STACKED FARM ANIMAL JIGSAW PUZZLE Hallmark folk art rustic farmhouse cow pig hog

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Seller: sidewaysstairsco ✉️ (1,180) 100%, Location: Santa Ana, California, US, Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 203836437930 STACKED FARM ANIMAL JIGSAW PUZZLE Hallmark folk art rustic farmhouse cow pig hog. Check out our other new and used items>>>>>HERE! (click me) FOR SALE: A stylish and rare puzzle that celebrates farm life 2020 HALLMARK "A FARMER'S WILDLIFE" 550 PIECE JIGSAW PUZZLE DETAILS: Brand: Hallmark Piece Count: 550 Size: 18 x 24 inches Title: A Farmer's Wildlife Animals: Cow, Pig, Rooster The "A Farmer's Wildlife" jigsaw puzzle has a farm country theme which features a wonderful illustration of a rooster atop a pig on top of a cow. The art style of the jigsaw puzzle image is a creative blend of folk art, Americana, British landscape art combined with modern typography "quote art". The black and white cow is drawn in a rectangular shape with, relatively, spindly small legs similar to the way British artists illustrated livestock in the early 1800s. The bovine has an oversized body and a small head. The stacked animal motif is a very popular theme for Americana and folk art. Also featured are quotes that pay tribute to American values, and hardworking and peaceful country life. While the concept of farm-to-table may be a trendy new one, agriculture is one of mankind's oldest industries. Hardworking farmers cultivate the land for crops and rear animals to feed and support the world. Without the wildlife of a farm, we wouldn't have dairy, meat or poultry. A quality Hallmark product! "A Farmer's Wildlife" puzzle follows Hallmark's long tradition of high-quality puzzles that feature beautiful illustrations. Each satin-gloss jigsaw piece is unique and fits securely in the puzzle. It's the perfect jigsaw puzzle for assembling in your farmhouse (or cottagecore) kitchen table top - once it's finished, frame it then hang it! R etired and hard to find! Released exclusively at Hallmark stores in early 2020 and has since been retired (no longer sold in stores) - making it a hard to find and now rare collectable. CONDITION: In excellent, pre-owned condition and complete. The puzzle has been handled and assembled. Please see photos. *To ensure safe delivery all items are carefully packaged before shipping out* THANK YOU FOR LOOKING. QUESTIONS? JUST ASK. *ALL PHOTOS AND TEXT ARE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF SIDEWAYS STAIRS CO. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.* "Hallmark Cards, Inc. is a private, family-owned American company based in Kansas City, Missouri. Founded in 1910 by Joyce Hall, Hallmark is the oldest and largest manufacturer of greeting cards in the United States.[3] In 1985, the company was awarded the National Medal of Arts.[4] In addition to greeting cards, Hallmark also manufactures such products as party goods, gift wrap, and stationery. Hallmark acquired Binney & Smith in 1987, and would later change its name to Crayola, LLC after its well-known Crayola brand of crayons, markers and colored pencils. The company is also involved in television, having produced the long-running Hallmark Hall of Fame series since 1951, and launching the Hallmark Channel 50 years later (replacing an earlier joint venture with The Jim Henson Company, Odyssey Network).... History Hallmark corporate headquarters entrance. Hallmark corporate offices. A Hallmark Store in Toronto Eaton Centre. Driven by an early 20th-century postcard craze, Joyce Clyde Hall and his older brothers, William and Rollie, began the Norfolk Post Card Company in 1907, initially headquartered in the Norfolk, Nebraska bookstore at which they worked. The next year, Rollie bought out the store's non-family business partner and it became "Hall Brothers", doing business as the Hall Book Store. The postcard business soon outgrew the store's resources, and Joyce moved it to Kansas City in 1910. By 1912, the postcard craze had faded and the company had begun selling "Christmas letters" and greeting cards, shortening its name a few years later to the Norfolk Card Company.[5] In 1917, Hall and his brother Rollie "invented" modern wrapping paper when they ran out of traditional colored tissue paper at the stationery store and substituted fancy French envelope lining paper. After selling the lining paper again the next year, the Hall Brothers started printing their own specifically designed wrapping paper.[6] In 1922, the company expanded throughout the country.[7] The staff grew from 4 to 120 people, and the line increased from holiday cards to include everyday greeting cards. In 1928, the company introduced the brand name Hallmark, after the hallmark symbol used by goldsmiths in London in the 14th century, and began printing the name on the back of every card. That same year, the company became the first in the greeting card industry to advertise their product nationally. Their first advertisement appeared in Ladies' Home Journal and was written by J.C. Hall himself.[7] In 1931, the Canadian William E. Coutts Company, Ltd., a major card maker, became an affiliate of Hall Brothers – their first international business venture. In 1944, it adopted its current slogan, "When you care enough to send the very best." It was created by C. E. Goodman, a Hallmark marketing and sales executive, and written on a 3x5 card.[8] The card is on display at the company headquarters. In 1951, Hall sponsored a television program for NBC that gave rise to the Hallmark Hall of Fame, which has won 80 Emmy Awards.[9] Hallmark now has its own cable television channel, the Hallmark Channel which was established in 2001. For a period of about 15 years, Hallmark owned a stake in the Spanish language network Univision. In 1954, the company name was changed from Hall Brothers to Hallmark.[10] In 1958, William E. Coutts Company, Ltd. was acquired by Hallmark. Until the 1990s, Hallmark's Canadian branch was known as Coutts Hallmark. In 1973, Hallmark Cards started manufacturing Christmas ornaments. The first collection included 18 ornaments, including six glass ball ornaments.[11] The Hallmark Keepsake Ornament collection is dated and available for just one year. By 1998, 11 million American households collected Hallmark ornaments, and 250,000 people were members of the Keepsake Ornament Collector's Club.[12] The Collector's Club was launched nationally on June 1, 1987.[13] One noted Christmas ornament authority was Clara Johnson Scroggins who wrote extensively about Keepsake Ornaments and had one of the largest private collections of Christmas ornaments.[14] In 1980, Hallmark Cards acquired Valentine & Sons of Dundee, Scotland, one of the world's oldest publishers of picture postcards.[15] In 1998, Hallmark made a number of acquisitions, including Britain-based Creative Publishing (a recent spinoff of Fine Art Developments), and U.S.-based InterArt.[16][17] As of 2014, The Paper Store LLC is one of the largest independently owned groups of Hallmark Gold Crown stores in the United States. This partnership began in the year 1972.[18] Employees Worldwide, Hallmark has over 27,000 employees; 20,000 of them work in the United States, about 5,600 of whom are full-time employees. About 2,700 Hallmarkers work at the Kansas City headquarters.[1] Management On June 26, 2019, it was announced that Mike Perry would serve as president and CEO, while Donald J. Hall Jr. serves as Executive Chairman and David E. Hall as Executive Vice-Chairman.[19][20] Creative resources Hallmark's creative staff consists of around 900 artists, designers, stylists, writers, editors, and photographers. Together, they generate more than 19,000 new and redesigned greeting cards and related products per year. The company offers more than 48,000 products in its model line at any one time. Products and services Hallmark offers or has offered the following products and services: Greeting cards Hallmark birthday cards Hallmark Cards feature several brands and licenses. Shoebox, the company's line of humorous cards, evolved from studio cards. Maxine (by John Wagner), was introduced in 1986 when she appeared on several Shoebox cards the year the alternative card line was launched. hoops&yoyo, were characters created by Bob Holt and Mike Adair. Revilo is another popular line, by artist Oliver Christianson ("Revilo" is "Oliver" spelled backwards). Forever Friends was purchased in 1994 from English entrepreneur Andrew Brownsword, who for four years subsequently was Chief Executive of Hallmark Europe. Image Craft was acquired by the William E. Coutts Company subsidiary of Hallmark Canada in the mid-2000s. Hallmark has provided software for creating and printing cards. This software has been known as Hallmark Card Studio, with partner Nova Development, and Microsoft Greetings Workshop in partner with Microsoft.[21] Gift products     This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (April 2012)     Gifts, greeting cards     Hallmark flowers     Keepsake ornaments and other Christmas ornaments     Road Rovers: diecast cartoon vehicles[22]     Books     Stationery     Sentimental frames     Recordable plush     Itty-Bittys     Happy-Go-Luckys     Bookmarks     Snowglobes Licensors     This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (February 2011) Some of the licensors for Hallmark's greeting cards, ornaments, and gift products include:     Beatrix Potter     Dr. Seuss     Filstar Distributors Corp. (Philippines)[23]     Ford Motor Company     General Motors     Hasbro     Harley-Davidson     Marjolein Bastin     Mattel     MGM     National Basketball Association     National Football League     National Hockey League     Nickelodeon         Paws, Inc.     Nintendo     Peyo     Precious Moments, Inc.     Rankin Bass     Sanrio     Sony Pictures     Star Trek     Tervis Tumbler     The Hershey Company     The Walt Disney Company         20th Century Studios             Family Guy             Ice Age film series             The Simpsons         Lucasfilm including Star Wars         Marvel Comics     Thomas Kinkade     Tim Burton     Ty Inc     Universal Studios         DreamWorks Animation     Warner Bros.         Looney Tunes         DC Comics         Hanna Barbera         Cartoon Network     WildBrain         Peanuts Hallmark Visitors Center The Hallmark Visitors Center is located at the company's headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri. The Center features exhibits about the company's history including historic greeting cards and postcards, Christmas ornaments, exhibits from the company's art collection, and displays about the Hallmark Hall of Fame programs and awards.[24] There is also a movie about the company's history. Hallmark School Store Alvirne High School in Hudson, New Hampshire, operates the only Hallmark school store in the United States. Besides normal food and beverage items, the "Bronco Barn" store also sells Hallmark cards. The store is run by students in Marketing I and Marketing II classes, and is open to students all day and after school.[25] Subsidiaries and assets A Hallmark Gold Crown franchise in Evansville, Indiana. A Crayola pack of 64 crayons. Hallmark owns:     Crayola LLC (formerly Binney & Smith): makers of Crayola-brand crayons     DaySpring Greeting Cards, is the world's largest Christian greeting card company. It was purchased in 1999 from Cook Publishing and is based in Siloam Springs, Arkansas.     Hallmark Business Connections: Formed in 1996, Hallmark Business Connections is a business-to-business subsidiary of Hallmark Cards, Inc. and is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri.[26]     Hallmark Channel: cable television network—Hallmark Cards owns this now privately held company (Crown Media Holdings), having acquired the stake it didn't own from Liberty Media; the network launched the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries sister channel (formerly known as Hallmark Movie Channel) in January 2004     Hallmark Gold Crown: a chain of independently-owned card and gift stores in the United States and Canada. Certain locations are corporate operated.     Hallmark Business Connections: Incentives—Reward programs, recognition programs and online gift certificates;     Halls, an upscale department store at Kansas City's Crown Center     Hallmark Movies Now: A premium subscription video on-demand (SVOD) service that is the primary streaming provider of Hallmark films, features, TV series and original productions.     Rainbow Brite: a franchise of children's dolls; includes the TV series produced by DIC Entertainment, but not the movie, which is owned by Warner Bros.)     Shirt Tales: a franchise of cards, featuring animals with shirts that read different messages; does not include the TV series created by Hanna-Barbera Productions (owned by Turner Entertainment)     Sunrise Greetings: Located in Bloomington, Indiana     Zoobilee Zoo: a 1986 TV show, centered around a zoo populated by animals with artistic tastes     Hallmark Baby: Baby clothing, toy, and decor sales website that sells exclusive Hallmark products. In addition, Hallmark Cards is the property manager of the Crown Center commercial complex, adjacent to its headquarters, and the owner of lithographer Litho-Krome Co. Photographic Collection In 2006, Hallmark donated its Hallmark Photographic Collection, an extensive collection of photographs by prominent photographers including Todd Webb, to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City.[27] Hallmark Music In the Philippines, singer Richard Tan sang a song about Hallmark Cards, entitled "No One Throws Away Memories". The song was featured in a commercial of the product in the 1970s.[28] In the mid-1980s, the company started its music division, issuing compilation albums by a number of popular artists.[citation needed] In 2004, Hallmark entered into a licensing agreement with Somerset Entertainment to produce Hallmark Music CDs.[29] Former subsidiaries Hallmark Entertainment: a producer of television shows and mini-series. Halmi Jr. and Halmi Sr. acquired the company in 2006 and it was absorbed into RHI Entertainment; Univision: Hallmark owned the Spanish-language broadcaster from 1986 to 1992." (wikipedia.org) "In the United States, a Hallmark holiday is a holiday that is perceived to exist primarily for commercial purposes, rather than to commemorate a traditionally or historically significant event. The name comes from Hallmark Cards, a privately owned American company, that benefits from such manufactured events through sales of greeting cards and other items. Holidays that have been referred to as "Hallmark holidays" include Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Grandparents Day, National Son's Day, National Daughter's Day, Sweetest Day, Boss's Day, Administrative Professionals' Day, Teacher Appreciation Day, Clergy Appreciation Day, Graduation Day, and others.[1][2] Though holidays such as Valentine's Day have been celebrated since the 5th century AD as the Feast of St. Valentine, and Mother's Day observed since the 1780s in England and later America as a day to "Go A'mothering", and others, all observed long before the Hallmark Company was founded in 1910. The Hallmark corporation maintains that it "can't take credit for creating holidays."" (wikipedia.org) "A jigsaw puzzle is a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of often oddly shaped interlocking and mosaiced pieces, each of which typically has a portion of a picture; when assembled, they produce a complete picture. In the 18th century, jigsaw puzzles were created by painting a picture on a flat, rectangular piece of wood, then cut into small pieces. Despite the name, a jigsaw was never used. John Spilsbury, a London cartographer and engraver, is credited with commercialising jigsaw puzzles around 1760.[1] They have since come to be made primarily of cardboard. Typical images on jigsaw puzzles include scenes from nature, buildings, and repetitive designs—castles and mountains are common, as well as other traditional subjects. However, any picture can be used. Artisan puzzle-makers and companies using technologies for one-off and small print-run puzzles utilize a wide range of subject matter, including optical illusions, unusual art, and personal photographs. In addition to traditional flat, two-dimensional puzzles, three-dimensional puzzles have entered large-scale production, including spherical puzzles and architectural recreations. In recent years, a range of jigsaw puzzle accessories including boards, cases, frames, and roll-up mats has become available to assist jigsaw puzzle enthusiasts. While most assembled puzzles are disassembled for reuse, they can also be attached to a backing with adhesive and displayed as art. According to the Alzheimer Society of Canada, doing jigsaw puzzles is one of many activities that can help keep the brain active and may reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease.... History John Spilsbury's "Europe divided into its kingdoms, etc." (1766). He created the jigsaw puzzle for educational purposes, and called them "Dissected Maps".[3][4] John Spilsbury is believed to have produced the first jigsaw puzzle around 1760, using a marquetry saw.[1] Early puzzles, known as dissections, were produced by mounting maps on sheets of hardwood and cutting along national boundaries, creating a puzzle useful for teaching geography.[1] Royal governess Lady Charlotte Finch used such "dissected maps" to teach the children of King George III and Queen Charlotte[5][6] Cardboard jigsaw puzzles appeared in the late 1800s, but were slow to replace wooden ones because manufacturers felt that cardboard puzzles would be perceived as low-quality, and because profit margins on wooden jigsaws were larger.[1] British printed puzzle from 1874. The name "jigsaw" came to be associated with the puzzle around 1880 when fretsaws became the tool of choice for cutting the shapes. Since fretsaws are distinct from jigsaws, the name appears to be a misnomer.[1] Wooden jigsaw pieces, cut by hand Jigsaw puzzles soared in popularity during the Great Depression, as they provided a cheap, long-lasting, recyclable form of entertainment.[1][7] It was around this time that jigsaws evolved to become more complex and appealing to adults.[1] They were also given away in product promotions and used in advertising, with customers completing an image of the promoted product.[1][7] Sales of wooden puzzles fell after World War II as improved wages led to price increases, while improvements in manufacturing processes made paperboard jigsaws more attractive.[7] Demand for jigsaw puzzles saw a surge, comparable to that of the Great Depression, during the Modern construction Paperboard jigsaw pieces Most modern jigsaw puzzles are made of paperboard as they are easier and cheaper to mass-produce. An enlarged photograph or printed reproduction of a painting or other two-dimensional artwork is glued to cardboard, which is then fed into a press. The press forces a set of hardened steel blades of the desired pattern, called a puzzle die, through the board until fully cut. The puzzle die is a flat board, often made from plywood, with slots cut or burned in the same shape as the knives that are used. The knives are set into the slots and covered in a compressible material, typically foam rubber, which ejects the cut puzzle pieces. The cutting process is similar to making shaped cookies with a cookie cutter. However, the forces involved are tremendously greater: A typical 1000-piece puzzle requires upwards of 700 tons of force to push the die through the board. Beginning in the 1930s, jigsaw puzzles were cut using large hydraulic presses that now cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. The precise cuts gave a snug fit, but the cost limited jigsaw puzzle production to large corporations. Recent roller-press methods achieve the same results at a lower cost.[citation needed] New technology has also enabled laser-cutting of wooden or acrylic jigsaw puzzles. The advantage is that the puzzle can be custom-cut to any size or shape, with any number or average size of pieces. Many museums have laser-cut acrylic puzzles made of some of their art so visiting children can assemble puzzles of the images on display. Acrylic pieces are very durable, waterproof, and can withstand continued use without the image degrading. Also, because the print and cut patterns are computer-based, missing pieces can easily be remade. By the early 1960s, Tower Press was the world's largest jigsaw puzzle maker; it was acquired by Waddingtons in 1969.[10] Numerous smaller-scale puzzle makers work in artisanal styles, handcrafting and handcutting their creations.[11][12][13][14] Variations Jigsaw puzzle software allowing rotation of pieces A three-dimensional puzzle composed of several two-dimensional puzzles stacked on top of one another A puzzle without a picture Jigsaw puzzles come in a variety of sizes. Among those marketed to adults, 300-, 500- and 750-piece puzzles are considered "smaller". More sophisticated, but still common, puzzles come in sizes of 1,000, 1,500, 2,000, 3,000, 4,000, 5,000, 6,000, 7,500, 8,000, 9,000, 13,200, 18,000, 24,000, 32,000 and 40,000 pieces. Jigsaw puzzles geared towards children typically have many fewer pieces and are typically much larger. For very young children, puzzles with as few as 4 to 9 large pieces (so as not to be a choking hazard) are standard. They are usually made of wood or plastic for durability and can be cleaned without damage. The most common layout for a thousand-piece puzzle is 38 pieces by 27 pieces, for an actual total of 1,026 pieces. Most 500-piece puzzles are 27 pieces by 19 pieces. A few puzzles are double-sided so they can be solved from either side—adding complexity, as the enthusiast must determine if they are looking at the right side of each piece. "Family puzzles" of 100–550 pieces use an assortment of small, medium and large pieces, with each size going in one direction or towards the middle of the puzzle. This allows a family of different skill levels and hand sizes to work on the puzzle together. Companies like Springbok, Cobble Hill, Ravensburger and Suns Out make this type of specialty puzzle. There are also three-dimensional jigsaw puzzles. Many are made of wood or styrofoam and require the puzzle to be solved in a particular order, as some pieces will not fit if others are already in place. One type of 3-D jigsaw puzzle is a puzzle globe, often made of plastic. Like 2-D puzzles, the assembled pieces form a single layer, but the final form is three-dimensional. Most globe puzzles have designs representing spherical shapes such as the Earth, the Moon, and historical globes of the Earth. Also common are puzzle boxes, simple three-dimensional puzzles with a small drawer or box in the center for storage. Jigsaw puzzles can vary significantly in price depending on their complexity, number of pieces, and brand. In the US, children's puzzles can start around $5, while larger ones can be closer to $50. The most expensive puzzle to date was sold for $US27,000 in 2005 at a charity auction for The Golden Retriever Foundation.[15] Several word-puzzle games use pieces similar to those in jigsaw puzzles. Examples include Alfa-Lek, Jigsaw Words, Nab-It!, Puzzlage, Typ-Dom, Word Jigsaw, and Yottsugo.[16][citation needed] Puzzle pieces A "whimsy" piece in a wooden jigsaw puzzle A 3D jigsaw puzzle Many puzzles are termed "fully interlocking", meaning that adjacent pieces are connected such that they stay attached when one is turned. Sometimes the connection is tight enough to pick up a solved part by holding one piece. Some fully interlocking puzzles have pieces of a similar shape, with rounded tabs (interjambs) on opposite ends and corresponding indentations—called blanks—on the other two sides to receive the tabs. Other fully interlocking puzzles may have tabs and blanks variously arranged on each piece; but they usually have four sides, and the numbers of tabs and blanks thus add up to four. Uniformly shaped fully interlocking puzzles, sometimes called "Japanese Style", are the most difficult because the differences in the pieces' shapes are most subtle.[citation needed] Most jigsaw puzzles are square, rectangular or round, with edge pieces with one straight or smoothly curved side, plus four corner pieces (if the puzzle is square or rectangular). However, some puzzles have edge, and corner pieces cut like the rest, with no straight sides, making it more challenging to identify them. Other puzzles utilize more complex edge pieces to form unique shapes when assembled, such as profiles of animals. The pieces of spherical jigsaw, like immersive panorama jigsaw, can be triangular-shaped, according to the rules of tessellation of the geoid primitive. The designer Yuu Asaka created "Jigsaw Puzzle 29" which has not four corner pieces but five corner pieces, and is made from pale blue acrylic without a picture.[17] It was awarded the Jury Honorable Mention of 2018 Puzzle Design Competition.[18] Because many puzzlers had solved it easily, he created "Jigsaw Puzzle 19" which composed only with corner pieces as revenge.[19] It was made with transparent green acrylic pieces without a picture.[20] Calculating the number of edge pieces Jigsaw puzzlers often want to know in advance how many border pieces they are looking for to verify they have found all of them. Puzzle sizes are typically listed on commercially distributed puzzles but usually include the total number of pieces in the puzzle and do not list the count of edge or interior pieces. Puzzlers, therefore, calculate the number of border pieces. To calculate B (border pieces) from P (the total piece count), follow this method:     List the prime factors of P.         For a 513-piece jigsaw, the prime factorization tree is 3×3×3×19=513     Take the square root of P and round off.         √513 ≈ 22.6         round to 23     Look for numbers in the prime factor list within ±20% of the square root of P.         Calculate 20% of the rounded square root of P.             1⁄5 × 23 = 4.6         Develop the range, ±20%, from the rounded square root of P.             23 ±4.6 = 18.4 to 27.6         Compare the range with the factor list. Define this as E1.             The factor list shows 19 in the range.     Determine the horizontal / vertical dimensions.         Divide P (the total number of pieces) by E1 to determine the horizontal / vertical dimensions, E1xE2.             513 / 19 = 27             This is probably a 19×27 puzzle.         Alternative method: take the remaining numbers from the prime factorization tree.             3x3x3 = 27     Add the four sides and subtract 4 to correct for the corner pieces, which would otherwise be counted in both the horizontal and vertical.         27 × 2 + 19 × 2 - 4 = 88 These 88 border pieces include 4 corners, 17 pieces between corners on the short sides, and 25 between corners on the long sides. Common puzzle dimensions:     1000 piece puzzle: 1026 pieces, 126 border pieces (38x27)[21] World records Largest commercially available jigsaw puzzles Pieces     Name of puzzle     Company     Year     Size [cm]     Area [m2] 54,000     Travel by Art     Grafika     2020     864 × 204     17.65 52,110     (No title: collage of animals)     MartinPuzzle     2018     696 × 202     14.06 51,300     27 Wonders from Around the World     Kodak     2019     869 × 191     16.60 48,000     Around the World     Grafika     2017     768 × 204     15.67 42,000     La vuelta al Mundo     Educa Borras     2017     749 × 157     11.76 40,320     Making Mickey Magic     Ravensburger     2018     680 × 192     13.06 40,320     Memorable Disney Moments     Ravensburger     2016     680 × 192     13.06 33,600     Wild Life     Educa Borras     2014     570 × 157     8.95 32,000     New York City Window     Ravensburger     2014     544 × 192     10.45 32,000     Double Retrospect     Ravensburger     2010     544 × 192     10.45 24,000     Life, The greatest puzzle     Educa Borras     2007     428 × 157     6.72 Largest-sized jigsaw puzzles The world's largest-sized jigsaw puzzle measured 5,428.8 m2 (58,435 sq ft) with 21,600 pieces, each measuring a Guinness World Records maximum size of 50 cm by 50 cm. It was assembled on 3 November 2002 by 777 people at the former Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong.[22] Largest jigsaw puzzle – most pieces The Guinness record of CYM Group in 2011 with 551,232 pieces The jigsaw with the greatest number of pieces had 551,232 pieces and measured 14.85 × 23.20 m (48 ft 8.64 in × 76 ft 1.38 in). It was assembled on 25 September 2011 at Phú Thọ Indoor Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, by students of the University of Economics, Ho Chi Minh City. It is listed by the Guinness World Records for the "Largest Jigsaw Puzzle – most pieces", but as the intact jigsaw had been divided into 3,132 sections, each containing 176 pieces, which were reassembled and then connected, the claim is controversial.[23][24] Cultural references The logo of Wikipedia is a globe made out of jigsaw pieces. The incomplete sphere symbolizes the room to add new knowledge.[citation needed] In the logo of the Colombian Office of the Attorney General appears a jigsaw puzzle piece in the foreground. They named it "The Key Piece": "The piece of a puzzle is the proper symbol to visually represent the Office of the Attorney General because it includes the concepts of search, solution and answers that the entity pursues through the investigative activity."[25] Art and entertainment The central antagonist in the Saw film franchise is named Jigsaw.[26] In the 1933 Laurel and Hardy short Me and My Pal, several characters attempt to complete a large jigsaw puzzle.[27] Lost in Translation is a poem about a child putting together a jigsaw puzzle, as well as an interpretive puzzle itself. Life: A User's Manual, Georges Perec's most famous novel, tells as pieces of a puzzle a story about a jigsaw puzzle maker. Jigsaw Puzzle (song), sometimes spelled "Jig-Saw Puzzle" is a song by the rock and roll band The Rolling Stones, featured on their 1968 album Beggars Banquet. In ‘‘Citizen Kane‘’ Susan Alexander Kane (Dorothy Comingore) is reduced to spending her days completing jigsaws after the failure of her operatic career. After Kane’s death when ‘’Xanadu’’ is emptied, hundreds of jigsaw puzzles are discovered in the cellar. Symbol for autism An "autism awareness" ribbon, featuring red, blue, and yellow jigsaw pieces Jigsaw puzzle pieces were first used as a symbol for autism in 1963 by the United Kingdom's National Autistic Society.[28] The organization chose jigsaw pieces for their logo to represent the "puzzling" nature of autism and the inability to "fit in" due to social differences, and also because jigsaw pieces were recognizable and otherwise unused. Puzzle pieces have since been incorporated into the logos and promotional materials of many organizations, including the Autism Society of America and Autism Speaks. Proponents of the autism rights movement oppose the jigsaw puzzle iconography, stating that metaphors such as "puzzling" and "incomplete" are harmful to autistic people. Critics of the puzzle piece symbol instead advocate for a rainbow-colored infinity symbol representing diversity.