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Cattle are descendants of the aurochs, a wild animal that originated in India and then was spread around the world.
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Aurochs became domesticated in Europe approximately 10,000 years ago.
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Pigs, sheep, dogs, and goats were domesticated before the aurochs.
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Aurochs can be seen in cave paintings in France.
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A cow is an adult female that has given birth to at least one calf.
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A bull is a male animal.
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A steer is a male animal that has been fixed so that it cannot mate.
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A heifer is a female that has not yet had a calf.
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Calves that are raised to be between 475 pounds and 500 pounds are called veal.
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Prior to being raised for mostly meat and byproducts, cattle were raised for labor as well.
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Cattle are raised around the world, often in areas that are not suitable for farming because of the landscape.
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Common beef steaks include filet mignon, sirloin steak, rump steak, and rib eye steak.
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There are special designations for beef including Certified Angus Beef, Certified Hereford Beef, Grass-fed Beef, Kobe Beef, Kosher beef, and Organic Beef.
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In the United States beef can graded according to quality, as U.S. Prime, U.S. Choice, U.S. Select, U.S. Standard, U.S. Commercial, U.S. Utility, U.S. Cutter, and U.S. Canner.
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Beef can be cooked in a variety of ways including grilling, barbecuing, broiling, griddling, roasting, frying, dehydrated, braised, stewed, sous-vide, smoked, cured, or corned.
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Beef is sometimes consumed in its raw form, called steak tartare, which is a French dish, or filet americain, a Belgian dish, or kibbeh nayyeh, which is a Lebanese dish.
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Beef can be processed into pastrami, beef jerky, biltong, bresaola, or spiced beef.
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The Hindu religion considers the killing of cattle or the consumption of beef to be a sin. They place high importance on the cow for its milk.
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The consumption of red meat has been linked to health concerns including cancer, cardiovascular disease, coronary artery disease, and mad cow disease.
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There are often beef product recalls due to contamination of E. Coli. This contamination and infection in humans can be deadly.
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Cattle have one stomach with four compartments. This makes it possible for them to consume and digest grasses.
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There is approximately 25 billion pounds of beef produced each year by the farming of cattle.
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Beef is the third most popular meat consumed by humans around the world, following pork, and poultry.
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Cattle farms are believed to be contributing to greenhouse gasses and to be negatively affecting the world's environment.
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