Animal Science History

While poultry consumption has seen a massive increase over the past several decades, beef consumption has remained relatively stable in comparison, maintaining a consistent role in the average diet. Mutton and lamb consumption have historically been much lower and have declined significantly.

The Brambell Committee's 1965 report outlined five basic freedom of movements: to stand up, lie down, turn around, groom themselves, and stretch their limbs. While expressing normal behavior is part of the modern "Five Freedoms" developed later by the Farm Animal Welfare Council, it was not one of the original physical freedoms defined by the Brambell Committee.

The first Morrill Land-Grant Act was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862, establishing institutions in each state to teach agriculture and the mechanic arts. A second Morrill Act was later passed in 1890.

William Pynchon of Springfield, Massachusetts, became the first commercial meat packer in North America when he began packing and exporting salt pork in 1641. This marked the beginning of the commercial meat packing industry in the American colonies.

While the evolutionary ancestors of horses originated in North America before going extinct there, modern domesticated horses were first domesticated in the Eurasian steppes, which spans regions of Central and East Asia. They were later reintroduced to the Americas by European explorers.

Modern taurine cattle were domesticated from wild aurochs in the Fertile Crescent region of the Middle East approximately 10,500 years ago. Another lineage, Zebu cattle, was domesticated independently in the Indus Valley.

The turkey is the only major livestock species domesticated in North America, specifically by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica and the American Southwest. Cattle, sheep, and chickens were domesticated in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

Among the major livestock species listed, sheep were the first to be domesticated, dating back to approximately 11,000 to 9,000 BC in southwest Asia. Dogs were domesticated even earlier, but they are not typically classified as livestock.