Livestocks are usually defined as domestic animals raised commercially in an agricultural environment to produce milk, meat, eggs, fur, bones, and other products like leather, milk, and wool for the purpose of living. These products are then sent for market to be exchanged for money or other valuables. Livestock can also refer to any member of a species not used commercially in human markets; that is, if it is classified as an animal. Birds and mammals are not domesticated animals, while insects such as dragonflies, crawling lizards, and moths are categorized as livestock.
Livestock are raised on a grazing base, unlike the farming of plants that make up most of the human diet, and so are closer to hunting and fishing. In early days, before the spread of agriculture, nomadic pastoralists would drive cattle, sheep, and goat from their homes onto rough terrain and redistribute them as cattle for use on farms. This process became known as tilling, and some specialists still call it this way today, even though it is not technically called agricultural farming at all. Livestock were first domesticated by mankind when they began arriving on our planet through migratory birds and fish; other animals were later brought into the world through immigration, travel, trade, or captive breeding.
The first crops to be farmed were millet and sorghum cereals, which have been successfully processed into cash. Farming became more widespread after agriculture, with holdings increasing for both human and animal consumption. While the practice has declined somewhat since its heyday in the Early Middle Ages, modern pastoralists still raise a large portion of the Earth’s fresh product supply. With a reliance on livestock farming, modern society has a significant amount of history invested in the production of food, providing many of the advances we enjoy today.