[29] In 2017, the journal Autism concluded that the use of the jigsaw puzzle evoked negative public perception towards autistic individuals, and in February 2018 removed the puzzle piece from their cover." (wikipedia.org) "A farmhouse is a building that serves as the primary quarters in a rural or agricultural setting. Historically, farmhouses were often combined with space for animals called a housebarn. Other farmhouses may be connected to one or more barns, built to form a courtyard, or with each farm building separate from each other.[... Europe Types of farmhouses in Europe include the following:     Typical farmhouse in Triglav National Park, Slovenia     A half-timbered farmhouse in Wales France A Bresse house (French: Ferme bressane) is a type of farmhouse found in the Bresse region and characterized by its long length, brick walls and wooden roof.[3][4] A Mas is a traditional farmhouse unique to Provence and Southern France.[5][6] Germany     This section includes a list of general references, but it remains largely unverified because it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this section by introducing more precise citations. (August 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) A timber-framed Middle German house in Klein Schöppenstedt near Cremlingen around 1900 Historically there were three main types of German farmhouses, many of which survive today. The Low German house or Niedersachsenhaus (Lower Saxony house) is found mainly on the North German Plain, but also in large parts of the Netherlands. It is a large structure with a sweeping roof supported by two to four rows of internal posts. The large barn door at the gable end opens into a spacious hall, or Deele, with cattle stalls and barns on either side and living accommodation at the end. The Middle German house may also be a single unit, but access is from the side, and the roof is supported by the outside walls. Later this type of mitteldeutsches Haus was expanded to two or more buildings around a rectangular farmyard, often with a second story. The South German house is found in southern Germany and has two main variants, the Swabian or Black Forest house and the Bavarian farmstead.[7] Italy A Cascina a corte is a courtyard building whose arrangement is based on the Roman villa found in the Po Valley of northern Italy.[citation needed] A house called Casa colonica [it] in Italy is a type of farmhouse where the residents work the land but do not own the farm.[8] Malta Ta' Tabibu farmhouse and Ta' Xindi Farmhouse are two typical Maltese farmhouses built with the use of Limestone material. In Maltese a farmhouse is called Razzett.[9][10] Other examples of Maltese farmhouses are the Ta' Cisju Farmhouse and The Devil's Farmhouse.     Ta' Tabibu farmhouse at St. Paul's Bay, Malta.     Ta' Xindi Farmhouse at San Gwann, Malta. Norway     This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Norwegian farmhouses used timber or logs and were built using Scandinavian vernacular architecture. The first examples are traced back to the 13th century. In some cases farmhouses are built on steep hillsides of the fjords, such as the Me-Åkernes farmland. Spain     This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Alqueria is the name given to farmhouses in Valencia. The Baserri is found in the Basque Country in Northern Spain and Southwestern France. The Cabaña pasiega is a two-level dwelling for farmers and livestock found in Cantabria. The Masia originates from Catalonia, and the Palloza is a primitive, circular dwelling with a conical roof. Cortijos also called Caserías when related to large rural estates are found Andalusia, Extremadura, Murcia, Ciudad Real and Albacete. Hacienda also occasionally functioned as a farmhouse. Cortijo or Casería in Píñar (Province of Granada). North America Types of farmhouses in North America include the following: Canada Canadian farmhouses were influenced by European settlers. In Quebec, the style varied from Gothic to Swiss, with the kitchen being the most important room in the house.[11] In Ontario, the farmhouses of the late 19th century were of Victorian influence. Earlier ones used clapboard and later variations had brick. Many had front porches. In the west, dwellings varied from single-story wooden homesteads to straw huts. Wooden houses were built later as railroads brought wood from the Rockies (Alberta, British Columbia). By the early 1900s houses could be purchased as kits from several Canadian and American companies.[12][13] Canadian homes often differ from their American counterparts in that the porch was often enclosed. From 1850 onward many featured vernacular interpretations of the more formal architectural styles, such as Greek Revival, Italianate, Carpenter Gothic, and Queen Anne.[citation needed] United States American farmhouses had a straightforward construction designed to function amidst a working farm in a rural setting.[14] They had a simple rectangular floor plan, usually built with local materials, and included a dominant centrally-located fireplace for cooking and heating." (wikipedia.org) "Cottagecore is a fashion aesthetic popularised by teenagers and young adults celebrating an idealised rural life.[1] It was developed throughout the 2010s[2][3] and was first named cottagecore on Tumblr in 2018.[4] The aesthetic centres on traditional rural clothing, interior design, and crafts such as foraging, baking, and pottery, and is related to similar aesthetic movements such as grandmacore, farmcore, goblincore, and faeriecore.[5] Some sources describe cottagecore as a subculture of Millennials[6] and Generation Z.[7][8] The cottagecore community is highly diverse..... Aesthetic and lifestyle elements The tenets of cottagecore can help to satisfy for its proponents a desire for "an aspirational form of nostalgia" as well as an escape from many forms of stress and trauma.[5] The New York Times described it as a reaction to hustle culture and the advent of personal branding.[5] The Guardian called it a "visual and lifestyle movement designed to fetishise the wholesome purity of the outdoors."[10] Cottagecore emphasizes simplicity and the soft peacefulness of the pastoral life as an escape from the dangers of the modern world.[11] It became highly popular on social media during the [6][10][12] Fashion An embroidery design While homemade clothing is a feature of cottagecore,[3] products including the "strawberry dress" - a $490 tea dress by Lirika Matoshi containing features commonly associated with cottagecore,[13] including a full skirt and sleeves, flounces of tulle, and strawberry embroidery reminiscent of both nature and jam-making - contain parts of cottagecore's philosophy of self-sufficiency.[14] Due to the high price of the Matoshi dress, a number of people opted to use their own skills to create their own versions of the product.[13] Cottagecore clothing often includes lengthy and layered dresses.[14] Analytics company Edited identified that besides floral prints and stripes "Old-world, feminine shapes and details are integral to this aesthetic—milkmaid necklines, puff sleeves, ruffles and prairie-inspired midi dresses."[15][7] Marketing commentators noted that the trend fits with already available '70s-inspired dresses, lace trim, and denim, and complemented the slow fashion trend.[7] Food and gardening Self-sufficiency, e.g. baking one's own bread, is integral to cottagecore. Growing one's own food in one's own garden and baking one's own bread all reflect the philosophy of self-sufficiency of cottagecore.[12] Living in the countryside is not necessary for this lifestyle.[9] Cottagecore gardening is intended to be environmentally friendly, reflecting a growing push for sustainable permacultural farming practices.[16][17] For example, the cultivation of a variety of perennial and annual native plants (i.e. plants endemic to the areas near one's home) helps attract insects, including bees, and as such promotes biodiversity and increases pollination of food-producing crops, increasing yield.[17] Other aspects Adopters of cottagecore typically purchase secondhand or vintage furniture.[9] They like to live slowly and spend more time to take care of themselves,[12] including their own mental health,[18] for example by avoiding the use of electronic gadgets and reading or watching the news less often.[12] Antecedents and cultural context While cottagecore arose as a named aesthetic in 2018, similar aesthetics and ideals existed prior to its inception. The ancient Greeks, having previously characterised the geographical Arcadia as a savage and inhospitable place, came to see an idealised Arcadia as a representation of an untainted rural life and spiritual haven following the effects of industrial life. Greek poet Theocritus wrote poems about shepherds and shepherdesses in the third century BC, leading to him being often cited as the inventor of pastoral poetry.[19] The market for Theocritus’ work was primarily the educated urban class of Alexandria, Egypt, seeking an escape from the filth, crowding and disease of city life. In the first century BC the Roman poet Virgil’s pastoral poetry was written in response to the violence and chaos of war. However, he expanded the genre by acknowledging contemporary moral and political issues such as war whilst maintaining a distance through the pastoral trope.[19] Pastoral escapism continued to be produced for the courtly audience of the Roman Empire in the format of novels such as Daphnis and Chloe from the second century AD.[19] William Morris design for "Trellis" wallpaper, 1862 in Arts and Crafts movement style Pastoral escapism returned as a theme of the arts during the Renaissance through the fourteenth century Italian poet Petrarch who was known for his hill-walking and gardening as well as his poetry.[19] English playwright William Shakespeare wrote two pastoral plays, As You Like It and A Winter’s Tale. They reflect the inherent tension between the subject of the pastoral theme compared with its intended audience in that although aristocrats are featured in these works as play-acting shepherds and falling in love with shepherdesses marriage only takes place only when it is revealed that both are of high social status.[19][note 1] Shakespeare’s contemporary Christopher Marlowe’s renowned poem The Passionate Shepherd to His Love inspired poetic responses from poets such as John Donne and Dorothy Parker with Walter Raleigh’s response from the beloved being to point out that Arcadian ideas were fallacies.[19] In eighteenth-century Europe, it was fashionable among nobles to build ornamental country houses in the style of rural villages.[20] The Arts and Crafts movement of the nineteenth century was an approach to art, architecture, and design that embraced 'folk' styles and techniques as a critique of industrial production.[10] The counterculture of the 1960s provides perhaps the most significant source of influence for the cottagecore movement, and many of the subcategories of cottagecore directly invoke the aesthetic of environmentally conscious architectural projects and communes of the era such as Drop City, and embody the radically sustainable, hands-on ethos of publications such as the Whole Earth Catalog. Thrifted furniture and art pieces from the 1960s and '70s are often used to create a comforting, cozy interior space, as are patterns of the era such as paisley and mushroom prints.[21] There have been similar aesthetics in different countries, such as iki, or detached elegance, from Japan, fernweh, or being somewhere far away and mysterious, from Germany, or hygge, or satisfying comfort, from Denmark.[8] Contemporary popularity Prior to the Great Recession, Thomas Kinkade sold millions of copies of his paintings of idyllic cottages.[22]     Cottagecore is an ideal. It creates a warm feeling when one thinks about how wonderful it would be to live a simpler, more bucolic existence. I started thumbing through my book on Thomas Kinkade, poring over his paintings of cottages and small-town life. I think his tremendous success was related to the feelings these paintings evoke in us.     — Corky Pickering, "The cottagecore dream during the pandemic"[22] The movement gained further traction in many online spheres and on social media in 2020 due to the mass quarantining in response to the [6][10][23] Networks such as the blogging site Tumblr had a 150% increase in cottagecore posts in the three months from March to May 2020.[7] It spread on Pinterest, a platform for sharing visual ideas.[24] It became hugely popular on TikTok as well,[1][25] with numerous cottagecore enthusiasts sharing videos of themselves living in rural areas, bathing in the forest, or baking bread.[26] On TikTok, the LGBT+ community have particularly been fond of cottage core, especially lesbians.[27] The New Yorker asserted that such videos had "evoked a mood of calm, enlightened, prettified productivity."[8] Vox characterized the trend as "the aesthetic where quarantine is romantic instead of terrifying."[4] Living in the style of cottagecore or simply looking at others doing the same on the Internet was seen as something that could help people de-stress.[28] Speaking to CNN, psychologist Krystine Batcho noted that it should be no surprise nostalgia in general and cottagecore in particular was in vogue during such a stressful time. "Longing for simpler situations, simpler time periods or simpler ways of living is an effort to balance out and to counteract the effects of high intense stress," she said.[12] Indeed, this was a time when many urban residents questioned whether it was worth living in the cities, and rural life stood up as an appealing alternative.[26] A New York Times article compared cottagecore to the social simulation video game series Animal Crossing being acted out in real life.[5][10] In July 2021 The Sims 4 released an expansion pack called "Cottage Living", which focuses on floral prints, gardening and tending to animals like chickens and llamas.[29] In July 2020, American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift released her eighth studio album, Folklore, a critical and commercial success.[30][31] It features songs written during the lockdown.[25] The album's prominent use of cottagecore in its visuals and lyrics has been credited with increasing the aesthetic's popularity and notability.[32][33][34] She continued the aesthetic with its follow-up record, Evermore (2020),[35][36] and applied it to her performance at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards.[37] The music videos for "Cardigan" and "Willow" also heavily incorporate cottagecore.[38] Other public figures who embraced this style include British actress Millie Bobby Brown,[25] English musician Harry Styles,[9] and English footballer David Beckham.[6] In the United States, cottagecore became a decorating trend for the 2020 holiday season while the sales of needlework kits skyrocketed.[3] According to the Royal Horticultural Society of the United Kingdom, cottage gardening is a trend for 2021.[17] China has its own version of cottagecore. Even though the country is rapidly urbanizing as part of economic development, many young people have decided leave the cities after their university studies for their hometowns in the countryside, where the quality of life has improved thanks to, among other things, the availability of fast Internet access, new roads, and high-speed railways.[39] Among the returning youths are cottagecore-minded architects.[40] Critiques Critics have noted the contrast between idyllic depictions of rural life constructed by the cottagecore aesthetic and some of the realities of such spaces, such as the effects of rural poverty[5][12] or sanitation.[18] Some of the people who promote this lifestyle also pointed out that it might be romanticized in the minds of those who lacked prior experience with rural life." (wikipedia.org) "Shabby chic is a style of interior design where furniture and furnishings are either chosen for their appearance of age and signs of wear and tear or where new items are distressed to achieve the appearance of an antique. At the same time, a soft, opulent, yet cottage-style decor, often with an affected feel is emphasized to differentiate it from genuine period decor.... Description A dresser with a distressed finish and mismatched drawer knobs, in Shabby chic style Shabby chic items are often heavily painted through the years, with many layers showing through obviously time-worn areas. The style is imitated in faux painting using glaze or by painting then rubbing and sanding away the top coat to show the wood or base coats, known as "distressing" the finish of the furniture. Furniture pieces that are not genuine antiques or vintage items are usually selected for their resemblance to older furniture styles, and may be reproduction furniture with a distressed finish. Elaborate furniture appliques depicting flower swags and garlands, cherubs, and other motifs may be added. Fabrics tend to be cottons and linens, with linen being particularly popular, inspired by old French linens. Pure whites, as well as ecrus and worn or bleached out pastel colors are favorites. Fabric is often stained with tea to give it the look of old fabric. Bleached and faded are terms often applied to the style. Vintage floral patterns with pastel colors, cotton ticking patterns, or linen in earth tones, are all typical of shabby chic style. Antique pieces such as pie safes and jelly cupboards are popular in shabby chic décor.[1] Besides white, the shabby chic style also includes soft neutral colors such as sky blue, rose pink and beige tones. Hints from French-style interior design often show in shabby chic homes such as Rococo-style lighting fixtures, furniture or wall paneling. The shabby chic aesthetic also expands to the garden, with the same design principles of using timeworn garden furniture and feminine accessories. Rose gardens are popular with the shabby chic style of décor. Other popular décor items are pillows made of vintage barkcloth fabric, vintage linens, chenille bedspreads, vintage chandeliers, jute, and anything with roses in the design. Newsweek used the term to describe avant-garde fashion designer Martin Margiela's 1992 fall fashion show, which took place in a Salvation Army furniture store and featured models in "wrinkled jackets, baggy-kneed pants and coats with inner linings hanging down from unfinished hems."[2] Decorators consider shabby chic a soft, relaxed, romantic style that looks comfortable and inviting, and is usually associated as feminine. Masculine shabby chic would be "rustic", with deeper or richer colors, Rustic furniture using unfinished wood, denim, burlap, sailcloth and homespun.[3] Variants of shabby chic style include:     Cottage chic     Beach cottage chic     French country     Gustavian (Swedish) History Sliding pantry door installed in a suburban home. The style started in Great Britain and evokes the type of decoration found in large country houses where there are worn and faded old chintz sofas and curtains, old paintwork and unassuming "good" taste. The end result of shabby chic is to achieve an elegant overall effect, as opposed to the sentimentally cute Pop-Victorian. Recycling old furniture and fabrics is an important aspect of the look and was especially popular with modern Bohemians and artisans that made up a sidelined counter-culture movement during the 1980s when expensive quality decor became very fashionable with the upper middle classes. The original shabby chic interiors were usually considered in themselves works of art. The early forms of shabby chic were rather grand but the style has evolved taking inspiration from many forms of decoration. These range from 18th century Swedish painted decoration, the French Chateau as well as the American Shakers where simplicity and plainness was essential. Rachel Ashwell founded a furniture chain called Shabby Chic, and in 1996, published a book around the aesthetic she described as "the aura of old money, cushy comfort, and crafted indifference."[4] An offshoot of shabby chic is a trend towards 'relicing' of guitars and bass guitars to create a 'roadworn' appearance, from mild wear to extreme abuses almost never seen in genuine vintage instruments.[5] Origin of term The phrase was used descriptively through the 20th century for both fashion and décor,[6][7][8][9] and was popularized as an interior decorating style by Min Hogg in The World of Interiors magazine in the 1980s.[citation needed] It became popular in the United States in the 1990s with a certain eclectic surge of decorating styles with paints and effects, notably in metropolitan cultural centers on the West Coast of America, such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, with heavy influences from Mediterranean cultures such as Provence, Tuscany, and Greece." (wikipedia.org) "Rustic Modern or rustic chic is a style of interior design that uses of historical period room installations or furniture within a more modern overall room design. Rustic modern style blanket chest Contents     1 Use of the term "Rustic Modern" in the 20th century     2 Reception in the 21st century     3 See also     4 References Use of the term "Rustic Modern" in the 20th century Perhaps the first use of the term "Rustic Modern" in popular culture came in the press following the burial of movie star Marilyn Monroe. On August 8, 1962, United Press International published a release out of West Los Angeles regarding the services for the actress that stated, "thousands of spectators were expected to throng the area around the small 'rustic modern' chapel and mausoleum where the 36-year-old-actress will be entombed."[1] In 2000 author Ali Hanan released a book entitled Modern Rustic: Natural Ideas for a Contemporary Lifestyle on the subject of the method of interior design in which he wrote that "creating the rustic modern look is an organic process that takes time and commitment. Some decorative touches ... may take some effort tracking down, but the end result is timeless".[2] Reception in the 21st century The concept of Rustic Modern interior design received increased attention after 2000, especially in the State of California.[3] This incarnation of the design method includes design elements alternatively known as "kitsch" that represent eras of design in the 20th century such as chalkboards or twig racks alongside modern conveniences like reduced energy lighting and other state-of-the-art design elements.[3] Between 2011 and 2012 the trend took off, particularly in the San Diego area, where many commercial establishments such as bars and restaurants have opted to redesign their properties according to the design style.[4] This particular incarnation has been described by Kitchens Magazine as composed of "earth tones and light weight and/or sustainably harvested woods" that imbue the idea that home owners do not "take themselves too seriously".[5] The style trend began to spread outside of the California region and into the rest of the United States during the 2011-12 period,[6] a movement most closely linked to the San Diego design firm Jackson Design & Remodeling—who won a 2011 American Society of Interior Designers Design Excellence Award for its work within the design method.[7] The design method is used for both the creation of room design in new homes and the restoration of older homes in an effort to keep their original charm while updating their utility for modern families." (wikipedia.org) "A farmer[1] is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer might own the farmed land or might work as a laborer on land owned by others, but in most developed economies, a farmer is usually a farm owner, while employees of the farm are known as farm workers, or farmhands. However, in other older definitions a farmer was a person who promotes or improves the growth of plants, land or crops or raises animals (as livestock or fish) by labor and attention. Over half a billion farmers are smallholders, most of whom are in developing countries, and who economically support almost two billion people.[2][3] Globally, women constitute more than 40% of agricultural employees.... History Farming dates back as far as the Neolithic, being one of the defining characteristics of that era. By the Bronze Age, the Sumerians had an agriculture specialized labor force by 5000–4000 BCE, and heavily depended on irrigation to grow crops. They relied on three-person teams when harvesting in the spring.[5] The Ancient Egypt farmers farmed and relied and irrigated their water from the Nile.[6] Animal husbandry, the practice of rearing animals specifically for farming purposes, has existed for thousands of years. Dogs were domesticated in East Asia about 15,000 years ago. Goats and sheep were domesticated around 8000 BCE in Asia. Swine or pigs were domesticated by 7000 BCE in the Middle East and China. The earliest evidence of horse domestication dates to around 4000 BCE.[7] Advancements in technology Afghani farmers learning about greenhouses In the U.S. of the 1930s, one farmer could only produce enough food to feed three other consumers. A modern-day farmer produces enough food to feed well over a hundred people. However, some authors consider this estimate to be flawed, as it does not take into account that farming requires energy and many other resources which have to be provided by additional workers, so that the ratio of people fed to farmers is actually smaller than 100 to 1.[8] Types An American dairy farmer More distinct terms are commonly used to denote farmers who raise specific domesticated animals. For example, those who raise grazing livestock, such as cattle, sheep, goats and horses, are known as ranchers (U.S.), graziers (Australia & UK) or simply stockmen. Sheep, goat and cattle farmers might also be referred to, respectively, as shepherds, goatherds and cowherds. The term dairy farmer is applied to those engaged primarily in milk production, whether from cattle, goats, sheep, or other milk producing animals. A poultry farmer is one who concentrates on raising chickens, turkeys, ducks or geese, for either meat, egg or feather production, or commonly, all three. A person who raises a variety of vegetables for market may be called a truck farmer or market gardener. Dirt farmer is an American colloquial term for a practical farmer, or one who farms his own land.[9] 'Farming is a public service' shirt In developed nations, a farmer (as a profession) is usually defined as someone with an ownership interest in crops or livestock, and who provides land or management in their production. Those who provide only labor are most often called farmhands. Alternatively, growers who manage farmland for an absentee landowner, sharing the harvest (or its profits) are known as sharecroppers or sharefarmers. In the context of agribusiness, a farmer is defined broadly, and thus many individuals not necessarily engaged in full-time farming can nonetheless legally qualify under agricultural policy for various subsidies, incentives, and tax deductions. A farmer in Nicaragua Techniques In the context of developing nations or other pre-industrial cultures, most farmers practice a meager subsistence agriculture—a simple organic-farming system employing crop rotation, seed saving, slash and burn, or other techniques to maximize efficiency while meeting the needs of the household or community. One subsisting in this way may become labelled as a peasant, often associated disparagingly with a "peasant mentality".[10] Tanzanian tea farmers In developed nations, however, a person using such techniques on small patches of land might be called a gardener and be considered a hobbyist. Alternatively, one might be driven into such practices by poverty or, ironically—against the background of large-scale agribusiness—might become an organic farmer growing for discerning/faddish consumers in the local food market. Farming organizations Meeting of the Eastern Illinois Beekeepers Association, 1914 Farmers are often members of local, regional, or national farmers' unions or agricultural producers' organizations and can exert significant political influence. The Grange movement in the United States was effective in advancing farmers' agendas, especially against railroad and agribusiness interests early in the 20th century. The FNSEA is very politically active in France, especially pertaining to genetically modified food. Agricultural producers, both small and large, are represented globally by the International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP), representing over 600 million farmers through 120 national farmers' unions in 79 countries.[11] Odessa Oldham, of Casper College, Casper, Wyoming, explained her knowledge and experience as a member of the Future Farmers of America during the United States Department of Agriculture, Native American Indian Heritage Month celebration in Washington, D.C., on November 16, 2011 Youth Farming Organizations There are many organizations that are targeted at teaching young people how to farm and advancing the knowledge and benefits of sustainable agriculture.     4-H was started in 1902 and is a U.S.-based network that has approximately 6.5 million members, ages 5 to 21 years old, and is administered by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).     The National FFA Organization (formerly known as Future Farmers of America) was founded in 1925 and is specifically focused on providing agriculture education for middle and high school students.     Rural Youth Europe is a non-governmental organization for European youths to create awareness of rural environmental and agriculture issues, it was started in 1957 and the headquarters is in Helsinki, Finland. The group is active in 17 countries with over 500,000 participants. Income Farmed products might be sold either to a market, in a farmers' market, or directly from a farm. In a subsistence economy, farm products might to some extent be either consumed by the farmer's family or pooled by the community. Occupational hazards A combine harvester on an English farm There are several occupational hazards for those in agriculture; farming is a particularly dangerous industry.[12] Farmers can encounter and be stung or bitten by dangerous insects and other arthropods, including scorpions, fire ants, bees, wasps and hornets.[13] Farmers also work around heavy machinery which can kill or injure them. Farmers can also establish muscle and joints pains from repeated work.[14] Etymology The word 'farmer' originally meant a person collecting taxes from tenants working a field owned by a landlord.[15][16] The word changed to refer to the person farming the field. Previous names for a farmer were churl and husbandman." (wikipedia.org) "A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production.