production.
Domesticated cattle