What percentage of cows and chickens are livestock?

Question

What percentage of cows and chickens are livestock?

Answer 1

I keep chickens officially as pets, but they are classified as livestock. Livestock indicates exactly what it's word mean that make it up stock that is alive. This leaves very few other classification options. Animals are either working animals (ie seeing eye dogs), pets like snakes and dogs, or livestock commonly represented by cows, pigs, and chickens.

Answer 2

The USDA considers all poultry and cattle (as well as many other species) to be livestock - even if it is kept as a pet or companion.   It is because of this definition that the USDA and the states Dept of Ag are going after private citizens who keep even one of these animals in an attempt to get them signed up for the National Animal Identification System.

They are unconcerned with the Constitutional violations this system has.

Answer 3

100% of cows and chickens are livestock, unless you are keeping a couple of stuffed ones.  I am assuming you mean livestock vs pets or something like that.  I imagine that there are many kept only as pets and will not be used for the table, but they would still be called livestock.

Answer 4

100

Answer 5

Chickens are frequently pets especially some of the fancy varieties, and there are, I'm sure, a few cows that are pets. All probably left-overs from 4-H projects and kid programs. With such a huge population of both I would have to give a "guess-timate" at about 1% as being non-livestock, leaving 99% as livestock, and that is probably generous. I would count an animal as livestock if the pet chicken was an egg provider and the cow was a milk provider as long as the attempt is made to keep her producing, after which she is a pet as much as a dog or cat, fed, protected, housed, and cared for because of a human bond.

Answer 6

They are all considered livestock, regardless of their purpose (pets vs food). Bos Primigenuis is a name given to an extinct ancestor of our modern day domesticated cattle. Although, it is still much debated whether B. primigenius were their own species, or a subspecies of Bos taurus (the commonly used name for domesticated cattle). It gets kind of confusing.

Answer 7

If you mean livestock vs. wild (escaped or descendents of escaped), I have to say almost all cows are livestock, probably 99%. Domestic cows (Bos primigenius) exist in the billions. At least 92% of chickens are livestock. The reason is that both are heavily bred animals. Their genetics have been so manipulated by being domesticated that cows are actually no longer able to survive without human assistance. There are still wild varieties of Chicken in remote places such as Burma, India and east Asia, but they are rare compared to the billions of tame chickens raised on farms.

Answer 8

all