Livestock

Cows on a pasture in Austria
Sheep in Écrins National Park (France)

Livestock are the domesticated animals that are raised in an agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals which are raised for consumption, and sometimes used to refer solely to farmed ruminants, such as cattle, sheep, and goats.[1]

The breeding, maintenance, slaughter and general subjugation of livestock called animal husbandry, is a part of modern agriculture and has been practiced in many cultures since humanity's transition to farming from hunter-gatherer lifestyles. Animal husbandry practices have varied widely across cultures and periods. It continues to play a major economic and cultural role in numerous communities.

Livestock farming practices have largely shifted to intensive animal farming.[2] Intensive animal farming increases the yield of the various commercial outputs, but also negatively impacts animal welfare, the environment, and public health.[3] In particular, beef, dairy and sheep are an outsized source of greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture.

  1. ^ "livestock". Britannica.com. 15 June 2024.
  2. ^ "NASS – Census of Agriculture – Publications – 2012". USDA. Archived from the original on 22 November 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  3. ^ Anomaly, Jonathan (1 November 2015). "What's Wrong With Factory Farming?". Public Health Ethics. 8 (3): 246–254. doi:10.1093/phe/phu001. hdl:10161/9733. ISSN 1754-9973. PMC 9757169. PMID 36540869. S2CID 39813493.

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