Livestock

The term LIVESTOCK refers to domesticated animals utilized for food, fibers, hides, fertilizer, and/or labor. The category of livestock includes such domesticated ungulates as bison, camels, cattle, donkeys, goats, horses, llamas, reindeer, sheep, swine/pigs, water buffaloes, and yaks, with cattle and sheep being the two most abundant types of livestock worldwide. Nonungulate livestock include first and foremost poultry, as well as rabbits, guinea pigs, and even honeybees, among other animals. Livestock are usually distinguished from wildlife and pets, although there occasionally is categorical overlap (e.g., farmed ostriches or herding dogs).

The domestication of plants and animals for food began some 11,000 years ago in southwest Asia and was a hallmark of the Neolithic, or New Stone Age. Some humans transitioned from hunting, gathering, and fishing sustenance ...