[1] The name is used for specialized units such as arable farms, vegetable farms, fruit farms, dairy, pig and poultry farms, and land used for the production of natural fiber, biofuel and other commodities. It includes ranches, feedlots, orchards, plantations and estates, smallholdings and hobby farms, and includes the farmhouse and agricultural buildings as well as the land. In modern times the term has been extended so as to include such industrial operations as wind farms and fish farms, both of which can operate on land or sea. There are about 570 million farms in the world, with most of which are small and family-operated. Small farms with a land area of less than 2 hectares operate about 1% of the world's agricultural land, and family farms comprise about 75% of the world's agricultural land.[2] Modern farms in developed countries are highly mechanized. In the United States, livestock may be raised on range, land and finished in feedlots and the mechanization of crop production has brought about a great decrease in the number of agricultural workers needed. In Europe, traditional family farms are giving way to larger production units. In Australia, some farms are very large because the land is unable to support a high stocking density of livestock because of climatic conditions. In less developed countries, small farms are the norm, and the majority of rural residents are subsistence farmers, feeding their families and selling any surplus products in the local market. Acres can hold the crops. ... Etymology A farmer harvesting crops with mule-drawn wagon, 1920s, Iowa, USA The word in the sense of an agricultural land-holding derives from the verb "to farm" a revenue source, whether taxes, customs, rents of a group of manors or simply to hold an individual manor by the feudal land tenure of "fee farm". The word is from the medieval Latin noun firma, also the source of the French word ferme, meaning a fixed agreement, contract,[3] from the classical Latin adjective firmus meaning strong, stout, firm.[4][5] As in the medieval age virtually all manors were engaged in the business of agriculture, which was their principal revenue source, so to hold a manor by the tenure of "fee farm" became synonymous with the practice of agriculture itself. History Main article: History of agriculture See also: Timeline of agriculture and food technology Map of the world showing approximate centers of origin of agriculture and its spread in prehistory: the Fertile Crescent (11,000 BP), the Yangtze and Yellow River basins (9,000 BP), and the New Guinea Highlands (9,000–6,000 BP), Central Mexico (5,000–4,000 BP), Northern South America (5,000–4,000 BP), sub-Saharan Africa (5,000–4,000 BP, exact location unknown), eastern North America (4,000–3,000 BP).[6] Farming has been innovated at multiple different points and places in human history. The transition from hunter-gatherer to settled, agricultural societies is called the Neolithic Revolution and first began around 12,000 years ago, near the beginning of the geological epoch of the Holocene[7] around 12,000 years ago.[8] It was the world's first historically verifiable revolution in agriculture. Farming spread from the Middle East to Europe and by 4,000 BC people that lived in the central part of Europe were using oxen to pull plows and wagons.[9] Subsequent step-changes in human farming practices were provoked by the British Agricultural Revolution in the 18th century, and the Green Revolution of the second half of the 20th century. Farming originated independently in different parts of the world, as hunter gatherer societies transitioned to food production rather than food capture. It may have started about 12,000 years ago with the domestication of livestock in the Fertile Crescent in western Asia, soon to be followed by the cultivation of crops. Modern units tend to specialize in the crops or livestock best suited to the region, with their finished products being sold for the retail market or for further processing, with farm products being traded around the world. Types of farm An aerial photo of the Borgboda farm in Saltvik, Åland A farm may be owned and operated by a single individual, family, community, corporation or a company, may produce one or many types of produce, and can be a holding of any size from a fraction of a hectare[10] to several thousand hectares.[11] A farm may operate under a monoculture system or with a variety of cereal or arable crops, which may be separate from or combined with raising livestock. Specialist farms are often denoted as such, thus a dairy farm, fish farm, poultry farm or mink farm. Some farms may not use the word at all, hence vineyard (grapes), orchard (nuts and other fruit), market garden or "truck farm" (vegetables and flowers). Some farms may be denoted by their topographical location, such as a hill farm, while large estates growing cash crops such as cotton or coffee may be called plantations. Many other terms are used to describe farms to denote their methods of production, as in collective, corporate, intensive, organic or vertical. Other farms may primarily exist for research or education, such as an ant farm, and since farming is synonymous with mass production, the word "farm" may be used to describe wind power generation or puppy farm. Specialized farms Dairy farm Main article: Dairy farming A milking machine in action Dairy farming is a class of agriculture, where female cattle, goats, or other mammals are raised for their milk, which may be either processed on-site or transported to a dairy for processing and eventual retail sale There are many breeds of cattle that can be milked some of the best producing ones include Holstein, Norwegian Red, Kostroma, Brown Swiss, and more.[12] In most Western countries, a centralized dairy facility processes milk and dairy products, such as cream, butter, and cheese. In the United States, these dairies are usually local companies, while in the southern hemisphere facilities may be run by very large nationwide or trans-national corporations (such as Fonterra). Dairy farms generally sell male calves for veal meat, as dairy breeds are not normally satisfactory for commercial beef production. Many dairy farms also grow their own feed, typically including corn, alfalfa, and hay. This is fed directly to the cows, or stored as silage for use during the winter season. Additional dietary supplements are added to the feed to improve milk production. [13] Poultry farm Main article: Poultry farming Poultry farming Poultry farms are devoted to raising chickens (egg layers or broilers), turkeys, ducks, and other fowl, generally for meat or eggs.[14] Pig farm Main article: Pig farming A pig farm is one that specializes in raising pigs or hogs for bacon, ham and other pork products. They may be free range, intensive, or both. Ownership Farm control and ownership has traditionally been a key indicator of status and power, especially in Medieval European agrarian societies. The distribution of farm ownership has historically been closely linked to form of government. Medieval feudalism was essentially a system that centralized control of farmland, control of farm labor and political power, while the early American democracy, in which land ownership was a prerequisite for voting rights, was built on relatively easy paths to individual farm ownership. However, the gradual modernization and mechanization of farming, which greatly increases both the efficiency and capital requirements of farming, has led to increasingly large farms. This has usually been accompanied by the decoupling of political power from farm ownership.[citation needed] Forms of ownership In some societies (especially socialist and communist), collective farming is the norm, with either government ownership of the land or common ownership by a local group. Especially in societies without widespread industrialized farming, tenant farming and sharecropping are common; farmers either pay landowners for the right to use farmland or give up a portion of the crops. Agribusiness This section is an excerpt from Agribusiness.[edit] Agribusiness (also called bio-business[15][16] or bio-enterprise) refers to the enterprises, the industry, the system, and the field of study of the interrelated and interdependent[17] value chains in agriculture[18] and bio-economy.[19] The primary goal of agribusiness is to maximize profit while sustainably satisfying the needs of consumers for products related to natural resources such as biotechnology, farms, food, forestry, fisheries, fuel, and fiber — usually with the exclusion of non-renewable resources such as mining.[20][21] Studies of business growth and performance in farming have found successful agricultural businesses are cost-efficient internally and operate in favorable economic, political, and physical-organic environments. They are able to expand and make profits, improve the productivity of land, labor, and capital, and keep their costs down to ensure market price competitiveness.[22] Agribusiness is not limited to farming. It encompasses a broader spectrum through the agribusiness system which includes input supplies, value-addition, marketing, entrepreneurship, microfinancing, agricultural extension, among others. In some countries like the Philippines, creation and management of agribusiness enterprises require consultation with registered agriculturists if reached a certain level of operations, capitalization, land area, or number of animals in the farm. Farms around the world Farming near Klingerstown, Pennsylvania Americas The land and buildings of a farm are called the "farmstead".[23] Enterprises where livestock are raised on rangeland are called ranches. Where livestock are raised in confinement on feed produced elsewhere, the term feedlot is usually used. In the US, in 1910 there were 6,406,000 farms and 10,174,000 family workers; In 2000 there were only 2,172,000 farms and 2,062,300 family workers.[24] The share of U.S. farms operated by women has risen steadily over recent decades, from 5 percent in 1978 to 14 percent by 2007.[25] A typical North American grain farm with farmstead in Ontario, Canada In the United States, there are over three million migrant and seasonal farmworkers; 72% are foreign-born, 78% are male, they have an average age of 36 and average education of 8 years.[26] Farmworkers make an average hourly rate of $9–10 per hour, compared to an average of over $18 per hour for nonfarm labor. Their average family income is under $20,000 and 23% live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level.[27] One-half of all farmworker families earn less than $10,000 per year,[28] which is significantly below the 2005 U.S. poverty level of $19,874 for a family of four. In 2007, corn acres are expected to increase by 15% because of the high demand for ethanol, both in and outside of the U.S. Producers are expecting to plant 90.5 million acres (366,000 km2) of corn, making it the largest corn crop since 1944.[29] Traditional Dutch farmhouse Europe In the UK, farm as an agricultural unit, always denotes the area of pasture and other fields together with its farmhouse, farmyard and outbuildings. Large farms, or groups of farms under the same ownership, may be called an estate. Conversely, a small farm surrounding the owner's dwelling is called a smallholding and is generally focused on self-sufficiency with only the surplus being sold. In Europe, traditional family farms are giving way to larger production units where industrial agriculture and mechanization brings brings large crop yields.[9] The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is one of the most important policies of the European Union and is helping in the change of farms from traditional family farms to larger production units. The policy has the objectives of increasing agricultural production, providing certainty in food supplies, ensuring a high quality of life for farmers, stabilizing markets, and ensuring reasonable prices for consumers.[30] It was, until recently, operated by a system of subsidies and market intervention. Until the 1990s, the policy accounted for over 60 per cent of the European Union's annual budget, and as of 2013 accounts for around 34 per cent.[31] Asia Farmlands in Hebei province, China Pakistan Main article: Agriculture in Pakistan According to the World Bank, "most empirical evidence indicates that land productivity on large farms in Pakistan is lower than that of small farms, holding other factors constant." Small farmers have "higher net returns per hectare" than large farms, according to farm household income data.[32] Nepal Main article: Agriculture in Nepal Goat found in Nepal Nepal is an agricultural country and about 80% of the total population are engaged in farming. Rice is mainly produced in Nepal along with fruits like apples.[33] Dairy farming and poultry farming are also growing in Nepal. Australia Cows grazing on a farm in Victoria, Australia Main article: Agriculture in Australia Goat found in Australia Farming is a significant economic sector in Australia. A farm is an area of land used for primary production which will include buildings. According to the UN, "green agriculture directs a greater share of total farming input expenditures towards the purchase of locally sourced input?(e.g. labour and organic fertilisers) and a local multiplier effect is expected to kick in. Overall, green farming practices tend to require more labour inputs than conventional farming (e.g. from comparable levels to as much as 30 per cent more) (FAO 2007 and European Commission 2010), creating jobs in rural areas and a higher return on labour inputs."[34] Where most of the income is from some other employment, and the farm is really an expanded residence, the term hobby farm is common. This will allow sufficient size for recreational use but be very unlikely to produce sufficient income to be self-sustaining. Hobby farms are commonly around 2 hectares (4.9 acres) but may be much larger depending upon land prices (which vary regionally). Often very small farms used for intensive primary production are referred to by the specialization they are being used for, such as a dairy rather than a dairy farm, a piggery, a market garden, etc. This also applies to feedlots, which are specifically developed to a single purpose and are often not able to be used for more general purpose (mixed) farming practices. In remote areas farms can become quite large. As with estates in England, there is no defined size or method of operation at which a large farm becomes a station. Africa A typical farm in Namibia A farm in Africa includes various structures. Depending on climate-related areas primarily farming is the raising and breeding of grazing livestock, such as cattle, sheep, ostriches, horses or goats. Predominantly domestic animals are raised for their meat, milk, skin, leather or fiber (wool). You might even come across silk farms.[35] Furthermore, there are plenty of hunting farms, guest farms and game farms. Arable or irrigated land is often used for raising crops such as feed grains and hay for animal feeding. On some farms (Astro Farm) star-gazing became very popular because of the excellent optical quality in the desert.[36] The High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) which investigates cosmic gamma rays is situated on Farm Göllschau in Namibia. Farm equipment Main article: Agricultural machinery Farm equipment has evolved over the centuries from simple hand tools such as the hoe, through ox- or horse-drawn equipment such as the plough and harrow, to the modern highly technical machinery such as the tractor, baler and combine harvester replacing what was a highly labour-intensive occupation before the Industrial revolution. Today much of the farm equipment used on both small[37] and large farms is automated (e.g. using satellite guided farming).[38] As new types of high-tech farm equipment have become inaccessible to farmers that historically fixed their own equipment, Wired reports there is a growing backlash,[39] due mostly to companies using intellectual property law to prevent farmers from having the legal right to fix their equipment (or gain access to the information to allow them to do it).[40] This has encouraged groups such as Open Source Ecology and Farm Hack[41] to begin to make open source hardware for agricultural machinery. In addition on a smaller scale Farmbot[42] and the RepRap open source 3D printer community has begun to make open-source farm tools available of increasing levels of sophistication." (wikipedia.org) "Cattle (Bos taurus or Bos primigenius taurus), also known as taurine cattle, Eurasian cattle, or European cattle, are large domesticated cloven-hooved herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus Bos. In taxonomy, adult females are referred to as cows and adult males are referred to as bulls. In colloquial speech however, cow is sometimes used as a common name for the species as a whole. Cattle are commonly raised as livestock for meat (beef or veal, see beef cattle), for milk (see dairy cattle), and for hides, which are used to make leather. They are used as riding animals and draft animals (oxen or bullocks, which pull carts, plows and other implements). Another product of cattle is their dung, which can be used to create manure or fuel. Around 10,500 years ago, taurine cattle were domesticated from as few as 80 progenitors in central Anatolia, the Levant and Western Iran.[1] According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), there are approximately 1.5 billion cattle in the world as of 2018.[2] Cattle are the main source of greenhouse gas emissions from livestock, and are responsible for around 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.[3][4] In 2009, cattle became one of the first livestock animals to have a fully mapped genome.... Taxonomy See also: Bos and Bovinae Żubroń, a wisent and cattle hybrid Cattle were originally identified as three separate species: Bos taurus, the European or "taurine" cattle (including similar types from Africa and Asia); Bos indicus, the Indicine or "zebu"; and the extinct Bos primigenius, the aurochs. The aurochs is ancestral to both zebu and taurine cattle.[6] They were later reclassified as one species, Bos taurus, with the aurochs and zebu as subspecies. However, more recent studies support them as being three distinct species, which is the classification followed by the American Society of Mammalogists.[7][8] Complicating the matter is the ability of cattle to interbreed with other closely related species. Hybrid individuals and even breeds exist, not only between taurine cattle and zebu (such as the sanga cattle (Bos taurus africanus x Bos indicus), but also between one or both of these and some other members of the genus Bos – yaks (the dzo or yattle[9]), banteng, and gaur. Hybrids such as the beefalo breed can even occur between taurine cattle and either species of bison, leading some authors to consider them part of the genus Bos, as well.[10] The hybrid origin of some types may not be obvious – for example, genetic testing of the Dwarf Lulu breed, the only taurine-type cattle in Nepal, found them to be a mix of taurine cattle, zebu, and yak.[11] However, cattle cannot be successfully hybridized with more distantly related bovines such as water buffalo or African buffalo. The aurochs originally ranged throughout Europe, North Africa, and much of Asia. In historical times, its range became restricted to Europe, and the last known individual died in Mazovia, Poland, in about 1627.[12] Breeders have attempted to recreate cattle of similar appearance to aurochs by crossing traditional types of domesticated cattle, creating the Heck cattle breed. The only pure African taurine breeds (Bos taurus africanus) remaining are the N'Dama, Kuri and some varieties of the West African Shorthorn.[13] Etymology Cattle did not originate as the term for bovine animals. It was borrowed from Anglo-Norman catel, itself from medieval Latin capitale 'principal sum of money, capital', itself derived in turn from Latin caput 'head'. Cattle originally meant movable personal property, especially livestock of any kind, as opposed to real property (the land, which also included wild or small free-roaming animals such as chickens—they were sold as part of the land).[14][15] The word is a variant of chattel (a unit of personal property) and closely related to capital in the economic sense.[16][17][15] The term replaced earlier Old English feoh 'cattle, property', which survives today as fee (cf. German: Vieh, Dutch: vee, Gothic: faihu). The word cow came via Anglo-Saxon cū (plural cȳ), from Common Indo-European gʷōus (genitive gʷowés) 'a bovine animal', cf. Persian: gâv, Sanskrit: go-, Welsh: buwch.[18] The plural cȳ became ki or kie in Middle English, and an additional plural ending was often added, giving kine, kien, but also kies, kuin and others. This is the origin of the now archaic English plural, kine. The Scots language singular is coo or cou, and the plural is kye. In older English sources such as the King James Version of the Bible, cattle refers to livestock, as opposed to deer which refers to wildlife. Wild cattle may refer to feral cattle or to undomesticated species of the genus Bos. Today, when used without any other qualifier, the modern meaning of cattle is usually restricted to domesticated bovines.[15] Terminology     Look up cattle or cow in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. A Hereford bull In general, the same words are used in different parts of the world, but with minor differences in the definitions. The terminology described here contrasts the differences in definition between the United Kingdom and other British-influenced parts of the world such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and the United States.[19]     An "intact" (i.e., not castrated) adult male is called a bull.         A father bull is called a sire with reference to his offspring.     An adult female that has had a calf (or two, depending on regional usage) is a cow.         A mother cow is called a dam with reference to her offspring. Often, mentions of dams imply cows kept in the herd for repeated breeding (as opposed to heifers or cows sold off sooner).     A young female before she has had a calf of her own[20] and who is under three years of age is called a heifer (/ˈhɛfər/ HEF-ər).[21] A young female that has had only one calf is occasionally called a first-calf heifer. Heiferettes are either first-calf heifers or a subset thereof without potential to become lineage dams, depending on whose definition is operative.     Young cattle (of any sex or intersex) are called calves until they are weaned, then weaners until they are a year old in some areas; in other areas, particularly with male beef cattle, they may be known as feeder calves or simply feeders. After that, they are referred to as yearlings or stirks[22] if between one and two years of age.[23]     Feeder cattle or store cattle are young cattle soon to be either backgrounded or sent to fattening, most especially those intended to be sold to someone else for finishing. In some regions, a distinction between stockers and feeders (by those names) is the distinction of backgrounding versus immediate sale to a finisher.     A castrated male is called a steer in the United States; older steers are often called bullocks in other parts of the world,[24] but in North America this term refers to a young bull. Piker bullocks are micky bulls (uncastrated young male bulls) that were caught, castrated and then later lost.[25] In Australia, the term Japanese ox is used for grain-fed steers in the weight range of 500 to 650 kg that are destined for the Japanese meat trade.[26] In North America, draft cattle under four years old are called working steers. Improper or late castration on a bull results in it becoming a coarse steer known as a stag in Australia, Canada and New Zealand.[27] In some countries, an incompletely castrated male is known also as a rig.     A castrated male (occasionally a female or in some areas a bull) kept for draft or riding purposes is called an ox (plural oxen); ox may also be used to refer to some carcass products from any adult cattle, such as ox-hide, ox-blood, oxtail, or ox-liver.[21]     A springer is a cow or heifer close to calving.[28]     In all cattle species, a female twin of a bull usually becomes an infertile partial intersex, and is called a freemartin.     A wild, young, unmarked bull is known as a micky in Australia.[25]     An unbranded bovine of either sex is called a maverick in the US and Canada.     Neat (horned oxen, from which neatsfoot oil is derived), beef (young ox) and beefing (young animal fit for slaughtering) are obsolete terms, although poll, pollard and polled cattle are still terms in use for naturally hornless animals, or in some areas also for those that have been disbudded or dehorned.     Cattle raised for human consumption are called beef cattle. Within the American beef cattle industry, the older term beef (plural beeves) is still used to refer to an animal of either sex. Some Australian, Canadian, New Zealand and British people use the term beast.[29]     Cattle bred specifically for milk production are called milking or dairy cattle;[19] a cow kept to provide milk for one family may be called a house cow or milker. A fresh cow is a dairy term for a cow or first-calf heifer who has recently given birth, or "freshened."     The adjective applying to cattle in general is usually bovine. The terms bull, cow and calf are also used by extension to denote the sex or age of other large animals, including whales, hippopotamuses, camels, elk and elephants.     Various other terms for cattle or types thereof are historical; these include nowt, nolt, mart, and others. See also: List of animal names Singular terminology issue A Finncattle at Särkänniemi in Tampere, Finland "Cattle" can only be used in the plural and not in the singular: it is a plurale tantum.[30] Thus one may refer to "three cattle" or "some cattle", but not "one cattle". "One head of cattle" is a valid though periphrastic way to refer to one animal of indeterminate or unknown age and sex; otherwise no universally used single-word singular form of cattle exists in modern English, other than the sex- and age-specific terms such as cow, bull, steer and heifer. Historically, "ox" was not a sex-specific term for adult cattle, but generally this is now used only for working cattle, especially adult castrated males. The term is also incorporated into the names of other species, such as the musk ox and "grunting ox" (yak), and is used in some areas to describe certain cattle products such as ox-hide and oxtail.[31] Cow is in general use as a singular for the collective cattle. The word cow is easy to use when a singular is needed and the sex is unknown or irrelevant—when "there is a cow in the road", for example. Further, any herd of fully mature cattle in or near a pasture is statistically likely to consist mostly of cows, so the term is probably accurate even in the restrictive sense. Other than the few bulls needed for breeding, the vast majority of male cattle are castrated as calves and are used as oxen or slaughtered for meat before the age of three years. Thus, in a pastured herd, any calves or herd bulls usually are clearly distinguishable from the cows due to distinctively different sizes and clear anatomical differences. Merriam-Webster and Oxford Living Dictionaries recognize the sex-nonspecific use of cow as an alternate definition,[32][33] whereas Collins and the OED do not. Colloquially, more general nonspecific terms may denote cattle when a singular form is needed. Head of cattle is usually used only after a numeral. Australian, New Zealand and British farmers use the term beast or cattle beast. Bovine is also used in Britain. The term critter is common in the western United States and Canada, particularly when referring to young cattle.[34] In some areas of the American South (particularly the Appalachian region), where both dairy and beef cattle are present, an individual animal was once called a "beef critter", though that term is becoming archaic. Other terminology     A cow's "moo" (0:02) Menu 0:00 Problems playing this file? See media help. Cattle raised for human consumption are called beef cattle. Within the beef cattle industry in parts of the United States, the term beef (plural beeves) is still used in its archaic sense to refer to an animal of either sex. Cows of certain breeds that are kept for the milk they give are called dairy cows or milking cows (formerly milch cows). Most young male offspring of dairy cows are sold for veal, and may be referred to as veal calves. The term dogies is used to describe orphaned calves in the context of ranch work in the American West, as in "Keep them dogies moving".[35] In some places, a cow kept to provide milk for one family is called a "house cow". Other obsolete terms for cattle include "neat" (this use survives in "neatsfoot oil", extracted from the feet and legs of cattle), and "beefing" (young animal fit for slaughter). An onomatopoeic term for one of the most common sounds made by cattle is moo (also called lowing). There are a number of other sounds made by cattle, including calves bawling, and bulls bellowing. Bawling is most common for cows after weaning of a calf. The bullroarer makes a sound similar to a bull's territorial call.[36] Characteristics Anatomy Bones are mounted on a black board Displayed skeleton of a domestic cow Cattle are large quadrupedal ungulate mammals with cloven hooves. Most breeds have horns, which can be as large as the Texas Longhorn or small like a scur. Careful genetic selection has allowed polled (hornless) cattle to become widespread. Anatomy model of a cow Digestive system Further information: Digestive system of ruminants Cattle are ruminants, meaning their digestive system is highly specialized to allow the consumption of difficult to digest plants as food. Cattle have one stomach with four compartments, the rumen, reticulum, omasum, and abomasum, with the rumen being the largest compartment. The reticulum, the smallest compartment, is known as the "honeycomb". The omasum's main function is to absorb water and nutrients from the digestible feed. The omasum is known as the "many plies". The abomasum is like the human stomach; this is why it is known as the "true stomach". Cattle are known for regurgitating and re-chewing their food, known as cud chewing, like most ruminants. While the animal is feeding, the food is swallowed without being chewed and goes into the rumen for storage until the animal can find a quiet place to continue the digestion process. The food is regurgitated, a mouthful at a time, back up to the mouth, where the food, now called the cud, is chewed by the molars, grinding down the coarse vegetation to small particles. The cud is then swallowed again and further digested by specialized microorganisms in the rumen. These microbes are primarily responsible for decomposing cellulose and other carbohydrates into volatile fatty acids cattle use as their primary metabolic fuel. The microbes inside the rumen also synthesize amino acids from non-protein nitrogenous sources, such as urea and ammonia. As these microbes reproduce in the rumen, older generations die and their cells continue on through the digestive tract. These cells are then partially digested in the small intestines, allowing cattle to gain a high-quality protein source. These features allow cattle to thrive on grasses and other tough vegetation. Gestation and size The gestation period for a cow is about nine months long. A newborn calf's size can vary among breeds, but a typical calf weighs 25 to 45 kg (55 to 99 lb). Adult size and weight vary significantly among breeds and sex. Steers are generally slaughtered before reaching 750 kg (1,650 lb). Breeding stock may be allowed a longer lifespan, occasionally living as long as 25 years. The oldest recorded cow, Big Bertha, died at the age of 48 in 1993. Reproduction Reproductive system of a bovine female Ox testes On farms it is very common to use artificial insemination (AI), a medically assisted reproduction technique consisting of the artificial deposition of semen in the female's genital tract.