Editing Beef (section)

== History ==
People have eaten the flesh of [[bovine]]s since prehistoric times; some of the earliest known [[cave painting]]s, such as those of [[Lascaux]], show [[aurochs]] in hunting scenes.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Piatti-Farnell|first=Lorna|title=Beef: A Global History|publisher=Reaktion Books|year=2013|isbn=978-1780231174|location=London|pages=7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eczuOAyembMC|author-link=Lorna Piatti-Farnell|via=EBL Reader}}</ref> People [[domestication|domesticated]] cattle to provide ready access to beef, [[milk]], and [[leather]].<ref>{{cite web| title= Late Neolithic megalithic structures at Nabta Playa| access-date= 27 February 2008| url= http://www.comp-archaeology.org/WendorfSAA98.html| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080213184210/http://www.comp-archaeology.org/WendorfSAA98.html| archive-date= 13 February 2008| url-status= dead| df= dmy-all}}</ref> Cattle have been domesticated at least twice over the course of evolutionary history. The first domestication event occurred around 10,500 years ago with the evolution of ''Bos taurus''. The second was more recent, around 7,000 years ago, with the evolution of ''Bos indicus'' in the [[Indian subcontinent]]. There is a possible third domestication event 8,500 years ago, with a potential third species ''Bos africanus'' arising in Africa.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hirst |first1=K. Kris |title=History of the Domestication of Cows and Yaks |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-the-domestication-of-cows-170652 |website=ThoughtCo |language=en}}</ref>

In the United States, the growth of the beef business was largely due to expansion in the Southwest. Upon the acquisition of grasslands through the [[Mexican–American War]] of 1848, and later the expulsion of the Plains Indians from this region and the [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]], the American livestock industry began, starting primarily with the taming of [[feral]] and [[semi-feral]] Longhorn cattle. Chicago and New York City were the first to benefit from these developments in their stockyards and in their meat markets.<ref>Horowitz, Roger (2006). ''Putting Meat on the American Table: Taste, Technology, Transformation''. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. {{ISBN|0801882419}}.</ref>