Cattle are a livestock species that are raised for their meat, milk, hides, and draft purposes. Cattle are domesticated descendants of the Bos taurus (Western European) and Bos indicus (Indian and African) species, and are adapted to live in many different types of environments from dry and arid to cold and wet. Cattle prefer large open areas close to a water source, and inhabit every continent besides Antarctica. They are herbivores and ruminants, which means their diet is strictly plant matter, and their stomachs have complex specialized compartments to digest food. Cattle are herd animals, and often follow allelomimetic behavior. Since their domestication around ten thousand years ago, different cattle breeds have been utilized for their ability to produce milk and meat, with common dairy breeds including Jersey and Holstein, and common beef breeds including Angus and Hereford. Special terminology is used when classifying the sex and age of cattle. An intact male is called a bull, while a castrated male is a steer. A young female that has not had a calf is called a heifer, but once she has a calf she is classified as a cow. And of course, baby cattle are called calves!

Cattle are herbivores that primarily eat grass, but can eat shrubbery, tree leaves, grains, and more. Grass and shrubbery are relatively low energy foodstuffs, so cattle are continuous feeders, which means they are constantly eating or "grazing" food. Using their prehensile tongue, cattle can pull up grass from the ground to eat. However, like all mammals, calves drink milk when they are born until about they are 4 months old. In most commercial beef cattle operations, market steers are grass fed on rangeland for 6-9 months, and then finished with a corn based grain diet for 30 days up until harvest. Dairy cattle are also either fed on on an all grass/hay diet, or a combination of hay and grain products.