[37] It is used in cases where the spermatozoa can not reach the fallopian tubes or simply by choice of the owner of the animal. It consists of transferring, to the uterine cavity, spermatozoa previously collected and processed, with the selection of morphologically more normal and mobile spermatozoa. A cow's udder contains two pairs of mammary glands, (commonly referred to as teats) creating four "quarters".[38] The front ones are referred to as fore quarters and the rear ones rear quarters.[39] Synchronization of cattle ovulation to benefit dairy farming may be accomplished via induced ovulation techniques. Further information: Bull § Reproductive anatomy The secondary sex ratio – the ratio of male to female offspring at birth – is approximately 52:48, although it may be influenced by environmental and other factors.[40] Bulls become fertile at about seven months of age. Their fertility is closely related to the size of their testicles, and one simple test of fertility is to measure the circumference of the scrotum: a young bull is likely to be fertile once this reaches 28 centimetres (11 in); that of a fully adult bull may be over 40 centimetres (16 in).[41][42] A bull has a fibro-elastic penis. Given the small amount of erectile tissue, there is little enlargement after erection. The penis is quite rigid when non-erect, and becomes even more rigid during erection. Protrusion is not affected much by erection, but more by relaxation of the retractor penis muscle and straightening of the sigmoid flexure.[43][44][45] Weight The weight of adult cattle varies, depending on the breed. Smaller kinds, such as Dexter and Jersey adults, range between 300 and 500 kg (600 and 1,000 lb).[citation needed] Large Continental breeds, such as Charolais, Marchigiana, Belgian Blue and Chianina adults range from 640 to 1,100 kg (1,400 to 2,500 lb).[citation needed] British breeds, such as Hereford, Angus, and Shorthorn, mature at 500 to 900 kg (1,000 to 2,000 lb), occasionally higher, particularly with Angus and Hereford.[citation needed] Bulls are larger than cows of the same breed by up to a few hundred kilograms. British Hereford cows weigh 600–800 kg (1,300–1,800 lb); the bulls weigh 1,000–1,200 kg (2,200–2,600 lb).[46] Chianina bulls can weigh up to 1,500 kg (3,300 lb); British bulls, such as Angus and Hereford, can weigh as little as 900 kg (2,000 lb) and as much as 1,400 kg (3,000 lb).[citation needed] The world record for the heaviest bull was 1,740 kg (3,840 lb), a Chianina named Donetto, when he was exhibited at the Arezzo show in 1955.[47] The heaviest steer was eight-year-old 'Old Ben', a Shorthorn/​Hereford cross weighing in at 2,140 kg (4,720 lb) in 1910.[48] In the United States, the average weight of beef cattle has steadily increased, especially since the 1970s, requiring the building of new slaughterhouses able to handle larger carcasses. New packing plants in the 1980s stimulated a large increase in cattle weights.[49] Before 1790 beef cattle averaged only 160 kg (350 lb) net; and thereafter weights climbed steadily.[50][51] Cognition In laboratory studies, young cattle are able to memorize the locations of several food sources and retain this memory for at least 8 hours, although this declined after 12 hours.[52] Fifteen-month-old heifers learn more quickly than adult cows which have had either one or two calvings, but their longer-term memory is less stable.[53] Mature cattle perform well in spatial learning tasks and have a good long-term memory in these tests. Cattle tested in a radial arm maze are able to remember the locations of high-quality food for at least 30 days. Although they initially learn to avoid low-quality food, this memory diminishes over the same duration.[54] Under less artificial testing conditions, young cattle showed they were able to remember the location of feed for at least 48 days.[55] Cattle can make an association between a visual stimulus and food within 1 day—memory of this association can be retained for 1 year, despite a slight decay.[56] Calves are capable of discrimination learning[57] and adult cattle compare favourably with small mammals in their learning ability in the Closed-field Test.[58] They are also able to discriminate between familiar individuals, and among humans. Cattle can tell the difference between familiar and unfamiliar animals of the same species (conspecifics). Studies show they behave less aggressively toward familiar individuals when they are forming a new group.[59] Calves can also discriminate between humans based on previous experience, as shown by approaching those who handled them positively and avoiding those who handled them aversively.[60] Although cattle can discriminate between humans by their faces alone, they also use other cues such as the color of clothes when these are available.[61] In audio play-back studies, calves prefer their own mother's vocalizations compared to the vocalizations of an unfamiliar mother.[62] In laboratory studies using images, cattle can discriminate between images of the heads of cattle and other animal species.[63] They are also able to distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar conspecifics. Furthermore, they are able to categorize images as familiar and unfamiliar individuals.[59] When mixed with other individuals, cloned calves from the same donor form subgroups, indicating that kin discrimination occurs and may be a basis of grouping behaviour. It has also been shown using images of cattle that both artificially inseminated and cloned calves have similar cognitive capacities of kin and non-kin discrimination.[64] Cattle can recognize familiar individuals. Visual individual recognition is a more complex mental process than visual discrimination. It requires the recollection of the learned idiosyncratic identity of an individual that has been previously encountered and the formation of a mental representation.[65] By using two-dimensional images of the heads of one cow (face, profiles, 3⁄4 views), all the tested heifers showed individual recognition of familiar and unfamiliar individuals from their own breed. Furthermore, almost all the heifers recognized unknown individuals from different breeds, although this was achieved with greater difficulty. Individual recognition was most difficult when the visual features of the breed being tested were quite different from the breed in the image, for example, the breed being tested had no spots whereas the image was of a spotted breed.[66] Cattle use visual/brain lateralisation in their visual scanning of novel and familiar stimuli.[67] Domestic cattle prefer to view novel stimuli with the left eye, i.e. using the right brain hemisphere (similar to horses, Australian magpies, chicks, toads and fish) but use the right eye, i.e. using the left hemisphere, for viewing familiar stimuli.[68] Temperament and emotions Ear postures of cows are studied as indicators of their emotional state and overall animal welfare.[69] In cattle, temperament can affect production traits such as carcass and meat quality or milk yield as well as affecting the animal's overall health and reproduction. Cattle temperament is defined as "the consistent behavioral and physiological difference observed between individuals in response to a stressor or environmental challenge and is used to describe the relatively stable difference in the behavioral predisposition of an animal, which can be related to psychobiological mechanisms".[70] Generally, cattle temperament is assumed to be multidimensional. Five underlying categories of temperament traits have been proposed:[71]     shyness–boldness     exploration–avoidance     activity     aggressiveness     sociability In a study on Holstein–Friesian heifers learning to press a panel to open a gate for access to a food reward, the researchers also recorded the heart rate and behavior of the heifers when moving along the race towards the food. When the heifers made clear improvements in learning, they had higher heart rates and tended to move more vigorously along the race. The researchers concluded this was an indication that cattle may react emotionally to their own learning improvement.[72] Negative emotional states are associated with a bias toward negative responses towards ambiguous cues in judgement tasks. After separation from their mothers, Holstein calves showed such a cognitive bias indicative of low mood.[73] A similar study showed that after hot-iron disbudding (dehorning), calves had a similar negative bias indicating that post-operative pain following this routine procedure results in a negative change in emotional state.[74] In studies of visual discrimination, the position of the ears has been used as an indicator of emotional state.[59] When cattle are stressed other cattle can tell by the chemicals released in their urine.[75] Cattle are very gregarious and even short-term isolation is considered to cause severe psychological stress. When Aubrac and Friesian heifers are isolated, they increase their vocalizations and experience increased heart rate and plasma cortisol concentrations. These physiological changes are greater in Aubracs. When visual contact is re-instated, vocalizations rapidly decline, regardless of the familiarity of the returning cattle, however, heart rate decreases are greater if the returning cattle are familiar to the previously-isolated individual.[76] Mirrors have been used to reduce stress in isolated cattle.[77] Senses Cattle use all of the five widely recognized sensory modalities. These can assist in some complex behavioural patterns, for example, in grazing behaviour. Cattle eat mixed diets, but when given the opportunity, show a partial preference of approximately 70% clover and 30% grass. This preference has a diurnal pattern, with a stronger preference for clover in the morning, and the proportion of grass increasing towards the evening.[78] Vision Cattle receive about half of their information visually. Vision is the dominant sense in cattle and they obtain almost 50% of their information visually. [79] Cattle are a prey animal and to assist predator detection, their eyes are located on the sides of their head rather than the front. This gives them a wide field of view of 330° but limits binocular vision (and therefore stereopsis) to 30° to 50° compared to 140° in humans.[59][80] This means they have a blind spot directly behind them. Cattle have good visual acuity,[59] but compared to humans, their visual accommodation is poor.[clarification needed][79] Cattle have two kinds of color receptors in the cone cells of their retinas. This means that cattle are dichromatic, as are most other non-primate land mammals.[81][82] There are two to three rods per cone in the fovea centralis but five to six near the optic papilla.[80] Cattle can distinguish long wavelength colors (yellow, orange and red) much better than the shorter wavelengths (blue, grey and green). Calves are able to discriminate between long (red) and short (blue) or medium (green) wavelengths, but have limited ability to discriminate between the short and medium. They also approach handlers more quickly under red light.[83] Whilst having good color sensitivity, it is not as good as humans or sheep.[59] A common misconception about cattle (particularly bulls) is that they are enraged by the color red (something provocative is often said to be "like a red flag to a bull"). This is a myth. In bullfighting, it is the movement of the red flag or cape that irritates the bull and incites it to charge.[84] Taste Cattle have a well-developed sense of taste and can distinguish the four primary tastes (sweet, salty, bitter and sour). They possess around 20,000 taste buds. The strength of taste perception depends on the individual's current food requirements. They avoid bitter-tasting foods (potentially toxic) and have a marked preference for sweet (high calorific value) and salty foods (electrolyte balance). Their sensitivity to sour-tasting foods helps them to maintain optimal ruminal pH.[79] Plants have low levels of sodium and cattle have developed the capacity of seeking salt by taste and smell. If cattle become depleted of sodium salts, they show increased locomotion directed to searching for these. To assist in their search, the olfactory and gustatory receptors able to detect minute amounts of sodium salts increase their sensitivity as biochemical disruption develops with sodium salt depletion.[85][86] Hearing Cattle hearing ranges from 23 Hz to 35 kHz. Their frequency of best sensitivity is 8 kHz and they have a lowest threshold of −21 db (re 20 μN/m−2), which means their hearing is more acute than horses (lowest threshold of 7 db).[87] Sound localization acuity thresholds are an average of 30°. This means that cattle are less able to localise sounds compared to goats (18°), dogs (8°) and humans (0.8°).[88] Because cattle have a broad foveal fields of view covering almost the entire horizon, they may not need very accurate locus information from their auditory systems to direct their gaze to a sound source. Vocalizations are an important mode of communication amongst cattle and can provide information on the age, sex, dominance status and reproductive status of the caller. Calves can recognize their mothers using vocalizations; vocal behaviour may play a role by indicating estrus and competitive display by bulls.[89] Olfaction and gustation Several senses are used in social relationships among cattle. Cattle have a range of odiferous glands over their body including interdigital, infraorbital, inguinal and sebaceous glands, indicating that olfaction probably plays a large role in their social life. Both the primary olfactory system using the olfactory bulbs, and the secondary olfactory system using the vomeronasal organ are used.[90] This latter olfactory system is used in the flehmen response. There is evidence that when cattle are stressed, this can be recognised by other cattle and this is communicated by alarm substances in the urine.[75] The odour of dog faeces induces behavioural changes prior to cattle feeding, whereas the odours of urine from either stressed or non-stressed conspecifics and blood have no effect.[91] In the laboratory, cattle can be trained to recognise conspecific individuals using olfaction only.[90] In general, cattle use their sense of smell to "expand" on information detected by other sensory modalities. However, in the case of social and reproductive behaviours, olfaction is a key source of information.[79] Touch Cattle have tactile sensations detected mainly by mechanoreceptors, thermoreceptors and nociceptors in the skin and muscles. These are used most frequently when cattle explore their environment.[79] Magnetoreception There is conflicting evidence for magnetoreception in cattle. One study reported that resting and grazing cattle tend to align their body axes in the geomagnetic north–south direction.[92] In a follow-up study, cattle exposed to various magnetic fields directly beneath or in the vicinity of power lines trending in various magnetic directions exhibited distinct patterns of alignment.[93] However, in 2011, a group of Czech researchers reported their failed attempt to replicate the finding using Google Earth images.[94] Behavior Under natural conditions, calves stay with their mother until weaning at 8 to 11 months. Heifer and bull calves are equally attached to their mothers in the first few months of life.[95] Cattle are considered to be "hider" type animals, utilizing secluded areas more in the hours before calving and continued to use it more for the hour after calving. Cows that gave birth for the first time show a higher incidence of abnormal maternal behavior.[96] File:Calf suckling at a meadow near Vrachesh, Bulgaria.webmPlay media Video of a calf suckling Beef-calves reared on the range suckle an average of 5.0 times every 24 hours with an average total time of 46 min spent suckling. There is a diurnal rhythm in suckling activity with peaks between 05:00–07:00, 10:00–13:00 and 17:00–21:00.[97] Reproductive behavior Nine sequential photos showing the calf being born A cow giving birth Semi-wild Highland cattle heifers first give birth at 2 or 3 years of age, and the timing of birth is synchronized with increases in natural food quality. Average calving interval is 391 days, and calving mortality within the first year of life is 5%.[98] Dominance and leadership One study showed that over a 4-year period, dominance relationships within a herd of semi-wild highland cattle were very firm. There were few overt aggressive conflicts and the majority of disputes were settled by agonistic (non-aggressive, competitive) behaviors that involved no physical contact between opponents (e.g. threatening and spontaneous withdrawing). Such agonistic behavior reduces the risk of injury. Dominance status depended on age and sex, with older animals generally being dominant to young ones and males dominant to females. Young bulls gained superior dominance status over adult cows when they reached about 2 years of age.[98] As with many animal dominance hierarchies, dominance-associated aggressiveness does not correlate with rank position, but is closely related to rank distance between individuals.[98] Dominance is maintained in several ways. Cattle often engage in mock fights where they test each other's strength in a non-aggressive way. Licking is primarily performed by subordinates and received by dominant animals. Mounting is a playful behavior shown by calves of both sexes and by bulls and sometimes by cows in estrus,[99] however, this is not a dominance related behavior as has been found in other species.[98] The horns of cattle are "honest signals" used in mate selection. Furthermore, horned cattle attempt to keep greater distances between themselves and have fewer physical interactions than hornless cattle. This leads to more stable social relationships.[100] In calves, the frequency of agonistic behavior decreases as space allowance increases, but this does not occur for changes in group size. However, in adult cattle, the number of agonistic encounters increases as the group size increases.[101] Grazing behavior When grazing, cattle vary several aspects of their bite, i.e. tongue and jaw movements, depending on characteristics of the plant they are eating. Bite area decreases with the density of the plants but increases with their height. Bite area is determined by the sweep of the tongue; in one study observing 750-kilogram (1,650 lb) steers, bite area reached a maximum of approximately 170 cm2 (30 sq in). Bite depth increases with the height of the plants. By adjusting their behavior, cattle obtain heavier bites in swards that are tall and sparse compared with short, dense swards of equal mass/area.[102] Cattle adjust other aspects of their grazing behavior in relation to the available food; foraging velocity decreases and intake rate increases in areas of abundant palatable forage.[103] Cattle avoid grazing areas contaminated by the faeces of other cattle more strongly than they avoid areas contaminated by sheep,[104] but they do not avoid pasture contaminated by rabbit faeces.[105] Genetics Further information: Bovine genome On 24 April 2009, edition of the journal Science, a team of researchers led by the National Institutes of Health and the US Department of Agriculture reported having mapped the bovine genome.[106] The scientists found cattle have about 22,000 genes, and 80% of their genes are shared with humans, and they share about 1000 genes with dogs and rodents, but are not found in humans. Using this bovine "HapMap", researchers can track the differences between the breeds that affect the quality of meat and milk yields.[107] Behavioral traits of cattle can be as heritable as some production traits, and often, the two can be related.[108] The heritability of fear varies markedly in cattle from low (0.1) to high (0.53); such high variation is also found in pigs and sheep, probably due to differences in the methods used.[109] The heritability of temperament (response to isolation during handling) has been calculated as 0.36 and 0.46 for habituation to handling.[110] Rangeland assessments show that the heritability of aggressiveness in cattle is around 0.36.[111] Quantitative trait loci (QTLs) have been found for a range of production and behavioral characteristics for both dairy and beef cattle.[112] Domestication and husbandry Texas Longhorns are a US breed. Cattle occupy a unique role in human history, having been domesticated since at least the early neolithic age. Archaeozoological and genetic data indicate that cattle were first domesticated from wild aurochs (Bos primigenius) approximately 10,500 years ago. There were two major areas of domestication: one in the Near East (specifically central Anatolia, the Levant and Western Iran), giving rise to the taurine line, and a second in the area that is now Pakistan, resulting in the indicine line.[113] Modern mitochondrial DNA variation indicates the taurine line may have arisen from as few as 80 aurochs tamed in the upper reaches of Mesopotamia near the villages of Çayönü Tepesi in what is now southeastern Turkey and Dja'de el-Mughara in what is now northern Syria.[1] Although European cattle are largely descended from the taurine lineage, gene flow from African cattle (partially of indicine origin) contributed substantial genomic components to both southern European cattle breeds and their New World descendants.[113] A study on 134 breeds showed that modern taurine cattle originated from Africa, Asia, North and South America, Australia, and Europe.[114] Some researchers have suggested that African taurine cattle are derived from a third independent domestication from North African aurochsen.[113] Usage as money As early as 9000 BC both grain and cattle were used as money or as barter (the first grain remains found, considered to be evidence of pre-agricultural practice date to 17,000 BC).[115][116][117] Some evidence also exists to suggest that other animals, such as camels and goats, may have been used as currency in some parts of the world.[118] One of the advantages of using cattle as currency is that it allows the seller to set a fixed price. It even created the standard pricing. For example, two chickens were traded for one cow as cows were deemed to be more valuable than chickens.[116] Modern husbandry This Hereford is being inspected for ticks. Cattle are often restrained or confined in cattle crushes (squeeze chutes) when given medical attention. This young bovine has a nose ring to prevent it from suckling, which is usually to assist in weaning. Further information: Animal husbandry Cattle are often raised by allowing herds to graze on the grasses of large tracts of rangeland. Raising cattle in this manner allows the use of land that might be unsuitable for growing crops. The most common interactions with cattle involve daily feeding, cleaning and milking. Many routine husbandry practices involve ear tagging, dehorning, loading, medical operations, artificial insemination, vaccinations and hoof care, as well as training for agricultural shows and preparations. Also, some cultural differences occur in working with cattle; the cattle husbandry of Fulani men rests on behavioural techniques, whereas in Europe, cattle are controlled primarily by physical means, such as fences.[119] Breeders use cattle husbandry to reduce M. bovis infection susceptibility by selective breeding and maintaining herd health to avoid concurrent disease.[120] Cattle are farmed for beef, veal, dairy, and leather. They are less commonly used for conservation grazing, or simply to maintain grassland for wildlife, such as in Epping Forest, England. They are often used in some of the most wild places for livestock. Depending on the breed, cattle can survive on hill grazing, heaths, marshes, moors and semidesert. Modern cattle are more commercial than older breeds and, having become more specialized, are less versatile. For this reason, many smaller farmers still favor old breeds, such as the Jersey dairy breed. In Portugal, Spain, southern France and some Latin American countries, bulls are used in the activity of bullfighting; In many other countries bullfighting is illegal. Other activities such as bull riding are seen as part of a rodeo, especially in North America. Bull-leaping, a central ritual in Bronze Age Minoan culture (see Sacred Bull), still exists in southwestern France. In modern times, cattle are also entered into agricultural competitions. These competitions can involve live cattle or cattle carcases in hoof and hook events. In terms of food intake by humans, consumption of cattle is less efficient than of grain or vegetables with regard to land use, and hence cattle grazing consumes more area than such other agricultural production when raised on grains.[121] Nonetheless, cattle and other forms of domesticated animals can sometimes help to use plant resources in areas not easily amenable to other forms of agriculture. Bulls are sometimes used as guard animals.[122][123] In occasional cases, cattle are kept as pets, and pet cows often have sweet temperaments, enjoying being petted and "kissing" (licking) their owners. But there are costs to keeping them as pets that limit how many people can practically do so; not everyone has space or facilities for a large-animal pet, and some amount of resources are needed to keep one humanely (such as pasture, hay, feed, water, and large-animal veterinary care). In addition, because livestock animals are gregarious, they need at least one companion to avoid being stressed or lonely, so keeping bovine, caprine, or ovine pets requires more than one animal. Most pet cows live on farms that have other livestock anyway, as the marginal cost of one or two more animals is then not very large. Farmers have traditionally often been averse to making pets out of livestock, on the principle that each animal must pay its way somehow if the farm is to survive financially, and also because there are sufficient opportunities for moments of petting and animal appreciation among the herd anyway, even when none of them are pets per se. Sleep Further information: Sleep in non-human animals and Cow tipping The average sleep time of a domestic cow is about 4 hours a day.[124] Cattle do have a stay apparatus,[125] but do not sleep standing up;[126] they lie down to sleep deeply.[127] In spite of the urban legend, cows cannot be tipped over by people pushing on them.[128] Economy Holstein cattle are the primary dairy breed, bred for high milk production. The meat of adult cattle is known as beef, and that of calves is veal. Other animal parts are also used as food products, including blood, liver, kidney, heart and oxtail. Cattle also produce milk, and dairy cattle are specifically bred to produce the large quantities of milk processed and sold for human consumption. Cattle today are the basis of a multibillion-dollar industry worldwide. The international trade in beef for 2000 was over $30 billion and represented only 23% of world beef production.[129] Approximately 300 million cattle, including dairy cattle, are slaughtered each year for food.[130] The production of milk, which is also made into cheese, butter, yogurt, and other dairy products, is comparable in economic size to beef production, and provides an important part of the food supply for many of the world's people. Cattle hides, used for leather to make shoes, couches and clothing, are another widespread product. Cattle remain broadly used as draft animals in many developing countries, such as India. Cattle are also used in some sporting games, including rodeo and bullfighting. Cattle meat production Cattle meat production (kt) Country     2008     2009     2010     2011 Argentina     3132     3378     2630     2497 Australia     2132     2124     2630     2420 Brazil     9024     9395     9115     9030 China     5841     6060     6244     6182 Germany     1199     1190     1205     1170 Japan     520     517     515     500 US     12163     11891     12046     11988 Source: Helgi Library,[131] World Bank, FAOSTAT About half the world's meat comes from cattle.[132][better source needed] Dairy Main articles: Dairy cattle, Dairy farming, and Dairy Dairy farming and the milking of cattle was once performed largely by hand, but is now usually done by machine. Certain breeds of cattle, such as the Holstein-Friesian, are used to produce milk,[133][134] which can be processed into dairy products such as milk, cheese or yogurt. Dairy cattle are usually kept on specialized dairy farms designed for milk production. Most cows are milked twice per day, with milk processed at a dairy, which may be onsite at the farm or the milk may be shipped to a dairy plant for eventual sale of a dairy product.[135] Lactation is induced in heifers and spayed cows by a combination of physical and psychological stimulation, by drugs, or by a combination of those methods.[136][137] For mother cows to continue producing milk, they give birth to one calf per year. If the calf is male, it generally is slaughtered at a young age to produce veal.[138] They will continue to produce milk until three weeks before birth.[134] Over the last fifty years, dairy farming has become more intensive to increase the yield of milk produced by each cow. The Holstein-Friesian is the breed of dairy cow most common in the UK, Europe and the United States. It has been bred selectively to produce the highest yields of milk of any cow. Around 22 litres per day is average in the UK.[133][134] Hides Most cattle are not kept solely for hides, which are usually a by-product of beef production. Hides are most commonly used for leather, which can be made into a variety of products, including shoes. In 2012 India was the world's largest producer of cattle hides.[139] Feral cattle Feral cattle are defined as being 'cattle that are not domesticated or cultivated'.[140] Populations of feral cattle are known to come from and exist in: Australia, United States of America,[141] Colombia, Argentina, Spain, France and many islands, including New Guinea, Hawaii, Galapagos, Juan Fernández Islands, Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti), Tristan da Cunha and Île Amsterdam,[142] two islands of Kuchinoshima[143] and Kazura Island next to Naru Island in Japan.[144][145] Chillingham cattle is sometimes regarded as a feral breed.[146] Aleutian wild cattles can be found on Aleutian Islands.[147] The "Kinmen cattle" which are dominantly found on Kinmen Island, Taiwan is mostly domesticated while smaller portion of the population is believed to live in the wild due to accidental releases.