Details

Written by King Monkey

As long as man has been on this earth he has had to look for food. His first step on the seen of the world’s animals was to pick and poke at bugs and plants. Form is diet of nuts, barriers, and bugs he moved out of the trees and into the open grass lands where he found the carcass of tiger kills. They moved to other geographic regions to and no-doubt they ran across the ancestors of the modern cow. At first they gathered the rotting flesh of the discarded animal kills, then soon learned to hunt them. They followed them from feeding ground to feeding ground, season after season. The movement of these and other animals helped to bring the humans out of Africa and into Asia and Europe. The cattle must have been everywhere there were open plains and grasslands. Man must have seen them and got close to them, he thought maybe he could gather them up into herds then move them around from place to place season after season. This was the beginning of the Nomads. This nomadic way of life worked well for small tribes of people. It was well suited for arid lands and mountain regions. The Nomads must have decided that it was better to herd the cattle than to have to chase them around. This was probably around the same time they decided to use the cattle to carry things and pull carts or skids. The Nomadic way of life can be hard on the people always having to pack up and move, so some people figured out that they could stay in one spot and use the cattle to help them farm. Farming allowed man to have larger tribes and they didn’t have to move around a lot. They used some of the grains to fed their herds and some was use to fed the people. The farm settlements used the cattle for labor, meat, and milk to feed the people of the settlements. For must of the time that people have had domesticated cattle the herds were small and use as a resource for the local populations. Ranches with large herds are a relatively new development. With a ranch large herds can be raised for sale to other groups of people. The larger herds needed larger tracks of land for the herds to roam, and that begin the western cattle drives. These cattle drives took large amounts of free land to move all the cattle from the place they feed to the transportation hubs. This was not the best way to farm, so as technology advanced, it became easier to keep the herds close together and fed them grains. They are sent to market by the way of truck and train where they are sold to distributors. The farm brought about the breeding practices that changed the form of the cow. Then we get our meat from butchers and our milk from bottlers. The cow has come a long ways from its start as a wild animal running around the grasslands.

Herding wild cattle, sheep, and goats probably brought about the Nomadic way of life. The first nomads to domesticate cattle might have roamed the Sahara more then a millennia ago. They moved into the Nile Valley when the climate changed and the area became dry. “This Neolithic way of life, which still is a way of life in a sense; preservation of food for the dry season and many other such cultural elements, was introduced to central and southern Africa from the Sahara”(Dr. Stefan Kropelin, 2006.) the Nomadic lifestyle is well adapted for small populations that live in arid regions and mountains where water is difficult to come by. These areas seem to be difficult to farm and the only way to exploit the resources is by moving around from place to place, often from season to season. These people rely on the small amount of water each year for the grasses and shrubs to grow. They do not bring water to them by way of diverting streams and rivers. They do not have reservoirs and dams to store useful amounts of water. Lastly they don’t have good soil to grow large crops that could be used for cow feed and food for humans. These types of domesticated cattle have to be very hardy to live off the land and grazing large areas that contain vary little vegetation. The nomads shared the same needs with the farmers, the relied on the cattle for food (Meat and Milk), Hides, Money, and Draft.

The culture of villages changed when cattle were brought to the farms. The cattle could help in plowing the fields and they could be used to pull carts. These were new ways of using cattle. Cattle farming enabled the cattle to be raised for different products. They also allowed the size of villages to grow. With the cattle plowing the fields more land could now be used for growing crops. The increase in crops meant that food could be saved for hard times. The excess food could be sold or bartered at the market. The food could also be transported to other towns in trade for goods not available in theirs. The cattle could be breed for meat or they could be breed for milk and other dairy products. This allowed the size of the village to grow into a town. This also meant that the farmers needed more children to help out around the farm. The cattle farms made it possible for tribes to become city-states and larger.

In the USA the cattle farms became ranches. “The culture of the western United States, which many consider the epitome of American-ness, is in origin a synthesis of Anglo and Hispanic cultures which was created in Texas in the days of the Texas Republic and spread with the trail herds to what is now the western United States (and Canada). Major elements of the clothing, food, language and most importantly the cultural values and attitudes derive from Mexican as well as Southern American sources.” (Thayer Watkins) these ranches required large numbers of people to make the work. The changes for the ranch to work were simple, house lots of help, and horses on your property. Then you need to identify your cattle from others and let them roam as large an area as possible. You then gather them up and drive them to the transportation hub closes to you, and they are sent to market (auction house). The change to society was the greatest part of this new kind of farming; it meant that everyone had to work together to get your products to the market place. Ranching can get large amounts of food to the public market place and onto everyone’s table.

I believe that cattle helped the people of the world move forward in their cultural evolution. Without cattle we wouldn’t be as far along with technology and societal norms. The different products other then beef for eating was an added benefit. That is why the Spanish conquistadors brought them to the Americas (Thayer Watkins). They change our way of life and now our way of life is being changed again, now that corn is being used for fuel, it is raising the price of cattle fed. In the end we walk hand and hand with are cattle.

BIBLOIOGRAPHY

Broglio, Ron. “The romantic cow: animals as technology.”

Wordsworth Circle. Spring 2005:p48(5). Expanded Academic ASAP. Galegroup. Conntra Costa College Library. 06 march 2007< http://0- web18.infotrac.galegroup.com.alice.dvc.edu/itw/infomark/960/… >.

Zimmer, Carl. “Cows were in the air.” Discover. Sept 1994:p29(1). Expanded Academic ASAP. Galegroup. Conntra Costa College Library. 06 march 2007< http://0- web18.infotrac.galegroup.com.alice.dvc.edu/itw/infomark/960/… >

Watkins, Thayer. “The Origins of the Cowboy Culture of Western America.” Applet-magic.com. 06 march 2006. < http://www.applet-magic.com/coboyculture.html >.

“Archaeologist: Cattle first kept in Sahara.” United Press International. 22 July 2006. 07 march 2007. < http:pda.physorg.com/upi-pda-bc-sahara-nomads_20060722-02131900.html >.

Sharp, Jay W. “The Cowboy – DesertUSA” DesertUSA. 07 march 2007. < http://www.desertusa.com/mag00/dec/papr/cowboys.html >.

• Prev
• Next