Farming and Agricultural Technology
CATTLE
Identifiable
cattle breeds throughout
the world number 277, with 33 generally classified as beef breeds,
18 as draft breeds, 39 as meat-draft, 54 as meat-dairy, 21 as
dairy-draft, 61 as meat-dairy-draft, and 51 as dairy breeds.
Most of these are quite limited in distribution and importance.
No cattle are native to the North American continent, only bison,
or buffalo. Cattle used for draft purposes are usually
oxen--that is, castrated
males at least two or three years old. Though long supplanted
by the horse and the tractor in the developed countries, oxen
are still used in Africa and tropical Asia.
In the U.S. today there are four times as many beef
cattle as dairy cattle. Production of milk per dairy cow in
the U.S. more than doubled after 1930 and reached 12,147 pounds
(5,510 kilograms) in 1981. Elsewhere in the New World, the vast
pampas of Argentina--an area as large as France--provide excellent
conditions for grazing of cattle throughout the year without
need for shelter. In
Australia cattle have
always ranked second in importance among livestock after sheep.
Today's Australian beef cattle are raised mostly in the east
and northeast portions of the continent, where feed and climate
are unsuitable for sheep.
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