[148] Other notable examples include cattle in the vicinity of Hong Kong (in the Shing Mun Country Park,[149] among Sai Kung District[150] and Lantau Island[151] and on Grass Island[152]), and semi-feral animals in Yangmingshan, Taiwan.[153] Environmental impact See also: Environmental effects of meat production and Milk § Environmental impact Estimated virtual water requirements for various foods (m³ water/ton)[154]     Hoekstra& Hung (2003)     Chapagain & Hoekstra (2003)     Zimmer& Renault (2003)     Okiet al.(2003)     Average Beef         15,977     13,500     20,700     16,730 Pork         5,906     4,600     5,900     5,470 Cheese         5,288             5,290 Poultry         2,828     4,100     4,500     3,810 Eggs         4,657     2,700     3,200     3,520 Rice     2,656         1,400     3,600     2,550 Soybeans     2,300         2,750     2,500     2,520 Wheat     1,150         1,160     2,000     1,440 Maize     450         710     1,900     1,020 Milk         865     790     560     740 Potatoes     160         105         130 Mean greenhouse gas emissions for different food types[155] Food Types     Greenhouse Gas Emissions (g CO2-Ceq per gram protein) Ruminant Meat     62 Recirculating Aquaculture     30 Trawling Fishery     26 Non-recirculating Aquaculture     12 Pork     10 Poultry     10 Dairy     9.1 Non-trawling Fishery     8.6 Eggs     6.8 Starchy Roots     1.7 Wheat     1.2 Maize     1.2 Legumes     0.25 Mean land use of different foods[156] Food Types     Land Use (m2·year per 100 g protein) Lamb and Mutton     185 Beef     164 Cheese     41 Pork     11 Poultry     7.1 Eggs     5.7 Farmed Fish     3.7 Groundnuts     3.5 Peas     3.4 Tofu     2.2 Mean acidifying emissions (air pollution) of different foods per 100 g of protein[156] Food Types     Acidifying Emissions (g SO2eq per 100 g protein) Beef     343.6 Cheese     165.5 Pork     142.7 Lamb and Mutton     139.0 Farmed Crustaceans     133.1 Poultry     102.4 Farmed Fish     65.9 Eggs     53.7 Groundnuts     22.6 Peas     8.5 Tofu     6.7 Mean eutrophying emissions (water pollution) of different foods per 100 g of protein[156] Food Types     Eutrophying Emissions (g PO43-eq per 100 g protein) Beef     365.3 Farmed Fish     235.1 Farmed Crustaceans     227.2 Cheese     98.4 Lamb and Mutton     97.1 Pork     76.4 Poultry     48.7 Eggs     21.8 Groundnuts     14.1 Peas     7.5 Tofu     6.2 Cattle in dry landscape north of Alice Springs, Australia (CSIRO) Cattle near the Bruneau River in Elko County, Nevada Cattle freely roam in the Norwegian mountains in summer, here in Oppdal. Gut flora in cattle include methanogens that produce methane as a byproduct of enteric fermentation, which cattle belch out. The same volume of atmospheric methane has a 72x higher (over 20 years)[157] global warming potential than atmospheric carbon dioxide.[158][159] Methane belching from cattle can be reduced with genetic selection, immunization against the many methanogens, rumen defaunation (killing the bacteria-killing protozoa)[160], diet modification (e.g. seaweed fortification)[161], decreased antibiotic use[162], and grazing management, among others.[163][164][165] A 2013 report from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) based on 2005 data states that the livestock sector is responsible for 14.5% of greenhouse gas emissions, 65% of which is due to cattle.[166] The IPCC estimates that cattle and other livestock emit about 80 to 93 Megatonnes of methane per year,[167] accounting for an estimated 37% of anthropogenic methane emissions,[168] and additional methane is produced by anaerobic fermentation of manure in manure lagoons and other manure storage structures.[169] Another estimate is 12% of global GHG.[4] While cattle fed forage actually produce more methane than grain-fed cattle, the increase may be offset by the increased carbon recapture of pastures, which recapture three times the CO2 of cropland used for grain.[170] One of the cited changes suggested to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is intensification of the livestock industry,[citation needed] since intensification leads to less land for a given level of production. This assertion is supported by studies of the US beef production system, suggesting practices prevailing in 2007 involved 8.6% less fossil fuel use, 16.3% less greenhouse gas emissions, 12.1% less water use, and 33.0% less land use, per unit mass of beef produced, than those used in 1977.[171] The analysis took into account not only practices in feedlots, but also feed production (with less feed needed in more intensive production systems), forage-based cow-calf operations and back-grounding before cattle enter a feedlot (with more beef produced per head of cattle from those sources, in more intensive systems), and beef from animals derived from the dairy industry. The number of American cattle kept in confined feedlot conditions fluctuates. From 1 January 2002 through 1 January 2012, there was no significant overall upward or downward trend in the number of US cattle on feed for slaughter, which averaged about 14.046 million head over that period.[172][173] Previously, the number had increased; it was 12.453 million in 1985.[174] Cattle on feed (for slaughter) numbered about 14.121 million on 1 January 2012, i.e. about 15.5% of the estimated inventory of 90.8 million US cattle (including calves) on that date. Of the 14.121 million, US cattle on feed (for slaughter) in operations with 1000 head or more were estimated to number 11.9 million.[173] Cattle feedlots in this size category correspond to the regulatory definition of "large" concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) for cattle other than mature dairy cows or veal calves.[175] Significant numbers of dairy, as well as beef cattle, are confined in CAFOs, defined as "new and existing operations which stable or confine and feed or maintain for a total of 45 days or more in any 12-month period more than the number of animals specified"[176] where "[c]rops, vegetation, forage growth, or post-harvest residues are not sustained in the normal growing season over any portion of the lot or facility."[177] They may be designated as small, medium and large. Such designation of cattle CAFOs is according to cattle type (mature dairy cows, veal calves or other) and cattle numbers, but medium CAFOs are so designated only if they meet certain discharge criteria, and small CAFOs are designated only on a case-by-case basis.[178] A CAFO that discharges pollutants is required to obtain a permit, which requires a plan to manage nutrient runoff, manure, chemicals, contaminants, and other wastewater pursuant to the US Clean Water Act.[179] The regulations involving CAFO permitting have been extensively litigated.[180] Commonly, CAFO wastewater and manure nutrients are applied to land at agronomic rates for use by forages or crops, and it is often assumed that various constituents of wastewater and manure, e.g. organic contaminants and pathogens, will be retained, inactivated or degraded on the land with application at such rates; however, additional evidence is needed to test reliability of such assumptions .[181] Concerns raised by opponents of CAFOs have included risks of contaminated water due to feedlot runoff,[182] soil erosion, human and animal exposure to toxic chemicals, development of antibiotic resistant bacteria and an increase in E. coli contamination.[183] While research suggests some of these impacts can be mitigated by developing wastewater treatment systems[182] and planting cover crops in larger setback zones,[184] the Union of Concerned Scientists released a report in 2008 concluding that CAFOs are generally unsustainable and externalize costs.[170] An estimated 935,000 cattle operations were operating in the US in 2010.[185] In 2001, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) tallied 5,990 cattle CAFOs then regulated, consisting of beef (2,200), dairy (3,150), heifer (620) and veal operations (20).[186] Since that time, the EPA has established CAFOs as an enforcement priority. EPA enforcement highlights for fiscal year 2010 indicated enforcement actions against 12 cattle CAFOs for violations that included failures to obtain a permit, failures to meet the terms of a permit, and discharges of contaminated water.[187] Cattle grazing in a high-elevation environment at the Big Pasture Plateau, Slovenia Another concern is manure, which if not well-managed, can lead to adverse environmental consequences. However, manure also is a valuable source of nutrients and organic matter when used as a fertilizer.[188] Manure was used as a fertilizer on about 6,400,000 hectares (15.8 million acres) of US cropland in 2006, with manure from cattle accounting for nearly 70% of manure applications to soybeans and about 80% or more of manure applications to corn, wheat, barley, oats and sorghum.[189] Substitution of manure for synthetic fertilizers in crop production can be environmentally significant, as between 43 and 88 megajoules of fossil fuel energy would be used per kg of nitrogen in manufacture of synthetic nitrogenous fertilizers.[190] Grazing by cattle at low intensities can create a favourable environment for native herbs and forbs by mimicking the native grazers who they displaced; in many world regions, though, cattle are reducing biodiversity due to overgrazing.[191] A survey of refuge managers on 123 National Wildlife Refuges in the US tallied 86 species of wildlife considered positively affected and 82 considered negatively affected by refuge cattle grazing or haying.[192] Proper management of pastures, notably managed intensive rotational grazing and grazing at low intensities can lead to less use of fossil fuel energy, increased recapture of carbon dioxide, fewer ammonia emissions into the atmosphere, reduced soil erosion, better air quality, and less water pollution.[170] Health The veterinary discipline dealing with cattle and cattle diseases (bovine veterinary) is called buiatrics.[193] Veterinarians and professionals working on cattle health issues are pooled in the World Association for Buiatrics, founded in 1960.[194] National associations and affiliates also exist.[195] Cattle diseases were in the center of attention in the 1980s and 1990s when the Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow disease, was of concern. Cattle might catch and develop various other diseases, like blackleg, bluetongue, foot rot too.[196][197][198] In most states, as cattle health is not only a veterinarian issue, but also a public health issue, public health and food safety standards and farming regulations directly affect the daily work of farmers who keep cattle.[199] However, said rules change frequently and are often debated. For instance, in the U.K., it was proposed in 2011 that milk from tuberculosis-infected cattle should be allowed to enter the food chain.[200] Internal food safety regulations might affect a country's trade policy as well. For example, the United States has just reviewed its beef import rules according to the "mad cow standards"; while Mexico forbids the entry of cattle who are older than 30 months.[201] Cow urine is commonly used in India for internal medical purposes.[202][203] It is distilled and then consumed by patients seeking treatment for a wide variety of illnesses.[204] At present, no conclusive medical evidence shows this has any effect.[205] However, an Indian medicine containing cow urine has already obtained U.S. patents.[206] Digital dermatitis is caused by the bacteria from the genus Treponema. It differs from foot rot and can appear under unsanitary conditions such as poor hygiene or inadequate hoof trimming, among other causes. It primarily affects dairy cattle and has been known to lower the quantity of milk produced, however the milk quality remains unaffected. Cattle are also susceptible to ringworm caused by the fungus, Trichophyton verrucosum, a contagious skin disease which may be transferred to humans exposed to infected cows.[207] Effect of high stocking density Stocking density refers to the number of animals within a specified area. When stocking density reaches high levels, the behavioural needs of the animals may not be met. This can negatively influence health, welfare and production performance.[208] The effect of overstocking in cows can have a negative effect on milk production and reproduction rates which are two very important traits for dairy farmers. Overcrowding of cows in barns has been found to reduced feeding, resting and rumination.[208] Although they consume the same amount of dry matter within the span of a day, they consume the food at a much more rapid rate, and this behaviour in cows can lead to further complications.[209] The feeding behaviour of cows during their post-milking period is very important as it has been proven that the longer animals can eat after milking, the longer they will be standing up and therefore causing less contamination to the teat ends.[210] This is necessary to reduce the risk of mastitis as infection has been shown to increase the chances of embryonic loss.[211] Sufficient rest is important for dairy cows because it is during this period that their resting blood flow increases up to 50%, this is directly proportionate to milk production.[210] Each additional hour of rest can be seen to translate to 2 to 3.5 more pounds of milk per cow daily. Stocking densities of anything over 120% have been shown to decrease the amount of time cows spend lying down.[212] Cortisol is an important stress hormone; its plasma concentrations increase greatly when subjected to high levels of stress.[213] Increased concentration levels of cortisol have been associated with significant increases in gonadotrophin levels and lowered progestin levels. Reduction of stress is important in the reproductive state of cows as an increase in gonadotrophin and lowered progesterone levels may impinge on the ovulatory and lutenization process and to reduce the chances of successful implantation.[214] A high cortisol level will also stimulate the degradation of fats and proteins which may make it difficult for the animal to sustain its pregnancy if implanted successfully.[213] Animal welfare concerns Further information: Cruelty to animals § Welfare concerns of farm animals Animal rights activists have criticized the treatment of cattle, claiming that common practices in cattle husbandry, slaughter and entertainment unnecessarily cause fear, stress, and pain. They advocate for abstaining from the consumption of cattle-related animal products and cattle-based entertainment. Livestock industry The following husbandry practices have been criticized by animal welfare and animal rights groups:[215] branding,[216] castration,[217] dehorning,[218][failed verification] ear tagging,[219] nose ringing,[220] restraint,[221] tail docking,[222] the use of veal crates,[223] and cattle prods.[224] There are concerns that the stress and negative health impacts induced by high stocking density such as in concentrated animal feeding operations or feedlots, auctions, and during transport may be detrimental to their welfare,[225][226] and has also been criticized.[227] The treatment of dairy cows faces additional criticism. To produce milk from dairy cattle, most calves are separated from their mothers soon after birth and fed milk replacement in order to retain the cows' milk for human consumption.[228] Animal welfare advocates are critical of this practice, stating that this breaks the natural bond between the mother and her calf.[228] The welfare of veal calves is also a concern.[228] In order to continue lactation, dairy cows are bred every year, usually through artificial insemination.[228] Because of this, some individuals have posited that dairy production is based on the sexual exploitation of cows.[229] Although the natural life expectancy of cattle could be as much as twenty years,[230] after about five years, a cow's milk production has dropped; at which point most dairy cows are sent to slaughter.[231][232] Leather While leather is often a by-product of slaughter, in some countries, such as India and Bangladesh, cows are raised primarily for their leather. These leather industries often make their cows walk long distances across borders to be killed in neighboring provinces and countries where cattle slaughter is legal. Some cows die along the long journey, and sometimes exhausted animals are abused to keep them moving.[233] These practices have faced backlash from various animal rights groups.[234] Sport Animal treatment in rodeo is targeted most often at bull riding but also calf roping and steer roping, with the opposition saying that rodeos are unnecessary and cause stress, injury, and death to the animals.[235] In Spain, the Running of the bulls faces opposition due to the stress and injuries incurred by the bulls during the event.[236][237] Bullfighting is opposed as a blood sport in which bulls are forced to suffer severe stress and death.[238] Oxen Main article: Ox Riding an ox in Hova, Sweden Oxen (singular ox) are cattle trained as draft animals. Often they are adult, castrated males of larger breeds, although females and bulls are also used in some areas. Usually, an ox is over four years old due to the need for training and to allow it to grow to full size. Oxen are used for plowing, transport, hauling cargo, grain-grinding by trampling or by powering machines, irrigation by powering pumps, and wagon drawing. Oxen were commonly used to skid logs in forests, and sometimes still are, in low-impact, select-cut logging. Oxen are most often used in teams of two, paired, for light work such as carting, with additional pairs added when more power is required, sometimes up to a total of 20 or more. Oxen can be trained to respond to a teamster's signals. These signals are given by verbal commands or by noise (whip cracks). Verbal commands vary according to dialect and local tradition. Oxen can pull harder and longer than horses. Though not as fast as horses, they are less prone to injury because they are more sure-footed. Many oxen are used worldwide, especially in developing countries. About 11.3 million draft oxen are used in sub-Saharan Africa.[239] In India, the number of draft cattle in 1998 was estimated at 65.7 million head.[240] About half the world's crop production is thought to depend on land preparation (such as plowing) made possible by animal traction.[241] Religion, traditions and folklore Main article: Cattle in religion Islamic traditions Further information: Animals in Islam The cow is mentioned often in the Quran. The second and longest surah of the Quran is named Al-Baqara ("The Cow"). Out of the 286 verses of the surah, seven mention cows (Al Baqarah 67–73).[242][243] The name of the surah derives from this passage in which Moses orders his people to sacrifice a cow in order to resurrect a man murdered by an unknown person.[244] Hindu traditions Further information: Cattle slaughter in India Veneration of the cow has become a symbol of the identity of Hindus as a community,[245]: 20  especially since the end of the 19th century. Slaughter of cows (including oxen, bulls and calves) is forbidden by law in several states of the Indian Union. McDonald's outlets in India do not serve any beef burgers. In Maharaja Ranjit Singh's empire of the early 19th century, the killing of a cow was punishable by death.[246] Other traditions Legend of the founding of Durham Cathedral is that monks carrying the body of Saint Cuthbert were led to the location by a milk maid who had lost her dun cow, which was found resting on the spot. An idealized depiction of girl cow herders in 19th-century Norway by Knud Bergslien     The Evangelist St. Luke is depicted as an ox in Christian art.     In Judaism, as described in Numbers 19:2,[247] the ashes of a sacrificed unblemished red heifer that has never been yoked can be used for ritual purification of people who came into contact with a corpse.     The ox is one of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. See: Ox (Zodiac).     The constellation Taurus represents a bull.     An apocryphal story has it that a cow started the Great Chicago Fire by kicking over a kerosene lamp. Michael Ahern, the reporter who created the cow story, admitted in 1893 that he had fabricated it for more colorful copy.     On 18 February 1930, Elm Farm Ollie became the first cow to fly in an airplane and also the first cow to be milked in an airplane.     The first known law requiring branding in North America was enacted on 5 February 1644, by Connecticut. It said that all cattle and pigs had to have a registered brand or earmark by 1 May 1644.[248]     The akabeko (赤べこ, red cow) is a traditional toy from the Aizu region of Japan that is thought to ward off illness.[249]     The case of Sherwood v. Walker—involving a supposedly barren heifer that was actually pregnant—first enunciated the concept of mutual mistake as a means of destroying the meeting of the minds in contract law.[citation needed]     The Fulani of West Africa are the world's largest nomadic cattle-herders.     The Maasai tribe of East Africa traditionally believe their god Engai entitled them to divine rights to the ownership of all cattle on earth.[250] In heraldry Cattle are typically represented in heraldry by the bull.     Arms of the Azores     Arms of Mecklenburg region, Germany     Arms of Turin, Italy     Arms of Kaunas, Lithuania     Arms of Bielsk Podlaski, Poland     Arms of Ciołek, Poland     Arms of Turek, Poland Population The cattle population of Britain rose from 9.8 million in 1878 to 11.7 million in 1908, but beef consumption rose much faster. Britain became the "stud farm of the world" exporting livestock to countries where there were no indigenous cattle. In 1929 80% of the meat trade of the world was products of what were originally English breeds. There were nearly 70 million cattle in the USA by the early 1930s.[251] For 2013, the FAO estimated global cattle numbers at 1.47 billion.[252] Regionally, the FAO estimate for 2013 includes: Asia 497 million; South America 350 million; Africa 307 million; Europe 122 million; North America 102 million; Central America 47 million; Oceania 40 million; and Caribbean 9 million." (wikipedia.org) "The pig (Sus domesticus), often called swine, hog, or domestic pig when distinguishing from other members of the genus Sus, is an omnivorous, domesticated even-toed hoofed mammal. It is variously considered a subspecies of the Eurasian boar or a distinct species, but the American Society of Mammalogists considers it the latter.[2] The pig's head-plus-body length ranges from 0.9 to 1.8 m (3 to 6 ft), and adult pigs typically weigh between 50 and 350 kg (110 and 770 lb), with well-fed individuals even exceeding this range. The size and weight of hogs largely depends on their breed. Compared to other artiodactyls, a pig's head is relatively long and pointed. Most even-toed ungulates are herbivorous, but pigs are omnivores, like their wild relative. Pigs grunt and make snorting sounds. When used as livestock, pigs are farmed primarily for the production of meat, called pork. A group of pigs is called a passel, a team, or a sounder. The animal's bones, hide, and bristles are also used in products. Pigs, especially miniature breeds, are kept as pets.... Biology Skull Skeleton Bones of the foot The pig typically has a large head, with a long snout which is strengthened by a special prenasal bone and a disk of cartilage at the tip.[3] The snout is used to dig into the soil to find food and is a very acute sense organ. The dental formula of adult pigs is 3.1.4.33.1.4.3, giving a total of 44 teeth. The rear teeth are adapted for crushing. In the male, the canine teeth can form tusks, which grow continuously and are sharpened by constantly being ground against each other.[3] Four hoofed toes are on each foot, with the two larger central toes bearing most of the weight, but the outer two also being used in soft ground.[4] Most pigs have rather a bristled sparse hair covering on their skin, although woolly-coated breeds such as the Mangalitsa exist.[5] Pigs possess both apocrine and eccrine sweat glands, although the latter appear limited to the snout and dorsonasal areas.[6] Pigs, however, like other "hairless" mammals (e.g. elephants, rhinos, and mole-rats), do not use thermal sweat glands in cooling.[7] Pigs are also less able than many other mammals to dissipate heat from wet mucous membranes in the mouth through panting. Their thermoneutral zone is 16 to 22 °C (61 to 72 °F).[8] At higher temperatures, pigs lose heat by wallowing in mud or water via evaporative cooling, although it has been suggested that wallowing may serve other functions, such as protection from sunburn, ecto-parasite control, and scent-marking.[9] Pigs are one of four known mammalian species which possess mutations in the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor that protect against snake venom. Mongooses, honey badgers, hedgehogs, and pigs all have modifications to the receptor pocket which prevents the snake venom α-neurotoxin from binding. These represent four separate, independent mutations.[10] Pigs have small lungs in relation to their body size, and are thus more susceptible than other domesticated animals to fatal bronchitis and pneumonia.[11] Genetics and genomics The genome of the pig has been sequenced and contains about 22,342 protein-coding genes.[12][13][14] Taxonomy The pig is most often considered to be a subspecies of the wild boar, which was given the name Sus scrofa by Carl Linnaeus in 1758; following from this, the formal name of the pig is Sus scrofa domesticus.[15][16] However, in 1777, Johann Christian Polycarp Erxleben classified the pig as a separate species from the wild boar. He gave it the name Sus domesticus, which is still used by some taxonomists.[17][18] History Pottery Swine in Sanxingdui Museum, Shang dynasty Bronze pig sculpture, Zhou dynasty Archaeological evidence suggests that pigs were domesticated from wild boar in the Near East in the Tigris Basin,[19][page needed] Çayönü, Cafer Höyük, Nevalı Çori[20] being managed in the wild in a way similar to the way they are managed by some modern New Guineans.[21] Remains of pigs have been dated to earlier than 11,400 years ago in Cyprus. Those animals must have been introduced from the mainland, which suggests domestication in the adjacent mainland by then.[22] There was also a separate domestication in China which took place about 8,000 years ago.[23][24] In the Near East, pig husbandry spread for the next few millennia. It reduced gradually during the Bronze Age, as rural populations focused instead on commodity-producing livestock. It was sustained in urbanized regions, however.[25] DNA evidence from subfossil remains of teeth and jawbones of Neolithic pigs shows that the first domestic pigs in Europe had been brought from the Near East. This stimulated the domestication of local European wild boar, resulting in a third domestication event with the Near Eastern genes dying out in European pig stock. Modern domesticated pigs have involved complex exchanges, with European domesticated lines being exported, in turn, to the ancient Near East.[26][27] Historical records indicate that Asian pigs were introduced into Europe during the 18th and early 19th centuries.[23] In August 2015, a study looked at over 100 pig genome sequences to ascertain their process of domestication, which was assumed to have been initiated by humans, involved few individuals, and relied on reproductive isolation between wild and domestic forms. The study found that the assumption of reproductive isolation with population bottlenecks was not supported. The study indicated that pigs were domesticated separately in Western Asia and China, with Western Asian pigs introduced into Europe, where they crossed with wild boar. A model that fit the data included a mixture with a now extinct ghost population of wild pigs during the Pleistocene. The study also found that despite back-crossing with wild pigs, the genomes of domestic pigs have strong signatures of selection at DNA loci that affect behavior and morphology. The study concluded that human selection for domestic traits likely counteracted the homogenizing effect of gene flow from wild boars and created domestication islands in the genome. The same process may also apply to other domesticated animals.[28][29] In 2019, a study showed that the pig had arrived in Europe from the Near East 8,500 years ago. Over the next 3,000 years they then admixed with the European wild boar until their genome showed less than 5% Near Eastern ancestry, yet retained their domesticated features.[30] Among the animals that the Spanish introduced to the Chiloé Archipelago in the 16th century, pigs were the most successful to adapt. The pigs benefited from abundant shellfish and algae exposed by the large tides of the archipelago.[31] Pigs were brought to southeastern North America from Europe by de Soto and other early Spanish explorers. Escaped pigs became feral and caused a great deal of disruption to Native Americans.[32] Feral pig populations in the southeastern United States have since migrated north and are a growing concern in the Midwest. Considered an invasive species, many state agencies have programs to trap or hunt feral pigs as means of removal.[33][34][35] Domestic pigs have become feral in many other parts of the world (e.g. New Zealand and northern Queensland) and have caused substantial environmental damage.[36][37] Feral hybrids of the European wild boar with the domestic pig are also very disruptive to both environment and agriculture (among the 100 most damaging animal species),[38] especially in southeastern South America from Uruguay to Brazil's Mato Grosso do Sul and São Paulo.[39][40][41][42][43] With around 1 billion individuals alive at any time, the domesticated pig is one of the most numerous large mammals on the planet.[44][45] Reproduction Female pigs reach sexual maturity at 3–12 months of age and come into estrus every 18–24 days if they are not successfully bred. The variation in ovulation rate can be attributed to intrinsic factors such as age and genotype, as well as extrinsic factors like nutrition, environment, and the supplementation of exogenous hormones.[46] The gestation period averages 112–120 days.[47] Piglets keeping warm together Estrus lasts two to three days, and the female's displayed receptiveness to mate is known as standing heat. Standing heat is a reflexive response that is stimulated when the female is in contact with the saliva of a sexually mature boar. Androstenol is one of the pheromones produced in the submaxillary salivary glands of boars that will trigger the female's response.[48] The female cervix contains a series of five interdigitating pads, or folds, that will hold the boar's corkscrew-shaped penis during copulation.[49] Females have bicornuate uteruses and two conceptuses must be present in both uterine horns for pregnancy to be established.[50] Maternal recognition of pregnancy in pigs occurs on days 11 to 12 of pregnancy and is marked by progesterone production from a functioning corpus luteum (CL).[51] To avoid luteolysis by PGF2α, rescuing of the CL must occur via embryonic signaling of estradiol 17β and PGE2.