Author : Jeremy McInerney
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 362 pages
File Size : 29,58 MB
Release : 2010-05-30
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 0691140073
Includes selections translated from the Ancient Greek.
Author : Judith D. Schwartz
Publisher : Chelsea Green Publishing
Page : 242 pages
File Size : 46,40 MB
Release : 2013-05-20
Category : Technology & Engineering
ISBN : 1603584331
In Cows Save the Planet, journalist Judith D. Schwartz looks at soil as a crucible for our many overlapping environmental, economic, and social crises. Schwartz reveals that for many of these problems—climate change, desertification, biodiversity loss, droughts, floods, wildfires, rural poverty, malnutrition, and obesity—there are positive, alternative scenarios to the degradation and devastation we face. In each case, our ability to turn these crises into opportunities depends on how we treat the soil. Drawing on the work of thinkers and doers, renegade scientists and institutional whistleblowers from around the world, Schwartz challenges much of the conventional thinking about global warming and other problems. For example, land can suffer from undergrazing as well as overgrazing, since certain landscapes, such as grasslands, require the disturbance from livestock to thrive. Regarding climate, when we focus on carbon dioxide, we neglect the central role of water in soil—"green water"—in temperature regulation. And much of the carbon dioxide that burdens the atmosphere is not the result of fuel emissions, but from agriculture; returning carbon to the soil not only reduces carbon dioxide levels but also enhances soil fertility. Cows Save the Planet is at once a primer on soil's pivotal role in our ecology and economy, a call to action, and an antidote to the despair that environmental news so often leaves us with.
Author : Monte Montgomery
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Page : 276 pages
File Size : 35,16 MB
Release : 2009-05-26
Category : Technology & Engineering
ISBN : 0802718116
Millions of people, from nature lovers to collectors of cow memorabilia, are enamored of cows, yet few have any inkling of the fascinating history of, arguably, the animal most crucial to the survival and advancement of human civilization. Our close relationship with cows goes back eight thousand years, to the revolutionary advent of domestication in Mesopotamia and the Indus River valley. Since then, humans have relied on cows for milk, meat, and muscle. M. R. Montgomery's own keen interest in cows began on his cousin's Montana cattle ranch. He traces their history from the formidable, long-extinct Auroch-the 6,000-pound ancestor of all cattle on Earth-to the ancient cattle roads and drives in England, to the selective mixing practiced by British cattlemen well before Charles Darwin or Gregor Mendel. He charts the origin of breeds and relates the path by which the Aberdeen-Angus has today become the "king of cows." With a sympathetic eye for detail, born of his own experience, he chronicles the day-to-day life of cattle and their keepers- from encouraging good mothering skills to rooting out genetic disease in a herd. After experiencing Montgomery's bovine fascination, even cow lovers will have new appreciation for the objects of their affection.
Author : J. E. Rouse
Publisher :
Page : pages
File Size : 12,75 MB
Release : 1972
Category :
ISBN :
V.1. - Cattle of Europe, South America, Australia, and N. Zealand. V.2 - Cattle of Africa and Asia.
Author : Catrin Rutland
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 423 pages
File Size : 18,93 MB
Release : 2021-06-08
Category : Nature
ISBN : 0691222819
A richly illustrated introduction to the science and history of the cow We populate the countryside with cows the world over, and their familiar presence ensures that global demands for milk and beef are met. But with more than a billion cattle on the planet, the importance of cows extends well beyond food production. Cows are venerated by some religions and shunned by others; they provide leather for shoes, clothing, and other uses; and they have long been central to the agricultural way of life, working the fields, pulling carts, and providing fertilizer. The Cow is a comprehensive guide to help us understand these important animals, offering a wealth of information about their anatomy and behaviors, breed varieties, and place in human culture past and present. Exploring the cow’s livestock credentials and beyond, this book combines engaging and informative text, beautiful photographs, and explanatory diagrams to examine the cow's fascinating biology, its hard-wired behaviors, and its relationship with humankind. Provides an in-depth look at the evolution of the cow, its role in agriculture, and the development of breeds Includes chapters on Anatomy & Biology, Society & Behavior, and Cattle & People Features a photographic directory of forty global cattle breeds
Author : Valerie Porter
Publisher : Crowood Press (UK)
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 32,42 MB
Release : 2007
Category : Cattle
ISBN : 9781861269348
This encyclopedic guide traces the domestication of cattle, looking at the evolution and eventual extinction of different types and breeds. Its later chapters also touch on the wild species of the cattle family and some of their unusual interesting domesticates. Each chapter is separated according to the breed's country of origin, setting the region's cattle in a cultural as well as an agricultural context. Their main roles are also explored both historically and currently, from the production of meat or milk to representing currency or social status.
