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The larger animals required better pasture and more shelter than small ruminants, limiting their utility in highest mountain zones but making them valuable in valleys and lower slopes where conditions allowed. The cattle provided milk in larger quantities than goats, produced more meat per animal when slaughtered, and could be used for draft power in plowing and hauling.
The breeding that produced calves required more careful management than sheep breeding because cattle’s longer gestation and greater value per animal meant losses were more significant. The bulls kept for breeding were selected for size, temperament, and ability to produce quality offspring. The timing of breeding attempted to produce calves in spring when conditions were optimal for their survival.
The milking that provided daily nutrition required bringing cows close to settlement during lactation period. The twice-daily milking was labor-intensive but productive, the milk being consumed fresh, processed into cheese and butter, or fed to young animals and children. The seasonal variation in milk production—high during spring and summer when fresh grass was abundant, declining in winter when animals subsisted on stored fodder—shaped diet and preservation strategies.
The use of cattle for plowing and hauling made them valuable beyond food production. The oxen that could pull plows through heavy soil, that could haul loaded carts up mountain paths, that could move logs and stones for construction—these work animals were essential infrastructure that enabled agricultural and building activities that human muscle alone couldn’t accomplish. The training of cattle for draft use began when animals were young, the patient habituation to yoke and commands creating reliable workers.
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