Cattle - Tame And Wild - Part 1

In the simplest of terms, long ago all men lived by hunting, fishing, gathering the fruits of the forest and digging wild roots and bulbs. There were only a few people then, as compared with now, and they did not generally live as long as we do now.

One reason for this was that when anything happened to the natural crops or the game, many died of starvation. Then one day someone tamed a young member of the wolf family and trained it to help in the hunt. The wolf dog was the first of the wild animals to come into man's home and help him to get food.

After dogs had been tamed and trained for a time, somewhere someone decided that cattle could be tamed too. It would be a good thing to keep a few calves until they grew large and until a time of need came. However, this was not east.

The wild cattle of Europe and Asia were great, fierce animals. The bulls would fight lions and bears, and they were dangerous game for the poorly armed men, even when the men were helped by dogs.

Perhaps the first calf in captivity was secured when a cow was killed and the partly grown calf stayed with its mother when the herd ran away. Later, other calves were caught this way, and so man learned to keep herds and breed cattle.

A long period of human history followed when the most civilized groups of men depended greatly on their herds of cattle and other animals. They lived in tents and moved from pasture to pasture. They learned to use milk and make cheese and butter.

They lived largely on these products and on the flesh of their herds.

Clothing was made out of the skin of their animals and their dogs were trained to help keep herds together and protect beasts from wild animals.

The Biblical father -- Abraham, Isaac and Jacob -- lived this pastoral life and even recently many peoples in the East and in Africa have known no other existence.

The herds were the first property of importance to mankind. An ox was considered almost as valuable as a man and stealing or killing one was among the worst of crimes.

While some men had herds of cattle, others in the favorable parts of the world began cultivating the plants that were good to eat. At first all work was done with a hoe or a sharp, bent stick which could be pulled through the earth by one person while another held it down -- the first plow.

The idea came to somebody to make the cattle do this work, for cattle are strong. So an ox was tied to the plow and was led around the field dragging the crude implement. The yoke, a wooden collar that fitted against the shoulders, without choking the animal, improved the way the ox could pull. It was invented early in historical times.

The use of these powerful animals made plowing easier and much more land could be prepared for planting during the proper season. People learned to train the oxen to guide them by shouts or by a rope attached to a ring set in the sensitive nose. A sharp-pointed stick was used to urge them on when they were lazy.

Two or more oxen were trained to work together when plows were made larger and heavier. Oxen were trained to pull loaded wagons. Throughout olden times and in the Middle Ages, even until the middle of the nineteenth century, most work on the land was done by yoked oxen.

Today there are some places where you may still see oxen pulling plows or wagons with great patience and strength.

The earliest development of agriculture and the use of oxen for this purpose was probably in the Mediterranean region, in Iraq and Egypt. From there it spread to the various parts of the world where soil and rainfall permitted farming.

Plows were improved. Iron and then steel plows were invented. With these better plows horses could now be used. Horses were much quicker, but for many years oxen were preferred for they were cheaper to keep and when they were worked out they could be used for beef.

Early in the history of domestic cattle various breeds developed, these differing chiefly in color and horns. Some were wanted for all-round use, some chiefly for work, others for meat, for milk or for gentleness and the ability to learn.

When various tribes in Europe and Asia conquered others, the breeds of cattle were mixed. However, this casual mixing brought about no improvement. Most of the special breeds that have been developed have occurred in the last hundred to two hundred years.

Nowadays the cattle are of two sorts, breeds chiefly useful for beef or chiefly for milk. Most of the good beef breeds originated in Great Britain, and they have been greatly improved for this purpose. By keeping the best animals for breeding man can change animals a great deal in a few generations.

For instance, horns are not very useful to cattle now that most of the wild animals they had to fight off -- wolves and bears -- are not common. Horned cattle often injure one another.

Mulleys, that is, hornless cows, are born now and then. By breeding from these, it was possible to produce a breed of cattle that have no horns. This was done successfully with the Aberdeen Angus breed.

In the same way, cows that give an extra quality of milk or a large amount of milk are kept for breeding. Their descendants are usually good milkers and by keep the best of each generation -- the improvement is rapid.

Some cattle are more "thrifty" than others -- meaning that they grow fat on food that is barely enough for ordinary cattle. If they are used for breeding, the chances are good that their offspring will have the same fine qualities.

The shorthorn, or Durham, is a popular breed, especially on small farms or where the farmers grow crops and have only a few cows. They are large animals, usually white, reddish or a mixture of these colors, and they make fine beef. Some varieties are also good producers of mil,k and are known as "dual-purpose cattle."

The Herefords, called after the English county of that name, were originally plow oxen. They are red cattle, with white faces, a white stripe down the back and white undersides.

They were once black with with markings. wherever beef cattle are raised exclusively, this breed is a favorite and most of the cattle on North American western ranches today are often Herefords or part Herefords.

The Aberdeen Angus breed, shining black cattle without horns, originated in Scotland. They are a fine breed for beef and seem to do best on smaller ranches. They are mulleys technically and they generally have more gentle dispositions than other breeds.

Many other beef breeds are popular in certain parts of the world. A large fat steer may weigh as much as a ton, but most animals are marketed before they are fully grown.

The flavor of young beef, animals between one and two years old, is better than that of older animals and the meat is more tender. The meat of the milk breeds is never a good choice for beef to be eaten.

Dairy cattle are more bony and lanky limbed than beef cattle, with less chunky appearance, but their bodies are large, with plenty of storage for food. The most highly developed breeds are little more than milk factories. Here's the skinny on milk cows:

• One of the best known is the Holstein, or Holstein-Friesian breed. These cattle are black and white, with fairly long horns. They are large animals. The cows give great quantities of mil. Several on record have each given more than three thousands gallons in a year. The Holstein breed came to us from the Netherlands.
• Jersey and Guernsey cattle came from the islands of the anmes in the English Channel. The Jerseys are small, delicately built cattle, usually fawn or dun colored, but they may also be gray, cream, white, or even black.

They produce less milk than some breeds, but it is extremely rich in butterfat. Dairies that sell milk often keep a few Jerseys and mix the rich milk with the poorer, but more bountiful product of their Holsteins. Guernsey cattle are usually brown and white and are a little larger than the Jerseys. They give more milk than the Jerseys and it is almost as rich.

• The Ayrshire is a fine breed, larger than most dairy breeds and giving more milk, although never equaling the Holsteins. Ayrshires are very thrifty and do well on poorer land than other dairy breeds.

A number of other dairy cattle exist and each has its supporters who prefer it to all other kinds, such as:

• The Brown Swiss is much like the Jersey but it is large, with longer horns.
• Dutch Belted cattle are black with a white band around the middle. They resemble the Holstein breed but are smaller.
• Kerry cattle come from Ireland. They are small, hardy cattle and good milkers.
• Dexter cattle were derived from the Kerry and are even smaller.