Pigs were domesticated in the Near East between 8,5 BC, sheep and goats in or near the Fertile Crescent about 8,500 BC, and cattle from wild aurochs in the areas of modern Turkey and Pakistan around 8,500 BC. Prey animals, sheep, goats, pigs and cattle, were progressively domesticated early in the history of agriculture. Half-wild dogs, perhaps starting with young individuals, may have been tolerated as scavengers and killers of vermin, and being naturally pack hunters, were predisposed to become part of the human pack and join in the hunt. The first wild animal to be domesticated was the dog. Sheep and goats were the animals that accompanied the nomads in the Middle East, while cattle and pigs were associated with more settled communities. Domestication was not a single event, but a process repeated at various periods in different places. The desirable characteristics of a domestic animal are that it should be useful to the domesticator, should be able to thrive in his or her company, should breed freely, and be easy to tend. The domestication of livestock was driven by the need to have food on hand when hunting was unproductive.

Main articles: Neolithic Revolution and Domestication of animals The domestication of ruminants, like these fat-tailed sheep in Afghanistan, provided nomads across the Middle East and central Asia with a reliable source of food. Farmers and ranchers who raise livestock are considered to practice animal husbandry. The verb to husband, meaning 'to manage carefully,' derives from an older meaning of husband, which in the 14th century referred to the ownership and care of a household or farm, but today means the 'control or judicious use of resources,' and in agriculture, the cultivation of plants or animals. Pigs and poultry cannot digest the cellulose in forage and require other high-protein foods. Ruminants like cattle and sheep are adapted to feed on grass they can forage outdoors or may be fed entirely or in part on rations richer in energy and protein, such as pelleted cereals. Most livestock are herbivores, except for pigs and chickens which are omnivores. On poorer soil, such as in uplands, animals are often kept more extensively and may be allowed to roam widely, foraging for themselves. Subsistence farming is being superseded by intensive animal farming in the more developed parts of the world, where, for example, beef cattle are kept in high-density feedlots, and thousands of chickens may be raised in broiler houses or batteries. Modern animal husbandry relies on production systems adapted to the type of land available.

Insect farming, as well as aquaculture of fish, molluscs, and crustaceans, is widespread. A wide range of other species, such as horse, water buffalo, llama, rabbit, and guinea pig, are used as livestock in some parts of the world. Major changes took place in the Columbian exchange, when Old World livestock were brought to the New World, and then in the British Agricultural Revolution of the 18th century, when livestock breeds like the Dishley Longhorn cattle and Lincoln Longwool sheep were rapidly improved by agriculturalists, such as Robert Bakewell, to yield more meat, milk, and wool. By the time of early civilisations such as ancient Egypt, cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs were being raised on farms. Husbandry has a long history, starting with the Neolithic Revolution when animals were first domesticated, from around 13,000 BC onwards, predating farming of the first crops. It includes day-to-day care, management, production, nutrition, selective breeding, and the raising of livestock. For the dice game, see Animal Husbandry (game).Ĭattle feedlot in Colorado, United StatesĪnimal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, fibre, milk, or other products.

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