[52] This signaling acts on both the endometrium and luteal tissue to prevent the regression of the CL by activation of genes that are responsible for CL maintenance.[53] During mid to late pregnancy, the CL relies primarily on luteinizing hormone (LH) for maintenance until parturition.[52] Animal nutrition is important prior to reproduction and during gestation to ensure optimum reproductive performance is achieved.[54] Archeological evidence indicates that medieval European pigs farrowed, or bore a litter of piglets, once per year.[55] By the nineteenth century, European piglets routinely double-farrowed, or bore two litters of piglets per year. It is unclear when this shift occurred.[56] Behavior Pigs in a wallow In many ways, their behaviour appears to be intermediate between that of other artiodactyls and of carnivores.[57] Pigs seek out the company of other pigs and often huddle to maintain physical contact, although they do not naturally form large herds. They typically live in groups of about 8–10 adult sows, some young individuals, and some single males.[58] Because of their relative lack of sweat glands, pigs often control their body temperature using behavioural thermoregulation. Wallowing, which often consists of coating the body with mud, is a behaviour frequently exhibited by pigs.[59] They do not submerge completely under the mud, but vary the depth and duration of wallowing depending on environmental conditions.[59] Typically, adult pigs start wallowing once the ambient temperature is around 17–21 °C (63–70 °F). They cover themselves from head to toe in mud.[59] Pigs may use mud as a sunscreen, or as a method of keeping parasites away.[59] Most bristled pigs will "blow their coat", meaning that they shed most of the longer, coarser stiff hair once a year, usually in spring or early summer, to prepare for the warmer months ahead.[60] If conditions permit, pigs feed continuously for many hours and then sleep for many hours, in contrast to ruminants which tend to feed for a short time and then sleep for a short time. Pigs are omnivorous, and are highly versatile in their feeding behaviour. As they are foraging animals, they primarily eat leaves, stems, roots, fruits, and flowers.[61] Pigs play an important role in regions where pig toilets are employed. Pigs are highly intelligent animals,[62] on par with dogs,[63] and according to David DiSalvo's writing in Forbes, they are "widely considered the smartest domesticated animal in the world. Pigs can move a cursor on a video screen with their snouts and understand what is happening onscreen, and even learn to distinguish between the scribbles they knew from those they saw for the first time."[64][a][68] Rooting Juliana piglet rooting on her sibling's belly Rooting is an instinctual behavior in pigs that is characterized by a pig nudging its snout into something. Similar to a cat's kneading, rooting is found comforting. It first happens when piglets are born to obtain their mother's milk, and can become a habitual, obsessive behavior which is most prominent in animals weaned too early.[69] Often, pigs will root and dig into the ground to forage for food.[69] By means of rooting, pigs have been used to till farmland. Rooting is known to also be used as a means of communication.[69] Nose rings that pierce the septum of the nose discourage rooting because they make the behavior painful. The breed known as the kunekune hardly ever roots, as it can sustain itself by feeding on nothing other than grass.[70] Not having to root around in the soil to find underground food (e.g. tubers), it thus has evolved to, for the most part, not possess the instinct for rooting. Nest-building A behavioural characteristic of pigs which they share with carnivores is nest-building. Sows root in the ground to create depressions and then build nests in which to give birth. First, the sow digs a depression about the size of her body. She then collects twigs and leaves, and carries these in her mouth to the depression, building them into a mound. She distributes the softer, finer material to the centre of the mound using her feet. When the mound reaches the desired height, she places large branches, up to 2 metres in length, on the surface. She enters into the mound and roots around to create a depression within the gathered material. She then gives birth in a lying position, which, again, is different from other artiodactyls, which usually give birth in a standing position.[57] Nest-building behaviour is an important part in the process of pre and post-partum maternal behaviour. Nest-building will occur during the last 24 hours before the onset of farrowing and becomes most intense during 12 to 6 hours before farrowing.[71] Nest-building is divided into two phases: one of which is the initial phase of rooting in the ground while the second phase is the collecting, carrying and arranging of the nest material.[71] The sow will separate from the group and seek a suitable nest site with some shelter from rain and wind that has well-drained soil. This nest-building behaviour is performed to provide the offspring with shelter, comfort, and thermoregulation. The nest will provide protection against weather and predators while keeping the piglets close to the sow and away from the rest of the herd. This ensures they do not get trampled on and that other piglets are not stealing milk from the sow.[72] Nest-building can be influenced by internal and external stimuli. Internal hormonal changes and the completion of one nesting phase are indicators of this maternal behaviour.[72] The onset is triggered by the rise in prolactin levels, which is caused by a decrease in progesterone and an increase in prostaglandin, while the gathering of the nest material seems to be regulated more by external stimuli such as temperature.[71] The longer time spent on nest-building will increase pre-partum oxytocin. Nursing and suckling behaviour Sow with prominent nipples. Pigs typically have 12–14 nipples. Two piglets suckling Pigs display complex nursing and suckling behaviour.[73] Nursing occurs every 50–60 minutes, and the sow requires stimulation from piglets before milk let-down. Sensory inputs (vocalisation, odours from mammary and birth fluids and hair patterns of the sow) are particularly important immediately post-birth to facilitate teat location by the piglets.[74] Initially, the piglets compete for position at the udder; then the piglets massage around their respective teats with their snouts, during which time the sow grunts at slow, regular intervals. Each series of grunts varies in frequency, tone and magnitude, indicating the stages of nursing to the piglets.[75] The phase of competition for teats and of nosing the udder lasts for about one minute and ends when milk flow begins. In the third phase, the piglets hold the teats in their mouths and suck with slow mouth movements (one per second), and the rate of the sow's grunting increases for approximately 20 seconds. The grunt peak in the third phase of suckling does not coincide with milk ejection, but rather the release of oxytocin from the pituitary into the bloodstream.[76] Phase four coincides with the period of main milk flow (10–20 seconds) when the piglets suddenly withdraw slightly from the udder and start sucking with rapid mouth movements of about three per second. The sow grunts rapidly, lower in tone and often in quick runs of three or four, during this phase. Finally, the flow stops and so does the grunting of the sow. The piglets may then dart from teat to teat and recommence suckling with slow movements, or nosing the udder. Piglets massage and suckle the sow's teats after milk flow ceases as a way of letting the sow know their nutritional status. This helps her to regulate the amount of milk released from that teat in future sucklings. The more intense the post-feed massaging of a teat, the greater the future milk release from that teat will be.[77] Teat order A sow with suckling piglets In pigs, dominance hierarchies can be formed at a very early age. Piglets are highly precocious and within minutes of being born, or sometimes seconds, will attempt to suckle. The piglets are born with sharp teeth and fight to develop a teat order as the anterior teats produce a greater quantity of milk. Once established, this teat order remains stable with each piglet tending to feed on a particular teat or group of teats.[57] Stimulation of the anterior teats appears to be important in causing milk letdown,[78] so it might be advantageous to the entire litter to have these teats occupied by healthy piglets. Using an artificial sow to rear groups of piglets, recognition of a teat in a particular area of the udder depended initially on visual orientation by means of reference points on the udder to find the area, and then the olfactory sense for the more accurate search within that area.[79] Senses Pigs have panoramic vision of approximately 310° and binocular vision of 35° to 50°. It is thought they have no eye accommodation.[80] Other animals that have no accommodation, e.g. sheep, lift their heads to see distant objects.[81] The extent to which pigs have colour vision is still a source of some debate; however, the presence of cone cells in the retina with two distinct wavelength sensitivities (blue and green) suggests that at least some colour vision is present.[82] Pigs have a well-developed sense of smell, and use is made of this in Europe where they are trained to locate underground truffles. Olfactory rather than visual stimuli are used in the identification of other pigs.[83] Hearing is also well developed, and localisation of sounds is made by moving the head. Pigs use auditory stimuli extensively as a means of communication in all social activities.[84] Alarm or aversive stimuli are transmitted to other pigs not only by auditory cues but also by pheromones.[85] Similarly, recognition between the sow and her piglets is by olfactory and vocal cues.[86] Breeds Main article: List of pig breeds Many breeds of pig exist, with different colors, shapes, and sizes. According to The Livestock Conservancy, as of 2016, three breeds of pig are critically rare (having a global population of fewer than 2000). They are the Choctaw hog, the Mulefoot, and the Ossabaw Island hog.[87] The smallest known pig breed in the world is the Göttingen minipig, typically weighing about 26 kilograms (57 lb) as a healthy, full-grown adult.[88] In agriculture Main article: Pig farming Global Pig stock in 2019 Number in millions  People's Republic of China (Mainland)    310.4  European Union (UK not included)    143.1  United States    78.7  Brazil    40.6  Russia    23.7  Myanmar    21.6  Vietnam    19.6  Mexico    18.4  Canada    14.1  Philippines    12.7 World total    850.3 Source: UN Food and Agriculture Organization Interior of pig farm at Bjärka-Säby Castle, Sweden, 1911 Exterior of pig farm in Vampula, Finland, 2021 A Large White, a breed commonly used in meat production When in use as livestock, the pig is mostly farmed for its meat, pork. Other food products made from pigs include pork sausage (which includes casings that are made from the intestines), bacon, gammon, ham and pork rinds. The head of a pig can be used to make a preserved jelly called head cheese, which is sometimes known as brawn. Liver, chitterlings, blood (for black pudding), and other offal from pigs are also widely used for food. In some religions, such as Judaism and Islam, pork is a taboo food. Approximately 1.5 billion pigs are slaughtered each year for meat.[89] The use of pig milk for human consumption does take place, but as there are certain difficulties in obtaining it, there is little commercial production. Livestock pigs are exhibited at agricultural shows, judged either as stud stock compared to the standard features of each pig breed, or in commercial classes where the animals are judged primarily on their suitability for slaughter to provide premium meat. The skin of pigs is eaten and used to produce seat covers, apparel, and other items. In some developing and developed nations, the pig is usually raised outdoors in yards or fields. In some areas, pigs are allowed to forage in woods where they may be taken care of by swineherds. In industrialized nations such as the United States, pig farming has switched from the traditional pig farm to large-scale intensive pig farms. This has resulted in lower production costs but can cause significant cruelty problems. As consumers have become concerned with the humane treatment of livestock, demand for pasture-raised pork in these nations has increased.[90] As pets Mini pig 2.jpg Vietnamese Pot-bellied pigs, a miniature breed of pig, have made popular pets in the United States, beginning in the latter half of the 20th century. In many respects, pot-bellied pigs are desirable and entertaining pets. They are considered intelligent, gregarious, and trainable. They lack the genetic hereditary weaknesses which commonly afflict certain pedigree cat and dog breeds, are generally quite sturdy, and have a reasonably affordable diet despite requiring large quantities of food. However, they can be strong-willed, defiant, and independent pets which will sometimes defy training. They require access to an outdoor space at all times, and depending on the individual pig, may become housebroken easily or never settle indoors. While hardy, an injured or sick pig will require costly surgery or larger than average quantities of medicine than most pets.[91] Pigs are highly intelligent, social creatures. They are considered hypoallergenic, and are known to do quite well with people who have the usual animal allergies. Since these animals are known to have a life expectancy of 15 to 20 years, they require a long-term commitment. Given pigs are bred primarily as livestock and have not been bred as companion animals for very long, selective breeding for a placid or biddable temperament is not well established. Pigs have radically different psychology to dogs and exhibit fight-or-flight instincts, independent nature, and natural assertiveness which can manifest as aggression towards children and a tendency to panic and lash out with little warning. Cats generally are safe around pigs as neither species has an incentive to express aggression or fear towards the other, although dogs will view pigs as prey animals and in turn, pigs will challenge dogs for food, leading to very violent fights.[92] A "Salt & Pepper" miniature pig Care Male and female swine that have not been de-sexed may express unwanted aggressive behavior, and are prone to developing serious health issues.[93] Regular trimming of the hooves is necessary; hooves left untreated cause major pain in the pig, can create malformations in bone structure and may cause him or her to be more susceptible to fungal growth between crevices of the hoof,[94] or between the cracks in a split hoof. Male pigs, especially when left unaltered, can grow large, sharp tusks which may continue growing for years. Domestic owners may wish to keep their pigs' tusks trimmed back,[95] or have them removed entirely. As prey animals, pigs' natural instinctive behavior causes them to have a strong fear of being picked up, resulting in the animal expressing stress through struggling and squealing, but they will usually calm down once placed back onto the ground. This instinctual fear may be lessened if the pig has been frequently held since infancy. When holding pigs, supporting them under the legs makes being held not as stressful for the animal.[96] Pigs need enrichment activities[97] to keep their intelligent minds occupied; if pigs get bored, they often become destructive.[98] As rooting is found to be comforting, pigs kept in the house may root household objects, furniture or surfaces. While some owners are known to pierce their pigs' noses to discourage rooting behaviour, the efficacy and humaneness of this practice is questionable.[99] Pet pigs should be let outside daily to allow them to fulfill their natural desire of rooting around. In human medical applications Pigs, both as live animals and a source of post-mortem tissues are one of the most valuable animal models used in biomedical research today, because of their biological, physiological, and anatomical similarities to human beings.[100][101] For instance, human skin is very similar to the pigskin, therefore pigskin has been used in many preclinical studies.[100][101] Porcine are used in finding treatments, cures for diseases, xenotransplantation,[102] and for general education. They are also used in the development of medical instruments and devices, surgical techniques and instrumentation, and FDA-approved research. These animals contribute to the reduction methods for animal research, as they supply more information from fewer animals used, for a lower cost. Xenotransplantation Main article: Xenotransplantation Pigs are currently thought to be the best non-human candidates for organ donation to humans, and to date they are the only animal that has successfully donated an organ to a human body. The first successful donation of a non-human organ to a human body was conducted on 15 September 2021, when a kidney from a pig was transplanted to a brain-dead human and immediately started functioning similarly to a human kidney.[103][104] The procedure, led by Dr. Robert Montgomery, used a donor pig that was genetically engineered to not have a specific carbohydrate that the human body considers a threat–Galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose.[105] This followed an earlier major breakthrough when the carbohydrate was removed from genetically engineered mice.[106] Besides similarity between pig and human organs, pigs are among the best animals suited for human donation due the lower risk of cross-species disease transmission. This is caused by pigs' increased phylogenetic distance from humans.[107] Furthermore, they are readily available, and new infectious agents are less likely since they have been in close contact with humans through domestication for many generations.[108] Some obstacles to successful organ donation from a pig to a human arise from the response of the recipient's immune system—generally more extreme than in allotransplantations, ultimately results in rejection of the xenograft, and in some cases results in the death of the recipient—including hyperacute rejection, acute vascular rejection, cellular rejection, and chronic rejection. Examples of viruses carried by pigs include porcine herpesvirus, rotavirus, parvovirus, and circovirus. Of particular concern are PERVs (porcine endogenous retroviruses), vertically transmitted viruses that embed in swine genomes. The risks with xenosis are twofold, as not only could the individual become infected, but a novel infection could initiate an epidemic in the human population. Because of this risk, the FDA has suggested any recipients of xenotransplants shall be closely monitored for the remainder of their life, and quarantined if they show signs of xenosis.[109] Pig cells have been engineered to inactivate all 62 PERVs in the genome using CRISPR Cas9 genome editing technology, and eliminated infection from the pig to human cells in culture.[110] Folklore Main article: Pigs in culture In the belief of traditional Irish fishermen, the pig is seen as a thing of bad luck and should not be mentioned.[111] Glossary of terms Further information: Pig farming § Terminology Because the pig is a major domesticated animal, English has many terms unique to the species:     barrow – a castrated male swine[112]     boar – a mature male swine; often a wild or feral swine[113]     boneen – a very young pig (Ireland)     farrow (noun) – a litter of piglets     farrow (verb) – to give birth to piglets[114]     gilt – a female pig that has never been pregnant or is pregnant for the first time[115]     hog – a domestic swine, especially a fully-grown specimen     parcel – collective noun for pigs     pig – strictly, an immature swine; more generally, any swine, especially of the domestic variety     piglet – a very young pig[116]     queen – a female pig that has never been mated     savaging – the act of a sow attacking her own piglets, sometimes killing and cannibalising them     shoat – a young pig, especially one that has been weaned     sounder – collective noun for pigs     sow – a mature female swine[117]     swine (singular and plural) – hogs collectively or generally; also a derogatory epithet[118]     swineherd – one who tends to swine raised as livestock; a pig farmer" (wikipedia.org) "The chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult male bird, and a younger male may be called a cockerel. A male that has been castrated is a capon. An adult female bird is called a hen and a sexually immature female is called a pullet. Originally raised for cockfighting or for special ceremonies, chickens were not kept for food until the Hellenistic period (4th–2nd centuries BC).[1][2] Humans now keep chickens primarily as a source of food (consuming both their meat and eggs) and as pets. Chickens are one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, with a total population of 23.7 billion as of 2018,[3] up from more than 19 billion in 2011.[4] There are more chickens in the world than any other bird.[4] There are numerous cultural references to chickens – in myth, folklore and religion, and in language and literature. Genetic studies have pointed to multiple maternal origins in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia,[5] but the clade found in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa originated from the Indian subcontinent. From ancient India, the chicken spread to Lydia in western Asia Minor, and to Greece by the 5th century BC.[6] Fowl have been known in Egypt since the mid-15th century BC, with the "bird that gives birth every day" having come from the land between Syria and Shinar, Babylonia, according to the annals of Thutmose III.... Terminology Didactic model of a chicken. An adult male is a called a 'cock' or 'rooster' (in the United States) and an adult female is called a 'hen'.[10][11] Other terms are:     'Biddy:' a newly hatched chicken[12][13]     'Capon:' a castrated or neutered male chicken[a]     'Chick:' a young chicken[14]     'Chook' /tʃʊk/: a chicken (Australia, informal)[15]     'Cockerel:' a young male chicken less than a year old[16]     'Pullet:' a young female chicken less than a year old.[17] In the poultry industry, a pullet is a sexually immature chicken less than 22 weeks of age.[18]     'Yardbird:' a chicken (southern United States, dialectal)[19] "Chicken" was originally a term only for an immature, or at least young, bird.[when?] However, thanks to its usage on restaurant menus, it has now become the most common term for the subspecies in general, especially in American English. In older sources, 'chicken' as a species were typically referred to as 'common fowl' or 'domestic fowl'.[20] 'Chicken' may also mean a 'chick' (see for example Hen and Chicken Islands).[21] Etymology [icon]    This section needs expansion with: the origin of the term 'chicken' in general. You can help by adding to it. (June 2021) According to Merriam-Webster, the term "rooster" (i.e. a roosting bird) originated in the mid- or late 18th century as a euphemism to avoid the sexual connotation of the original English "cock",[22][23][24] and is widely used throughout North America. "Roosting" is the action of perching aloft to sleep at night.[25] General biology and habitat In most breeds the adult rooster can be distinguished from the hen by his larger comb. Comb of a hen. Chickens are omnivores.[26] In the wild, they often scratch at the soil to search for seeds, insects and even animals as large as lizards, small snakes,[27] or sometimes young mice.[28] The average chicken may live for 5-10 years, depending on the breed.[29] The world's oldest known chicken lived 16 years according to Guinness World Records.[30] Anatomy of a chicken. Diagram of a chicken skull. Eggs from different breeds Roosters can usually be differentiated from hens by their striking plumage of long flowing tails and shiny, pointed feathers on their necks ('hackles') and backs ('saddle'), which are typically of brighter, bolder colours than those of females of the same breed. However, in some breeds, such as the Sebright chicken, the rooster has only slightly pointed neck feathers, the same colour as the hen's. The identification can be made by looking at the comb, or eventually from the development of spurs on the male's legs (in a few breeds and in certain hybrids, the male and female chicks may be differentiated by colour). Adult chickens have a fleshy crest on their heads called a comb, or cockscomb, and hanging flaps of skin either side under their beaks called wattles. Collectively, these and other fleshy protuberances on the head and throat are called caruncles. Both the adult male and female have wattles and combs, but in most breeds these are more prominent in males. A 'muff' or 'beard' is a mutation found in several chicken breeds which causes extra feathering under the chicken's face, giving the appearance of a beard.[31] Domestic chickens are not capable of long-distance flight, although lighter chickens are generally capable of flying for short distances, such as over fences or into trees (where they would naturally roost). Chickens may occasionally fly briefly to explore their surroundings, but generally do so only to flee perceived danger. Behavior Social behaviour See also: Empathy in chickens Hen with chicks, India Hen with chicks, Portugal Chickens are gregarious birds and live together in flocks. They have a communal approach to the incubation of eggs and raising of young. Individual chickens in a flock will dominate others, establishing a "pecking order", with dominant individuals having priority for food access and nesting locations. Removing hens or roosters from a flock causes a temporary disruption to this social order until a new pecking order is established. Adding hens, especially younger birds, to an existing flock can lead to fighting and injury.[32] When a rooster finds food, he may call other chickens to eat first. He does this by clucking in a high pitch as well as picking up and dropping the food. This behaviour may also be observed in mother hens to call their chicks and encourage them to eat. A rooster's crowing is a loud and sometimes shrill call and sends a territorial signal to other roosters.[33] However, roosters may also crow in response to sudden disturbances within their surroundings. Hens cluck loudly after laying an egg, and also to call their chicks. Chickens also give different warning calls when they sense a predator approaching from the air or on the ground.[34] Crowing Bergische Kräher crowing Menu 0:00 The long crowing of a Berg crower File:Rooster crowing small.ogvPlay media Normal length crowing (with audio). Long-crowing chickens have a longer crow. Roosters almost always start crowing before four months of age. Although it is possible for a hen to crow as well, crowing (together with hackles development) is one of the clearest signs of being a rooster.[35] Rooster crowing contests Rooster crowing contests, also known as crowing contests, are a traditional sport in several countries, such as Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium,[36] the United States, Indonesia and Japan. The oldest contests are held with longcrowers. Depending on the breed, either the duration of the crowing or the times the rooster crows within a certain time is measured. Courtship To initiate courting, some roosters may dance in a circle around or near a hen ("a circle dance"), often lowering the wing which is closest to the hen.[37] The dance triggers a response in the hen[37] and when she responds to his "call", the rooster may mount the hen and proceed with the mating. More specifically, mating typically involves the following sequence:     Male approaching the hen     Male pre-copulatory waltzing     Male waltzing     Female crouching (receptive posture) or stepping aside or running away (if unwilling to copulate)     Male mounting     Male treading with both feet on hen's back     Male tail bending (following successful copulation)[38] Nesting and laying behaviour Chicken eggs vary in colour depending on the breed, and sometimes, the hen, typically ranging from bright white to shades of brown and even blue, green, light pinkish and recently reported purple (found in South Asia) (Araucana varieties). Chicks before their first outing Hens will often try to lay in nests that already contain eggs and have been known to move eggs from neighbouring nests into their own. The result of this behaviour is that a flock will use only a few preferred locations, rather than having a different nest for every bird. Hens will often express a preference to lay in the same location. It is not unknown for two (or more) hens to try to share the same nest at the same time. If the nest is small, or one of the hens is particularly determined, this may result in chickens trying to lay on top of each other. There is evidence that individual hens prefer to be either solitary or gregarious nesters.[39] A chick sitting in a person's hand Broodiness     This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Under natural conditions, most birds lay only until a clutch is complete, and they will then incubate all the eggs. Hens are then said to "go broody". The broody hen will stop laying and instead will focus on the incubation of the eggs (a full clutch is usually about 12 eggs). She will "sit" or "set" on the nest, fluff up or pecking in defense if disturbed or removed. The hen will rarely leave the nest to eat, drink, or dust-bathe.[40] While brooding, the hen maintains the nest at a constant temperature and humidity, as well as turning the eggs regularly during the first part of the incubation. To stimulate broodiness, owners may place several artificial eggs in the nest. To discourage it, they may place the hen in an elevated cage with an open wire floor. Skull of a three-week-old chicken. Here the opisthotic bone appears in the occipital region, as in the adult Chelonian. bo = Basi-occipital, bt = Basi-temporal, eo = Opisthotic, f = Frontal, fm = Foramen magnum, fo = Fontanella, oc = Occipital condyle, op = Opisthotic, p = Parietal, pf = Post-frontal, sc = Sinus canal in supra-occipital, so = Supra-occpital, sq = Squamosal, 8 = Exit of vagus nerve. Breeds artificially developed for egg production rarely go broody, and those that do often stop part-way through the incubation. However, other breeds, such as the Cochin, Cornish and Silkie, do regularly go broody, and make excellent mothers, not only for chicken eggs but also for those of other species — even those with much smaller or larger eggs and different incubation periods, such as quail, pheasants, ducks, turkeys, or geese. Hatching and early life Fertile chicken eggs hatch at the end of the incubation period, about 21 days.