Importance of Livestock

Livestock has played a fundamental role in human history, a circumstance that it shares with agriculture. In effect, it allowed our ancestors to have protein available to consume when needed. This discipline has evolved over the years, having as a correlate the development of species more conducive to different types of uses and adapted to different environments. Indeed, it can be said that there is a clear tendency to technify even this economic activity that has once been considered with little added value, a trend that is related to the fact of a clear need for food for a population growing.

At the dawn of humanity, man had to move continuously to get food from him. It is this situation that led him to the different continents, continually searching for what would make him survive. Indeed, the seasons or the migrations of the animals themselves marked to a large extent the future behavior of these first men. However, already entering what is known as the final stage of the Stone Age, during the Neolithic, man began to develop agriculture and

cattle raising as a way of obtaining food on their own terms. This circumstance marked a before and after in the history of humanity, because it meant the passage from small nomadic communities to larger and more complex sedentary societies. In this way, it was no longer necessary for all individuals to dedicate themselves to obtaining food, a few could generate the same for the entire population, dedicating the other individuals to other types of activities equally necessary. Thus, society became more complex and developed thanks to a huge leap in terms of productivity, a leap in which agriculture was a more than important ingredient.

The cattle raising it does not only offer meat as food. It is also responsible for the provision of milk, wool and animals for work. It has developed in a wide variety of animals, the most important in this regard being cows, sheep, pigs and goats. As mentioned, in the past it had a more extensive character, but with the passage of time they applying various techniques and knowledge that have greatly contributed to the process of adding value to the activity. Today, for example, biotechnology opens up a whole promising scenario for the future, a scenario that could solve many problems with regard to food.