-The Ecology of Food Production and the Farmed Landscape
1. The ecology of sustainable livestock production
Grassland is dry, most of the plant is below ground and unavailable. Large grass eating
mammals need to migrate over large distances, often in herds, to locate sufficient food and
water- not enough nutrition in one area.
Hunter gatherers, first started to domesticate grazing animals about
11,000-9,000 years ago in Mesopotamia (Iraq/Iran) and Indus valley
(NW India)
Sheep domestication
European Mouflon sheep (Ovis gmelini) first domesticated in middle East.
Goat domestication
Information: Goats (Capra hircus) were among the first domesticated animals, adapted from
the wild ancestor Capra aegargus about 10,000-11,000 years ago.
Habitat: More than 300 breeds of goat, live in climates ranging from high altitude mountains
to deserts. Recent mtDNA research suggests that all goats today are descended from a
handful of animals and were first domesticated in the middle East.
Cattle domestication
Auroch: Bos primigenius primigenius
2 domestication events as have 2 main types of cattle
Taurine cattle – 10,500 year BP
Indicline cattle – 8,500 year BP
People associated with cattle, sheep, goats and horses tended to
be nomadic – following the herds – often with minimal
intervention. (many religions of originally nomadic herders -
Judaism and Islam - forbid the eating of pork).
Pig Domestication
Information: Pigs are omnivores and monogastrics. First domesticated in the middle east,
maybe China, but became more important in S.E. Asia and Europe.
Habitat: They are essentially woodland animals (so require shade), do not migrate and
require a higher quality diet (grains, nuts, insect, roots, carrion).
People associated with pigs tended to be more sedentary – settled communities in S.E. Asia,
China, Polynesia Neolithic northern Europe.
Scavengers work well in sedentary societies in helping to remove waste
Global Distribution
High proportion of adults through the world will have lactose intolerance, particularly in
southern Africa and SE Asia.
People with the genetic mutation for lactose tolerance have the longest known tradition of
dairying, since humans first domesticated livestock and practiced milk-based pastoralism
Eventually some populations increased in size so nomadism was unsustainable and settled
animal husbandry, allied to crop production became necessary.
The development of crop husbandry depended on animal domestication, because oxen are
needed to pull a plough (though note cropping systems of South America).
Other human populations, for example in sub-Saharan Africa, north America, arctic
Scandinavia, never reached population size where nomadism and hunter gatherer
subsistence were unsustainable – or the environment could not support horticulture.
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