How Many Years Can a Cow Normally Live? A Detailed Explanation of a Cow's Lifespan
Cattle is the collective term for animals in the tribe Bovini of the subfamily Bovinae, and one of the common domestic livestock. They are highly adaptable and can adapt well to the local climate. They are herbivores with a very wide range of food, liking grass best of all and also enjoying some green plants. They can help humans with agricultural production. Let us take a look below at how many years a cow can live!
How Many Years Can a Cow Live
The lifespan of cattle is 20 to 30 years, with a growth period of 4 years. Combining actual lifespan records, people have reached the conclusion that the natural lifespan of a mammal is equivalent to 5 to 7 times its growth period. The growth period of cattle is as long as 3-5 years, therefore, the natural lifespan of cattle should be 15-35 years.
Common Types of Cattle
1. Yellow cattle: Yellow cattle have short horns, and their coat is mostly yellowish-brown or black, with short hair. They are mostly used for plowing fields or pulling carts, their meat is for eating, and their hide can be made into leather. They are one of the important draft animals.
2. Water buffalo: Water buffalo is the main draft animal in rice-growing areas, and in India it is also used for milk.
3. Yak: Yak hair is longer than knee-length, and it is cold-resistant and hardy, adapting to the ecological conditions of thin oxygen in plateau regions. It is a livestock species unique to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau of China, and the milk, meat, hide and hair it produces are important living resources for local herders.
4. Wild cattle: Wild cattle such as the American bison and the European bison can be crossbred with common cattle species of the genus Bos, producing hybrid vigor and providing useful genes for breeding new varieties.
Breed Classification of Cattle
1. Dairy breeds: Dairy breeds mainly include Holstein, Ayrshire, Jersey, Guernsey, and others.
2. Beef breeds: Beef breeds mainly include Hereford, Shorthorn, Aberdeen Angus, Charolais, Limousin, Piedmontese, Chianina, Lincoln Red, Red Poll, Gelbvieh, German Simmental, Murray Grey, as well as some breeds bred in modern times by crossing zebu with common cattle, such as Brahman, Brangus, Beefmaster, Santa Gertrudis, Beef King, Bonsmara, and Bifaro, among others.
3. Dual-purpose breeds: Dual-purpose breeds mainly include dual-purpose Shorthorn, Simmental, Brown Swiss, Danish Red, Angler, Sahiwal, Red Sindhi, and the Prairie Red cattle and **Brown cattle bred by respectively improving Mongolian cattle and **Ili cattle with dual-purpose Shorthorn and Brown Swiss, among others.
4. Draft breeds: Draft breeds mainly include China's yellow cattle and water buffalo, among others. Some yellow cattle can also be used for both draft and meat, such as China's Nanyang cattle, Qinchuan cattle and Luxi cattle, among others. Before the 1970s, water buffalo in some places in China were also used for both milk and draft.