[37] Development of the chick starts only when incubation begins, so all chicks hatch within a day or two of each other, despite perhaps being laid over a period of two weeks or so. Before hatching, the hen can hear the chicks peeping inside the eggs, and will gently cluck to stimulate them to break out of their shells. The chick begins by "pipping"; pecking a breathing hole with its egg tooth towards the blunt end of the egg, usually on the upper side. The chick then rests for some hours, absorbing the remaining egg yolk and withdrawing the blood supply from the membrane beneath the shell (used earlier for breathing through the shell). The chick then enlarges the hole, gradually turning round as it goes, and eventually severing the blunt end of the shell completely to make a lid. The chick crawls out of the remaining shell, and the wet down dries out in the warmth of the nest. Hens usually remain on the nest for about two days after the first chick hatches, and during this time the newly hatched chicks feed by absorbing the internal yolk sac. Some breeds sometimes start eating cracked eggs, which can become habitual.[41] Hens fiercely guard their chicks, and brood them when necessary to keep them warm, at first often returning to the nest at night. She leads them to food and water and will call them toward edible items, but seldom feeds them directly. She continues to care for them until they are several weeks old. Defensive behaviour Chickens may occasionally gang up on a weak or inexperienced predator. At least one credible report exists of a young fox killed by hens.[42][43][44] A group of hens have been recorded in attacking a hawk that had entered their coop.[45] If a chicken is threatened by predators, stress, or is sick, there is a chance that they will puff up their feathers.[40] Reproduction Sperm transfer occurs by cloacal contact between the male and female, in a maneuver known as the "cloacal kiss".[46] As with birds in general, reproduction is controlled by a neuroendocrine system, the Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone-I neurons in the hypothalamus. Locally to the reproductive system itself, reproductive hormones such as estrogen, progesterone, gonadotropins (luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone) initiate and maintain sexual maturation changes. Over time there is reproductive decline, thought to be due to GnRH-I-N decline. Because there is significant inter-individual variability in egg-producing duration, it is believed to be possible to breed for further extended useful lifetime in egg-layers.[47] Embryology File:Embryo.ogvPlay media (Video) Earliest gestation stages and blood circulation of a chicken embryo Chicken embryos have long been used as model systems to study developing embryos. Large numbers of embryos can be provided by commercial chicken farmers who sell fertilized eggs which can be easily opened and used to observe the developing embryo. Equally important, embryologists can carry out experiments on such embryos, close the egg again and study the effect later on. For instance, many important discoveries in the area of limb development have been made using chicken embryos, such as the discovery of the apical ectodermal ridge (AER) and the zone of polarizing activity (ZPA) by John W. Saunders.[48] In 2006, scientists researching the ancestry of birds "turned on" a chicken recessive gene, talpid2, and found that the embryo jaws initiated formation of teeth, like those found in ancient bird fossils. John Fallon, the overseer of the project, stated that chickens have "...retained the ability to make teeth, under certain conditions... ."[49] Chicks atop a picture of a genetic map of a chicken. The chicken genome has 39 pairs of chromosomes, whereas the human genome contains 23 pairs The G. gallus genome has 39 pairs of chromosomes, whereas the human genome contains 23 pairs Genetics and genomics Given its eminent role in farming, meat production, but also research, the house chicken was the first bird genome to be sequenced.[50] At 1.21 Gb, the chicken genome is considerably smaller than other vertebrate genomes, such as the human genome (3 Gb). The final gene set contained 26,640 genes (including noncoding genes and pseudogenes), with a total of 19,119 protein-coding genes in annotation release 103 (2017), a similar number of protein-coding genes as in the human genome.[51] Physiology Populations of chickens from high altitude regions like Tibet have special physiological adaptations that result in a higher hatching rate in low oxygen environments. When eggs are placed in a hypoxic environment, chicken embryos from these populations express much more hemoglobin than embryos from other chicken populations. This hemoglobin also has a greater affinity for oxygen, allowing hemoglobin to bind to oxygen more readily.[52][53] Pinopsins were originally discovered in the chicken pineal gland.[54] Immunology Although all avians appear to have lost TLR9, artificial immunity against bacterial pathogens has been induced in neonatal chicks by Taghavi et al 2008 using tailored oligodeoxynucleotides.[55] Breeding Origins Male red junglefowl. Galliformes, the order of bird that chickens belong to, is directly linked to the survival of birds when all other dinosaurs went extinct. Water or ground-dwelling fowl, similar to modern partridges, survived the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event that killed all tree-dwelling birds and dinosaurs.[56] Some of these evolved into the modern galliformes, of which domesticated chickens are a main model. They are descended primarily from the red junglefowl (Gallus gallus) and are scientifically classified as the same species.[57] As such, domesticated chickens can and do freely interbreed with populations of red junglefowl.[57] Subsequent hybridization of the domestic chicken with grey junglefowl, Sri Lankan junglefowl and green junglefowl occurred;[58] a gene for yellow skin, for instance, was incorporated into domestic birds through hybridization with the grey junglefowl (G. sonneratii).[59] In a study published in 2020, it was found that chickens shared between 71% - 79% of their genome with red junglefowl, with the period of domestication dated to 8,000 years ago.[58] Red junglefowl hen in India The traditional view is that chickens were first domesticated for cockfighting in Asia, Africa, and Europe.[1] In the last decade, there have been a number of genetic studies to clarify the origins. According to one early study, a single domestication event of the red junglefowl in what now is the country of Thailand gave rise to the modern chicken with minor transitions separating the modern breeds.[60] The red junglefowl, known as the bamboo fowl in many Southeast Asian languages, is well adapted to take advantage of the vast quantities of seed produced during the end of the multi-decade bamboo seeding cycle, to boost its own reproduction.[61] In domesticating the chicken, humans took advantage of this predisposition for prolific reproduction of the red junglefowl when exposed to large amounts of food.[62] Exactly when and where the chicken was domesticated remains a controversial issue. Genomic studies estimate that the chicken was domesticated 8,000 years ago[58] in Southeast Asia and spread to China and India 2000–3000 years later. Archaeological evidence supports domestic chickens in Southeast Asia well before 6000 BC, China by 6000 BC and India by 2000 BC.[58][63][64] A landmark 2020 Nature study that fully sequenced 863 chickens across the world suggests that all domestic chickens originate from a single domestication event of red junglefowl whose present-day distribution is predominantly in southwestern China, northern Thailand and Myanmar. These domesticated chickens spread across Southeast and South Asia where they interbred with local wild species of junglefowl, forming genetically and geographically distinct groups. Analysis of the most popular commercial breed shows that the White Leghorn breed possesses a mosaic of divergent ancestries inherited from subspecies of red junglefowl.[65][66][67] Middle Eastern chicken remains go back to a little earlier than 2000 BC in Syria; chickens went southward only in the 1st millennium BC. They reached Egypt for purposes of cockfighting about 1400 BC, and became widely bred only in Ptolemaic Egypt (about 300 BC).[68] Phoenicians spread chickens along the Mediterranean coasts as far as Iberia. During the Hellenistic period (4th–2nd centuries BC), in the Southern Levant, chickens began to be widely domesticated for food.[2] This change occurred at least 100 years before domestication of chickens spread to Europe. Chickens reached Europe circa 800 BC.[69] Breeding increased under the Roman Empire, and was reduced in the Middle Ages.[68] Genetic sequencing of chicken bones from archaeological sites in Europe revealed that in the High Middle Ages chickens became less aggressive and began to lay eggs earlier in the breeding season.[70] Three possible routes of introduction into Africa around the early first millennium AD could have been through the Egyptian Nile Valley, the East Africa Roman-Greek or Indian trade, or from Carthage and the Berbers, across the Sahara. The earliest known remains are from Mali, Nubia, East Coast, and South Africa and date back to the middle of the first millennium AD.[68] Domestic chicken in the Americas before Western contact is still an ongoing discussion, but blue-egged chickens, found only in the Americas and Asia, suggest an Asian origin for early American chickens.[68] A lack of data from Thailand, Russia, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa makes it difficult to lay out a clear map of the spread of chickens in these areas; better description and genetic analysis of local breeds threatened by extinction may also help with research into this area.[68] South America An unusual variety of chicken that has its origins in South America is the Araucana, bred in southern Chile by the Mapuche people. Araucanas lay blue-green eggs. Additionally, some Araucanas are tailless, and some have tufts of feathers around their ears. It has long been suggested that they pre-date the arrival of European chickens brought by the Spanish and are evidence of pre-Columbian trans-Pacific contacts between Asian or Pacific Oceanic peoples, particularly the Polynesians, and South America. In 2007, an international team of researchers reported the results of their analysis of chicken bones found on the Arauco Peninsula in south-central Chile. Radiocarbon dating suggested that the chickens were pre-Columbian, and DNA analysis showed that they were related to prehistoric populations of chickens in Polynesia.[71] These results appeared to confirm that the chickens came from Polynesia and that there were transpacific contacts between Polynesia and South America before Columbus's arrival in the Americas.[72][73] However, a later report looking at the same specimens concluded:     A published, apparently pre-Columbian, Chilean specimen and six pre-European Polynesian specimens also cluster with the same European/Indian subcontinental/Southeast Asian sequences, providing no support for a Polynesian introduction of chickens to South America. In contrast, sequences from two archaeological sites on Easter Island group with an uncommon haplogroup from Indonesia, Japan, and China and may represent a genetic signature of an early Polynesian dispersal. Modeling of the potential marine carbon contribution to the Chilean archaeological specimen casts further doubt on claims for pre-Columbian chickens, and definitive proof will require further analyses of ancient DNA sequences and radiocarbon and stable isotope data from archaeological excavations within both Chile and Polynesia.[74] The debate for and against a Polynesian origin for South American chickens continued with this 2014 paper and subsequent responses in PNAS.[75] Use by humans Farming Main articles: Poultry farming and Chicken as food A former battery hen, five days after release. Note the pale comb - the comb may be an indicator of health or vigor.[76] More than 50 billion chickens are reared annually as a source of meat and eggs.[77] In the United States alone, more than 8 billion chickens are slaughtered each year for meat,[78] and more than 300 million chickens are reared for egg production.[79] The vast majority of poultry are raised in factory farms. According to the Worldwatch Institute, 74 percent of the world's poultry meat and 68 percent of eggs are produced this way.[80] An alternative to intensive poultry farming is free-range farming. Friction between these two main methods has led to long-term issues of ethical consumerism. Opponents of intensive farming argue that it harms the environment, creates human health risks and is inhumane.[81] Advocates of intensive farming say that their highly efficient systems save land and food resources owing to increased productivity, and that the animals are looked after in state-of-the-art environmentally controlled facilities.[82] Reared for meat Main article: Broiler A commercial chicken house with open sides raising broiler pullets for meat Chickens farmed for meat are called broilers. Chickens will naturally live for six or more years, but broiler breeds typically take less than six weeks to reach slaughter size.[83] A free range or organic broiler will usually be slaughtered at about 14 weeks of age. Reared for eggs Main article: Egg as food Chickens farmed primarily for eggs are called layer hens. In total, the UK alone consumes more than 34 million eggs per day.[84] Some hen breeds can produce over 300 eggs per year, with "the highest authenticated rate of egg laying being 371 eggs in 364 days".[85] After 12 months of laying, the commercial hen's egg-laying ability starts to decline to the point where the flock is commercially unviable. Hens, particularly from battery cage systems, are sometimes infirm or have lost a significant amount of their feathers, and their life expectancy has been reduced from around seven years to less than two years.[86] In the UK and Europe, laying hens are then slaughtered and used in processed foods or sold as "soup hens".[86] In some other countries, flocks are sometimes force moulted, rather than being slaughtered, to re-invigorate egg-laying. This involves complete withdrawal of food (and sometimes water) for 7–14 days[87] or sufficiently long to cause a body weight loss of 25 to 35%,[88] or up to 28 days under experimental conditions.[89] This stimulates the hen to lose her feathers, but also re-invigorates egg-production. Some flocks may be force-moulted several times. In 2003, more than 75% of all flocks were moulted in the US.[90] As pets A 95-year-old woman from Havana, Cuba, with her pet rooster Keeping chickens as pets became increasingly popular in the 2000s[91] among urban and suburban residents.[92] Many people obtain chickens for their egg production but often name them and treat them as any other pet like cats or dogs. Chickens provide companionship and have individual personalities. While many do not cuddle much, they will eat from one's hand, jump onto one's lap, respond to and follow their handlers, as well as show affection.[93][94] Chickens are social, inquisitive, intelligent[95] birds, and many find their behaviour entertaining.[96] Certain breeds, such as Silkies and many bantam varieties, are generally docile and are often recommended as good pets around children with disabilities.[97] Many people feed chickens in part with kitchen food scraps. Backyard heritage chickens eating kitchen food scraps. Cockfighting Main article: Cockfight Two cocks fighting A cockfight is a contest held in a ring called a cockpit between two cocks known as gamecocks. This term, denoting a cock kept for game, sport, pastime or entertainment, appears in 1646,[98] after "cock of the game" used by George Wilson in the earliest known book on the secular sport, The Commendation of Cocks and Cock Fighting of 1607. Gamecocks are not typical farm chickens. The cocks are specially bred and trained for increased stamina and strength. The comb and wattle are removed from a young gamecock because, if left intact, they would be a disadvantage during a match. This process is called dubbing. Sometimes the cocks are given drugs to increase their stamina or thicken their blood, which increases their chances of winning. Cockfighting is considered a traditional sporting event by some, and an example of animal cruelty by others and is therefore outlawed in most countries.[99] Usually wagers are made on the outcome of the match, with the survivor or last bird standing declared winner. Chickens were originally used for cockfighting, a sport where 2 male chickens or "cocks" fight each other until one dies or becomes badly injured. Cocks possess congenital aggression toward all other cocks to contest with females. Studies suggest that cockfights have existed even up to the Indus Valley Civilisation as a pastime.[100] Today it is commonly associated with religious worship, pastime, and gambling in Asian and some South American countries. While not all fights are to the death, most use metal spurs as a "weapon" attached above or below the chicken's own spur and with this typically results in death in one or both cocks. If chickens are in practice owners place gloves on the spurs to prevent injuries. Cockfighting has been banned in most western countries and debated by animal rights activist for its brutality. Artificial incubation An egg incubator Incubation can successfully occur artificially in machines that provide the correct, controlled environment for the developing chick.[101][102] The average incubation period for chickens is 21 days but may depend on the temperature and humidity in the incubator. Temperature regulation is the most critical factor for a successful hatch. Variations of more than 1 °C (1.8 °F) from the optimum temperature of 37.5 °C (99.5 °F) will reduce hatch rates. Humidity is also important because the rate at which eggs lose water by evaporation depends on the ambient relative humidity. Evaporation can be assessed by candling, to view the size of the air sac, or by measuring weight loss. Relative humidity should be increased to around 70% in the last three days of incubation to keep the membrane around the hatching chick from drying out after the chick cracks the shell. Lower humidity is usual in the first 18 days to ensure adequate evaporation. The position of the eggs in the incubator can also influence hatch rates. For best results, eggs should be placed with the pointed ends down and turned regularly (at least three times per day) until one to three days before hatching. If the eggs aren't turned, the embryo inside may stick to the shell and may hatch with physical defects. Adequate ventilation is necessary to provide the embryo with oxygen. Older eggs require increased ventilation. Many commercial incubators are industrial-sized with shelves holding tens of thousands of eggs at a time, with rotation of the eggs a fully automated process. Home incubators are boxes holding from 6 to 75 eggs; they are usually electrically powered, but in the past some were heated with an oil or paraffin lamp. Diseases and ailments See also: Poultry disease Chickens are susceptible to several parasites, including lice, mites, ticks, fleas, and intestinal worms, as well as other diseases. Despite the name, they are not affected by chickenpox, which is generally restricted to humans.[103] Chickens can carry and transmit salmonella in their dander and feces. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advise against bringing them indoors or letting small children handle them.[104][105] History Two red junglefowl, a cock and a hen An early domestication of chickens in Southeast Asia is probable, since the word for domestic chicken (*manuk) is part of the reconstructed Proto-Austronesian language (see Austronesian languages). Chickens, together with dogs and pigs, were the domestic animals of the Lapita culture,[108] the first Neolithic culture of Oceania.[109] The first pictures of chickens in Europe are found on Corinthian pottery of the 7th century BC.[110][111] Chickens were spread by Polynesian seafarers and reached Easter Island in the 12th century AD, where they were the only domestic animal, with the possible exception of the Polynesian rat (Rattus exulans). They were housed in extremely solid chicken coops built from stone, which was first reported as such to Linton Palmer in 1868, who also "expressed his doubts about this".[112] In culture Abraxas seen with a chicken's head The mythological basilisk or cockatrice is depicted as a reptile-like creature with the upper body of a rooster.[113][114] Abraxas, a figure in Gnosticism, is portrayed in a similar fashion as well." (wikipedia.org) "American Gothic is a 1930 painting by Grant Wood in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Wood was inspired to paint what is now known as the American Gothic House in Eldon, Iowa, along with "the kind of people [he] fancied should live in that house". It depicts a farmer standing beside his daughter – often mistakenly assumed to be his wife.[1][2] The painting is named for the house's architectural style. The figures were modeled by Wood's sister Nan Wood Graham and their dentist Dr. Byron McKeeby. The woman is dressed in a colonial print apron evoking 20th-century rural Americana while the man is adorned in overalls covered by a suit jacket and carries a pitchfork. The plants on the porch of the house are mother-in-law's tongue and beefsteak begonia, which also appear in Wood's 1929 portrait of his mother, Woman with Plants.[3] American Gothic is one of the most familiar images of 20th-century American art and has been widely parodied in American popular culture.[1][4] From 2016 to 2017, the painting was displayed in Paris at the Musée de l'Orangerie and in London at the Royal Academy of Arts in its first showings outside the United States." (wikipedia.org) "Americana artifacts are related to the history, geography, folklore, and cultural heritage of the United States of America. Americana is any collection of materials and things concerning or characteristic of the United States or of the American people, and is representative or even stereotypical of American culture as a whole.[1][2] What is and is not considered Americana is heavily influenced by national identity, historical context, patriotism and nostalgia. The ethos or guiding beliefs or ideals which have come to characterize America, such as The American Dream, are central to the idea. Americana encompasses not only material objects but also people, places, concepts and historical eras which are popularly identified with American culture. The name Americana also refers to Americana music, a genre of contemporary music that incorporates elements of various American music styles, including country, roots rock, folk, bluegrass, and blues, resulting in a distinctive roots-oriented sound.[... As nostalgia From the mid to late 20th century, Americana was largely conceptualized as a nostalgia for an idealized life in small towns and cities in the United States around the turn of the century, roughly in the period between 1880 and the First World War, popularly considered "The Good Old Days".[5] It was believed that much of the structure of 20th-century American life and culture had been cemented in that time and place. American author Henry Seidel Canby wrote:     "It is the small town, the small city, that is our heritage. We have made twentieth-century America from it, and some account of these communities as they were ... we owe our children and grandchildren."[6] American historian Hampton Sides wrote in Americana: Dispatches from the New Frontier:     The United States of America is such a glorious mess of contradiction, such a crazy quilt of competing themes, such a fecund mishmash of people and ideas, that defining us is pretty much pointless. There is, of course, a kind of faded notion of "Americana", one that concerns Route 66, diners, freak rock formations, and the like—but even in its halcyon days this "roadside attraction" version of America was never an accurate or nuanced distillation of our massively complicated culture. There are scenes and places, wattages and personages, that belong—inextricably, unmistakably—to this country alone. There is an American quality, a tone, an energy ... instantly recognizable ..."[7][page needed] Many kinds of cultural artifacts fall within the definition of Americana: the things involved need not be old, but are usually associated with some quintessential element of the American experience. Each period of United States history is reflected by the advertising and marketing of the time, and the various types of antiques, collectibles, memorabilia and vintage items from these time periods are typical of what is popularly considered Americana. The Atlantic described the term as "slang for the comforting, middle-class ephemera at your average antique store—things like needle-pointed pillows, Civil War daguerreotypes, and engraved silverware sets".[8] The nostalgia for this period was based on a remembrance of confidence in American life that had emerged during the period due to such factors as a sense that the frontier had finally been "conquered", with the U.S. Census Bureau's declaration that it was "closed" in 1890, as well as the recent victory in the Spanish–American War.[5] By 1912, the contiguous United States was at last fully politically incorporated, and the idea of the nation as a single, solid unity could begin to take hold. As Canby put it,     Americans at this time "really believed all they heard on the Fourth of July or read in school readers. They set on one plane of time, and that the present, the Declaration of Independence, the manifest destiny of America, the new plumbing, the growth of the factory system, the morning paper, and the church sociable. It was all there at once, better than elsewhere, their own, and permanent. ... They had just the country they wanted...and they believed it would be the same, except for more bathtubs and faster trains, forever ... for the last time in living memory everyone knew exactly what it meant to be an American."[6] On growing up Italian-American, novelist Don DeLillo stated:     "It’s no accident that my first novel was called Americana. This was a private declaration of independence, a statement of my intention to use the whole picture, the whole culture. America was and is the immigrant's dream, and as the son of two immigrants I was attracted by the sense of possibility that had drawn my grandparents and parents." (from Conversations With Don DeLillo)[9] The zeitgeist of this idealized period is captured in the Disneyland theme park's Main Street, U.S.A. section (which was inspired by both Walt Disney's hometown of Marceline, Missouri and Harper Goff's childhood home of Fort Collins, Colorado),[10] as well as the musical and movie The Music Man and Thornton Wilder's stage play Our Town.[5] Especially revered in nostalgic Americana are small-town institutions like the barber shop,[11] drug store, soda fountain and ice cream parlor;[12] some of these were eventually resurrected by mid-twentieth century nostalgia for the time period in businesses like the Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour chain, with its 1890s theme.[13] Examples Cultural symbols     The U.S. flag, and Old Glory in particular     "The Star-Spangled Banner"     The Fourth of July     Apple pie     Cowboy     Baseball     White picket fence[14]     Religious camp meeting[15]     Tent revival[15]" (wikipedia.org) "In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities.[1] The Health Resources and Services Administration of the United States Department of Health and Human Services defines the word rural as encompassing "...all population, housing, and territory not included within an urban area. Whatever is not urban is considered rural."[2] Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are described as rural. Different countries have varying definitions of rural for statistical and administrative purposes. In rural areas, because of their unique economic and social dynamics, and relationship to land-based industry such as agriculture, forestry and resource extraction, the economics are very different from cities and can be subject to boom and bust cycles and vulnerability to extreme weather or natural disasters, such as droughts. These dynamics alongside larger economic forces encouraging to urbanization have led to significant demographic declines, called rural flight, where economic incentives encourage younger populations to go to cities for education and access to jobs, leaving older, less educated and less wealthy populations in the rural areas. Slower economic development results in poorer services like healthcare and education and rural infrastructure. This cycle of poverty in some rural areas, means that three quarters of the global population in poverty live in rural areas according to the Food and Agricultural Organization. Some communities have successfully encouraged economic development in rural areas, with some policies such as giving increased access to electricity or internet, proving very successful on encouraging economic activities in rural areas. Historically development policies have focused on larger extractive industries, such as mining and forestry. However, recent approaches more focused on sustainable development are more aware of economic diversification in these communities.... Regional definitions North America Canada In Canada, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development defines a "predominantly rural region" as having more than 50% of the population living in rural communities where a "rural community" has a population density less than 150 people per square kilometer. In Canada, the census division has been used to represent "regions" and census consolidated sub-divisions have been used to represent "communities". Intermediate regions have 15 to 49 percent of their population living in a rural community. Predominantly urban regions have less than 15 percent of their population living in a rural community. Predominantly rural regions are classified as rural metro-adjacent, rural non-metro-adjacent and rural northern, following Philip Ehrensaft and Jennifer Beeman (1992). Rural metro-adjacent regions are predominantly rural census divisions which are adjacent to metropolitan centers while rural non-metro-adjacent regions are those predominantly rural census divisions which are not adjacent to metropolitan centers. Rural northern regions are predominantly rural census divisions that are found either entirely or mostly above the following lines of latitude in each province: Newfoundland and Labrador, 50th; Manitoba, 53rd; Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, and Saskatchewan, 54th. As well, rural northern regions encompass all of the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Statistics Canada defines rural areas by their population counts. This definition has changed over time (see Appendix A in du Plessis et al., 2002). Typically, it has referred to the population living outside settlements of 1,000 or fewer inhabitants. The current definition states that census rural is the population outside settlements with fewer than 1,000 inhabitants and a population density below 400 people per square kilometer (Statistics Canada, 2007). United States A rural landscape near Mount Shasta in California This section is an excerpt from Rural areas in the United States.