Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Agricultural change and livestock
Many studies of livestock within agricultural geography have treated animals as
'units of production'. This is a logical way to start examining livestock as they have
long been exploited primarily by people for meat, wool or dairy produce. Over
time, centres of domestication emerged where local breeds were developed to match
productive need and climatic conditions. Breeds were diffused from these centres by
human migration and, as a consequence, the historical geographies of animal breeds
reflect the changing geographies of dominant societies (Yarwood and Evans 1998).
In the British Isles, for example, a succession of invasions led to the introduction of
many new breeds of livestock animals to different parts of the country (Henson
1982; Wallis 1986).
The respective locations of Kerry, West Highland and Welsh Black Cattle in the
West of Ireland, Scotland and Wales can be explained by past cultures. These breeds
are closely related and have a common ancestor which was kept by some Celtic
peoples. After successive invasions, these people were forced to retreat from the
lowlands to the periphery, taking their livestock with them (Alderson 1976; Friend
and Bishop 1978). The present-day survival of these livestock continues to reflect
historic differences and to impact on the landscapes of the British Isles to the same
extent as do other features such as field boundaries, settlement morphology and
defences (Evans and Yarwood 1995). Clearly, strong associations can exist between
breeds, place and culture.
Significant changes in the geographies of livestock occurred during the
agricultural 'revolutions' of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as a result of
'selective' breeding. This technique used scientific principles to improve the genetic
characteristics of livestock, such as their weight, milk yield, leanness and speed of
maturity, in order to increase profitability. This did much both to create and to
destroy associations between particular places and breeds. On the one hand,
livestock improvement led to the establishment of many new breeds which were
closely linked with place: '[F]or many breeds their vernacular names… precisely
describe their place of origin' (Clutton-Brock 1981:30). On the other hand,
selective breeding led to the diffusion of livestock breeds across wider areas and
diluted association with particular places (Walton 1984, 1987).
In the twentieth century, capitalist farming was characterised by greater
intensification, concentration and specialisation, especially in the post-war
'productivist' era (Bowler 1985). As the efficiency and profitability of livestock were
given greater emphasis, many new breeds of livestock were introduced to Britain
which were suited to capital-intensive farming systems because they could produce
more food at lower costs (Evans and Yarwood 1995). Examples include Friesian
Cattle, Poland China Pigs and Texel Sheep. This meant that many British breeds
were viewed as unprofitable or inefficient and were no longer kept by farmers.
Between 1900 and 1973, over twenty-six breeds of farm animals became extinct in
Britain alone, including Glamorgan Cattle, St Rona's Hill Sheep and Lincolnshire
Curly Coat Pigs (Alderson 1990). Others declined drastically in numbers as they