Author : José R. Castelló
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 665 pages
File Size : 34,81 MB
Release : 2016-04-12
Category : Nature
ISBN : 1400880653
The most comprehensive guide to the bovids of the world Bovids are a diverse group of ruminant mammals that have hooves and unbranched hollow horns. Bovids of the World is the first comprehensive field guide to cover all 279 bovid species, including antelopes, gazelles, cattle, buffaloes, sheep, and goats. From the hartebeest of Africa and the takin of Asia to the muskox of North America, bovids are among the world's most spectacular animals and this stunningly illustrated and easy-to-use field guide is an ideal way to learn more about them. The guide covers all species and subspecies of bovids described to date. It features more than 300 superb full-color plates depicting every kind of bovid, as well as detailed facing-page species accounts that describe key identification features, horn morphology, distribution, subspeciation, habitat, and conservation status in the wild. This book also shows where to observe each species and includes helpful distribution maps. Suitable for anyone with an interest in natural history, Bovids of the World is a remarkable and attractive reference, showcasing the range and beauty of these important mammals. The first comprehensive field guide to all 279 bovid species 337 full-color plates, with more than 1,500 photographs Detailed species accounts describe key identification features, distribution, subspeciation, habitat, behavior, reproduction, and conservation status Fully updated and revised taxonomy, with common and scientific names Easy-to-read distribution maps
Author : John Ryan Fischer
Publisher : UNC Press Books
Page : 281 pages
File Size : 26,58 MB
Release : 2015-08-31
Category : History
ISBN : 146962513X
In the nineteenth century, the colonial territories of California and Hawai'i underwent important cultural, economic, and ecological transformations influenced by an unlikely factor: cows. The creation of native cattle cultures, represented by the Indian vaquero and the Hawaiian paniolo, demonstrates that California Indians and native Hawaiians adapted in ways that allowed them to harvest the opportunities for wealth that these unfamiliar biological resources presented. But the imposition of new property laws limited these indigenous responses, and Pacific cattle frontiers ultimately became the driving force behind Euro-American political and commercial domination, under which native residents lost land and sovereignty and faced demographic collapse. Environmental historians have too often overlooked California and Hawai'i, despite the roles the regions played in the colonial ranching frontiers of the Pacific World. In Cattle Colonialism, John Ryan Fischer significantly enlarges the scope of the American West by examining the trans-Pacific transformations these animals wrought on local landscapes and native economies.
Author : Marleen Felius
Publisher :
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 28,60 MB
Release : 2007-09
Category : Cattle
ISBN : 9781570763816
More than 1,000 cattle breeds from around the globe are cataloged in this monumental bovine reference. Each breed, including species found only in prehistory, is provided with a detailed physical description and a watercolor drawn to scale. Cattle are also classified into groups and subgroups according to geographical distribution, historical background, and physical features. Charts indicating breed lineage and records of crossbreeding, maps clearly depicting the location and distribution of authentic and derived breeds, and additional color photographs all round out this unprecedented resource.
Author : Rebecca J. H. Woods
Publisher : UNC Press Books
Page : 250 pages
File Size : 21,43 MB
Release : 2017-10-10
Category : Nature
ISBN : 1469634678
As Britain industrialized in the early nineteenth century, animal breeders faced the need to convert livestock into products while maintaining the distinctive character of their breeds. Thus they transformed cattle and sheep adapted to regional environments into bulky, quick-fattening beasts. Exploring the environmental and economic ramifications of imperial expansion on colonial environments and production practices, Rebecca J. H. Woods traces how global physiological and ecological diversity eroded under the technological, economic, and cultural system that grew up around the production of livestock by the British Empire. Attending to the relationship between type and place and what it means to call a particular breed of livestock "native," Woods highlights the inherent tension between consumer expectations in the metropole and the ecological reality at the periphery. Based on extensive archival work in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia, this study illuminates the connections between the biological consequences and the politics of imperialism. In tracing both the national origins and imperial expansion of British breeds, Woods uncovers the processes that laid the foundation for our livestock industry today.