[edit] Westminster, Vermont A rural country road in Marshall County, Indiana Rural areas in the United States, often referred to as Rural America,[3] consists of approximately 97% of the United States' land area. An estimated 60 million people, or one-in-five residents (19.3% of the total U.S. population), live in Rural America. Definitions vary from different parts of the United States government as to what constitutes these areas. Rural areas tend to be poorer and older than other parts of the United States, in part because of rural flight, declining infrastructure and economic prospects. This declining population also results in less access to services, such as high quality medical and education systems. South America Brazil In Brazil, there are different notions of "rural area" and "countryside". Rural areas are any place outside a municipality's urban development (buildings, streets) and it is carried by informal usage. Otherwise, countryside (interior in Portuguese) are officially defined as all municipalities outside the state/territory capital's metropolitan region. Some states as Mato Grosso do Sul do not have any metropolitan regions, thus all of the state, except its capital is officially countryside. Rio de Janeiro is singular in Brazil and it is de facto a metropolitan state, as circa 70% of its population are located in Greater Rio. In the Federal District it is not applicable and there is no countryside as all of it is treated as the federal capital. Brasília is nominally the capital, but the capitality is shared through all Federal District, because Brazil de facto defines its capital as a municipality, and in municipal matters, the Federal District is treated and governs as a single municipality, city-state-like (Brasília, DF). Europe France 15% of French population live in rural areas, spread over 90% of the country. President Emmanuel Macron government launched an action plan in 2019 in favour for rural areas named "Agenda Rural".[4] Among many initiatives recommended to redynamize rural areas, energy transition is one of them. Research is being carried out to assess the impact of new projects in rural areas.[5] Germany Germany is divided into 402 administrative districts, 295 rural districts and 107 urban districts. As one of the largest agricultural producers in the European Union, more than half of Germany's territory which is almost 19 million hectares,[6] is used for farming, and located in the rural areas. Almost 10% of people in Germany have jobs related to the agricultural, forest and fisheries sectors; approximately a fifth of them are employed in the primary production. Since there is a policy of equal living conditions, people see rural areas as equivalent as urban areas. Village renewal is an approach to develop countryside and supports the challenges faced in the process of it.[7] United Kingdom A typical countryside scene in rural Yorkshire Dales, England. In Britain, "rural" is defined[8] by the government Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), using population data from the latest census, such as the United Kingdom Census 2001. These definitions have various grades, but the upper point is any local government area with more than 26% of its population living in a rural settlement or market town ("market town" being defined as any settlement which has permission to hold a street market). A number of measures are in place to protect the British countryside, including green belts. Asia India A rural village in Rajasthan, India Rural areas are also known as the 'countryside' or a 'village' in India. It has a very low population density. In rural areas, agriculture is the chief source of livelihood along with fishing,[9] cottage industries, pottery etc. The quest to discover the real rural India still continues in great earnest. Almost every economic agency today has a definition of rural India. Here are a few definitions: According to the Planning Commission, a town with a maximum population of 15,000 is considered rural in nature. In these areas the panchayat makes all the decisions. There are five people in the panchayat. The National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) defines ‘rural’ as follows:     An area with a population density of up to 400 per square kilometer,     Villages with clear surveyed boundaries but no municipal board,     A minimum of 75% of male working population involved in agriculture and allied activities.[10] RBI defines rural areas as those areas with a population of less than 49,000 (tier -3 to tier-6 cities).[10] It is generally said that the rural areas house up to 70% of India's population. Rural India contributes a large chunk to India's GDP by way of agriculture, self-employment, services, construction etc. As per a strict measure used by the National Sample Survey in its 63rd round, called monthly per capita expenditure, rural expenditure accounts for 55% of total national monthly expenditure. The rural population currently accounts for one-third of the total Indian FMCG sales.[10] Japan In Japan, rural areas are referred to as "Inaka" which translates literally to "the countryside" or "one's native village".[11][12] Pakistan Main article: Pakistani village life Amra Kalan village in Kharian, Pakistan According to the 2017 census about 64% of Pakistanis live in rural areas. Most rural areas in Pakistan tend to be near cities and are peri-urban areas. This is due to the definition of a rural area in Pakistan being an area that does not come within an urban boundary.[13] Rural areas in Pakistan that are near cities are considered as suburban areas or suburbs. The remote rural villagers of Pakistan commonly live in houses made of bricks, clay or mud. Socioeconomic status among rural Pakistani villagers is often based upon the ownership of agricultural land, which also may provide social prestige in village cultures. The majority of rural Pakistani inhabitants livelihoods is based upon the rearing of livestock, which also comprises a significant part of Pakistan's gross domestic product. Some livestock raised by rural Pakistanis include cattle and goats. Oceania New Zealand In New Zealand census areas are classified based on their degree of rurality. However, traffic law has a different interpretation and defines a Rural area as "... a road or a geographical area that is not an urban traffic area, to which the rural speed limit generally applies."[14] Economics Development This section is an excerpt from Rural development.[edit] Rural development is the process of improving the quality of life and economic well-being of people living in rural areas, often relatively isolated and sparsely populated areas.[15] Rural Development has traditionally centered on the exploitation of land-intensive natural resources such as agriculture and forestry. However, changes in global production networks and increased urbanization have changed the character of rural areas. Increasingly tourism, niche manufacturers, and recreation have replaced resource extraction and agriculture as dominant economic drivers.[16] The need for rural communities to approach development from a wider perspective has created more focus on a broad range of development goals rather than merely creating incentive for agricultural or resource based businesses. Education, entrepreneurship, physical infrastructure, and social infrastructure all play an important role in developing rural regions.[17] Rural development is also characterized by its emphasis on locally produced economic development strategies.[18] In contrast to urban regions, which have many similarities, rural areas are highly distinctive from one another. For this reason there are a large variety of rural development approaches used globally.[19] Rural development is a comprehensive term. It essentially focuses on action for the development of areas outside the mainstream urban economic system.some villages are now converted in city but some not Electricity This section is an excerpt from Rural electrification.[edit] Rural electrification is the process of bringing electrical power to rural and remote areas. Rural communities are suffering from colossal market failures as the national grids fall short of their demand for electricity. As of 2017, over 1 billion people worldwide lack household electric power – 14% of the global population.[20] Electrification typically begins in cities and towns and gradually extends to rural areas, however, this process often runs into obstacles in developing nations. Expanding the national grid is expensive and countries consistently lack the capital to grow their current infrastructure. Additionally, amortizing capital costs to reduce the unit cost of each hook-up is harder to do in lightly populated areas (yielding higher per capita share of the expense). If countries are able to overcome these obstacles and reach nationwide electrification, rural communities will be able to reap considerable amounts of economic and social development. This graph shows the world rural electrification rate along with the electrification growth rate 1990–2016 and synthesizes data from the World Bank[21] Migration This section is an excerpt from Rural flight.[edit] Population age comparison between rural Pocahontas County, Iowa and urban Johnson County, Iowa, illustrating the flight of young adults (red) to urban centers in Iowa[22] Rural flight (or rural exodus) is the migratory pattern of peoples from rural areas into urban areas. It is urbanization seen from the rural perspective. In modern times, it often occurs in a region following the industrialization of agriculture—when fewer people are needed to bring the same amount of agricultural output to market—and related agricultural services and industries are consolidated. Rural flight is exacerbated when the population decline leads to the loss of rural services (such as business enterprises and schools), which leads to greater loss of population as people leave to seek those features. Poverty This section is an excerpt from Rural poverty.[edit] Rural poverty refers to poverty in rural areas, including factors of rural society, rural economy, and political systems that give rise to the poverty found there.[23] Rural areas, because of their spread-out populations, typically have less well maintained infrastructure and a harder time accessing markets, which tend to be concentrated in population centers. Rural communities also face disadvantages in terms of legal and social protections, with women and marginalized communities frequently having hard times accessing land, education and other support systems that help with economic development. Several policies have been tested in both developing and developed economies, including rural electrification and access to other technologies such as internet, gender parity, and improved access to credit and income. In academic studies, Rural poverty is often discussed in conjunction with spatial inequality, which in this context refers to the inequality between urban and rural areas.[24] Both rural poverty and spatial inequality are global phenomena, but like poverty in general, there are higher rates of rural poverty in developing countries than in developed countries.[25] Eradicating rural poverty through effective policies and economic growth remains a challenge for the international community.[25][26] According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, three quarters of those in poverty are in rural areas, most of whom are smallholders or agricultural workers whose livelihoods are heavily dependent on agriculture.[27] These food systems are vulnerable to extreme weather, which is expected to effect agricultural systems the world over more as climate change increases.[28][29] Thus the climate crises is expected to reduce the effectiveness of programs reducing rural poverty and cause displacement of rural communities to urban centers.[28][29] Sustainable Development Goal 1: No Poverty sets international goals to address these issues, and are deeply connected with investments in a sustainable food system as part of Sustainable Develop Goal 2: Zero Hunger.[30][27] Rural health This section is an excerpt from Rural health.[edit] Village elders participate in a training for rural health care workers in Ethiopia. [31] In medicine, rural health or rural medicine is the interdisciplinary study of health and health care delivery in rural environments. The concept of rural health incorporates many fields, including geography, midwifery, nursing, sociology, economics, and telehealth or telemedicine.[31] Research shows that the healthcare needs of individuals living in rural areas are different from those in urban areas, and rural areas often suffer from a lack of access to healthcare.[32] These differences are the result of geographic, demographic, socioeconomic, workplace, and personal health factors. For example, many rural communities have a large proportion of elderly people and children. With relatively few people of working age (20–50 years of age), such communities have a high dependency ratio. People living in rural areas also tend to have poorer socioeconomic conditions, less education, higher rates of tobacco and alcohol use, and higher mortality rates when compared to their urban counterparts.[33] There are also high rates of poverty among rural dwellers in many parts of the world, and poverty is one of the biggest social determinants of health. Many countries have made it a priority to increase funding for research on rural health.[34][35] These efforts have led to the development of several research institutes with rural health mandates, including the Centre for Rural and Northern Health Research in Canada, Countryside Agency in the United Kingdom, the Institute of Rural Health in Australia, and the New Zealand Institute of Rural Health. These research efforts are designed to help identify the healthcare needs of rural communities and provide policy solutions to ensure those needs are met. The concept of incorporating the needs of rural communities into government services is sometimes referred to as rural proofing. Human fertility Globe icon.     The examples and perspective in this section deal primarily with India and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. You may improve this section, discuss the issue on the talk page, or create a new section, as appropriate. (January 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Rural residence is a fertility factor, with total fertility rates and pregnancy being higher among women in rural areas than among women in urban areas and the rural population is much younger than urban areas.[36] Academic study Because of their unique dynamics, different academic fields have developed to study rural communities. Economics This section is an excerpt from Rural economics.[edit] Rural economics is the study of rural economies, including:     farm and non-farm industry[37]     economic growth, development, and change[38]     size and spatial distribution of production and household units and interregional trade[39]     land use[40]     housing[41] and non-housing as to supply and demand     migration and (de)population[42]     finance[43]     government policies as to development, investment, regulation, and transportation[44]     general-equilibrium and welfare analysis, for example, system interdependencies and rural-urban income disparities[45] Sociology This section is an excerpt from Rural sociology.[edit] Boy plowing with a tractor at sunset in Don Det, Laos. Boy plowing with a tractor at sunset in Don Det, Laos. Part of a series on Sociology Social Network Diagram (segment).svg     History Outline Index Key themes Perspectives Branches Methods People Lists     Social sciences.svg Society portal WikiProject Sociology     vte Rural sociology is a field of sociology traditionally associated with the study of social structure and conflict in rural areas although topical areas such as food and agriculture or natural resource access transcend traditional rural spatial boundaries[citation needed] (Sociology Guide 2011). It is an active academic field in much of the world, originating in the United States in the 1910s with close ties to the national Department of Agriculture and land-grant university colleges of agriculture.[46] The sociology of food and agriculture is one focus of rural sociology, and much of the field is dedicated to the economics of farm production. Other areas of study include rural migration and other demographic patterns, environmental sociology, amenity-led development, public-lands policies, so-called "boomtown" development, social disruption, the sociology of natural resources (including forests, mining, fishing and other areas), rural cultures and identities, rural health-care, and educational policies. Many rural sociologists work in the areas of development studies, community studies, community development, and environmental studies. Much of the research involves developing countries or the Third World." (wikipedia.org) "Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative. The makers of folk art are typically trained within a popular tradition, rather than in the fine art tradition of the culture. There is often overlap, or contested ground[1] with 'naive art'. "Folk art" is not used in regard to traditional societies where ethnographic art continue to be made. The types of objects covered by the term "folk art" vary. The art form is categorised as "divergent... of cultural production ... comprehended by its usage in Europe, where the term originated, and in the United States, where it developed for the most part along very different lines."[2] American sampler, 1831 For a European perspective, Edward Lucie-Smith described it as "Unsophisticated art, both fine and applied, which is supposedly rooted in the collective awareness of simple people. The concept of folk art is a distinctly 19th-century one. Today it carries with it a tinge of nostalgia for pre-industrial society."[3] Folk arts reflect the cultural life of a community. The art form encompasses the expressive culture associated with the fields of folklore and cultural heritage. Tangible folk art can include objects which historically are crafted and used within a traditional community. Intangible folk arts can include such forms as music and art galleries , dance and narrative structures. Each of these art forms, both tangible and intangible, typically were developed to address a practical purpose. Once the purpose has been lost or forgotten, there usually is no reason for further transmission unless the object or action has been imbued with meaning beyond its initial practicality. These artistic traditions are shaped by values and standards that are passed from generation to generation, most often within family and community, through demonstration, conversation, and practice.... Characteristics of folk art objects Detail of 17th century calendar stick carved with national coat of arms, a common motif in Norwegian folk art. Main article: Concepts in folk art Objects of folk art are a subset of material culture and include objects which are experienced through the senses, by seeing and touching. Typical for material culture in art, these tangible objects can be handled, repeatedly re-experienced, and sometimes broken. They are considered works of art because of the technical execution of an existing form and design; the skill might be seen in the precision of the form, the surface decoration or in the beauty of the finished product.[4] As a folk art, these objects share several characteristics that distinguish them from other artifacts of material culture. Folk artists The object is created by a single artisan or team of artisans. The craft-person works within an established cultural framework. The folk art has a recognizable style and method in crafting its pieces, which allows products to be recognized and attributed to a single individual or workshop. This was originally articulated by Alois Riegl in his study of Volkskunst, Hausfleiss, und Hausindustrie, published in 1894. "Riegl ... stressed that the individual hand and intentions of the artist were significant, even in folk creativity. To be sure, the artist may have been obliged by group expectations to work within the norms of transmitted forms and conventions, but individual creativity – which implied personal aesthetic choices and technical virtuosity – saved received or inherited traditions from stagnating and permitted them to be renewed in each generation."[5] Individual innovation in the production process plays an important role in the continuance of these traditional forms. Many folk art traditions like quilting, ornamental picture framing, and decoy carving continue to be practiced, and new forms continue to emerge. Contemporary outsider artists are often self-taught, and their work is usually developed in isolation or in small communities across the country. The Smithsonian American Art Museum houses over 70 folk and self-taught artists; for example, Elito Circa, a famous and internationally recognized artist of Indigenouism, developed his own styles without professional training or guidance.[6] Hand crafted The taka is a type of paper mache art native to Paete in the Philippines. Folk art objects are usually produced in a one-off production process. Only one object is made at a time, either by hand or in a combination of hand and machine methods, and are not mass-produced. As a result of manual production, individual pieces are considered to be unique and usually can be differentiated from other objects of the same type. In his essay on "Folk Objects", folklorist Simon Bronner references preindustrial modes of production, but folk art objects continue to be made as unique crafted pieces by folk artisans. "The notion of folk objects tends to emphasize the handmade over machine manufactured. Folk objects imply a mode of production common to preindustrial communal society where knowledge and skills were personal and traditional."[7] Folk art does not need to be old; it continues to be hand-crafted today in many regions around the world. Workshops and apprentices The design and production of folk art is learned and taught informally or formally; folk artists are not self-taught.[citation needed] Folk art does not aim for individualistic expression. Instead, "the concept of group art implies, indeed requires, that artists acquire their abilities, both manual and intellectual, at least in part from communication with others. The community has something, usually a great deal, to say about what passes for acceptable folk art."[8] Historically, the training in a handicraft was done as apprenticeships with local craftsmen, such as the blacksmith or the stonemason. As the equipment and tools needed were no longer readily available in the community, these traditional crafts moved into technical schools or applied arts schools. Owned by the community The object is recognizable within its cultural framework as being of a known type. Similar objects can be found in the environment made by other individuals which resemble this object. Individual pieces of folk art will reference other works in the culture, even as they show exceptional individual execution in form or design. If antecedents cannot be found for this object, it might still be a piece of art but it is not folk art. "While traditional society does not erase ego, it does focus and direct the choices that an individual can acceptably make… the well-socialized person will find the limits are not inhibiting but helpful… Where traditions are healthy the works of different artists are more similar than they are different; they are more uniform than personal."[9] Tradition in folk art emerges through the passing of information from one generation to another. Through generations of family lines, family members pass down the knowledge, information, skills and tools needed to continue the creation of one’s folk art. Examples are Leon “Peck” Clark, a Mississippi basket maker, who learned his skills from a community member; George Lopez of Cordova, New Mexico, who is a sixth-generation santos carver who’s children also carve; and the Yorok-Karok basket weavers, who explain that relatives generally taught them to weave.” [10] Utility of the object The known type of the object must be, or have originally been, utilitarian; it was created to serve some function in the daily life of the household or the community. This is the reason the design continues to be made. Since the form itself had function and purpose, it was duplicated over time in various locations by different individuals. A book on the history of art states that "every man-made thing arises from a problem as a purposeful solution."[11] Written by George Kubler and published in 1962, "The Shape of Time: Remarks on the History of Things" describes an approach to historical change which places the history of objects and images in a larger continuum of time. The purpose of folk art is not purely decorative or aimed to have duplicated handicraft. However, since the form itself was a distinct type with its function and purpose, folk art has continued to be copied over time by different individuals. Aesthetics of the genre 1978 First Indigenous Painting, mixed media with soy sauce, water and Tinting Color and enamel paint on plywood created by Elito "Amangpintor" Circa, Philippines, 1978 The object is recognized as being exceptional in the form and decorative motifs. Being part of the community, the craftsperson is reflecting on the community's cultural aesthetics, and may take into consideration the community's response to the handicraft. An object can be created to match the community's expectations, and the artist may design the product with unspoken cultural biases to reflect this aim.[12] While the shared form indicates a shared culture, innovation can enable the individual artisan to embody their own vision. This can be a representation of manipulating collective and individual culture, within the traditional folk art production. "For art to progress, its unity must be dismantled so that certain of its aspects can be freed for exploration, while others shrink from attention."[13] This dichotomous representation of the culture is typically visible in the final product.[14] Materials, forms, and crafts Folk art is designed in different shapes, sizes and forms. It traditionally uses the materials which are at hand in the locality and reproduces familiar shapes and forms. The Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage has compiled a page of storied objects that have been part of one of their annual folklife festivals. The list below includes a sampling of different materials, forms, and artisans involved in the production of everyday and folk art objects.[15]     Alebrije     Armourer     Basketry     Bellmaker     Blacksmith     Boat building     Brickmaker     Broommaker     Cabinetry     Carpentry     Ceramics     Chillum     Clockmaker     Cooper     Coppersmith     Cutler     Decoy carving     Drystone Mason     Ex-voto     Farrier     Foodways     Fraktur     Furniture     Gunsmith     Harness maker     Ironwork     Jewelry     Kuthiyottam     Latin American Retablos     Leather crafting     Lei (garland)     Ljuskrona     Locksmith     Lubok     Madhubani painting     Masonry     Metalworking     Millwright     Miniatures or Models     Nakshi Kantha     Needlework     Painting     Pewterer     Phad painting     Quilting     Recycled materials     Ropemaker     Saddler     Sawsmith     Sculpture     Shoemaker     Spooner     Stonemason     Tanner     Textiles     Thatcher     Tile maker     Tinker     Tinsmith     Truck art in South Asia     Tools     Toys     Treenwaren     Turning     Vernacular architecture     Wainwright     Weaver     Wheelwright     Whirligig     Wood carving Related terminology Listed below are a wide-ranging assortment of labels for an eclectic group of art works. All of these genres are created outside of the institutional structures of the art world, and are not considered "fine art". There is overlap between these labeled collections, such that an object might be listed under two or more labels.[2] Many of these groupings and individual objects might also resemble "folk art" in its aspects, however may not align to the defining characteristics outlined above.     Americana     Art brut     Folk Environments     Indigenous art     Genre paintings     Naïve art     Outlier art[16]     Outsider art     Primitive art     Tramp art     Trench art     Tribal art     Vanguard art[16]     Vernacular art     Visionary art Influence on mainstream art Folk artworks, styles and motifs have inspired various artists. For example, Pablo Picasso was inspired by African tribal sculptures and masks. Natalia Goncharova and others were inspired by traditional Russian popular prints called luboks.[17] In 1951, artist, writer and curator Barbara Jones organised the exhibition Black Eyes and Lemonade at the Whitechapel Gallery in London as part of the Festival of Britain. This exhibition, along with her publication The Unsophisticated Arts, exhibited folk and mass-produced consumer objects alongside contemporary art in an early instance of the popularisation of pop art in Britain.[18] Supporting organizations The United Nations recognizes and supports cultural heritage around the world,[19] in particular UNESCO in partnership with the International Organization of Folk Art (IOV). Their declared mission is to “further folk art, customs and culture around the world through the organization of festivals and other cultural events, … with emphasis on dancing, folk music, folk songs and folk art.”[20] By supporting international exchanges of folk art groups as well as the organization of festivals and other cultural events, their goal is promote international understanding and world peace. In the United States, the National Endowment for the Arts works to promote greater understanding and sustainability of cultural heritage across the United States and around the world through research, education, and community engagement. As part of this, they identify and support NEA folk art fellows in quilting, ironwork, woodcarving, pottery, embroidery, basketry, weaving, along with other related traditional arts. The NEA guidelines define as criteria for this award a display of “authenticity, excellence, and significance within a particular tradition” for the artists selected. (NEA guidelines) .” In 1966, the NEA’s first year of funding, support for national and regional folk festivals was identified as a priority with the first grant made in 1967 to the National Folk Festival Association. Folklife festivals are celebrated around the world to encourage and support the education and community engagement of diverse ethnic communities." (wikipedia.org)
  • Condition: Used
  • Condition: In excellent, pre-owned condition; complete. Please see photos and description.
  • Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
  • Material: Cardboard
  • Theme: Animals
  • Number of Pieces: 500 - 749 Pieces
  • Year: 2020
  • Color: Multi-Color
  • Brand: Hallmark

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