Seasonal calving in European Prehistoric cattle and its impacts on milk availability and cheese-making

Marie Balasse,Lenka Kovačiková,Ivana Vostrovská,Rose-Marie Arbogast,László Domboróczki,Eszter Bánffy,Adrian Bălăşescu,Mélanie Roffet-Salque,Ivana Živaljević,Éva Á Nyerges,Denis Fiorillo,Maria Ivanova,Sofija Stefanović,Rémi Berthon,Stéphanie Bréhard,Vesna Dimitrijević,Rosalind Gillis,Arkadiusz Marciniak,Krisztián Oross

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-87674-1

Abstract

Present-day domestic cattle are reproductively active throughout the year, which is a major asset for dairy production. Large wild ungulates, in contrast, are seasonal breeders, as were the last historic representatives of the aurochs, the wild ancestors of cattle. Aseasonal reproduction in cattle is a consequence of domestication and herding, but exactly when this capacity developed in domestic cattle is still unknown and the extent to which early farming communities controlled the seasonality of reproduction is debated. Seasonal or aseasonal calving would have shaped the socio-economic practices of ancient farming societies differently, structuring the agropastoral calendar and determining milk availability where dairying is attested. In this study, we reconstruct the calving pattern through the analysis of stable oxygen isotope ratios of cattle tooth enamel from 18 sites across Europe, dating from the 6th mill. cal BC (Early Neolithic) in the Balkans to the 4th mill. cal BC (Middle Neolithic) in Western Europe. Seasonal calving prevailed in Europe between the 6th and 4th millennia cal BC. These results suggest that cattle agropastoral systems in Neolithic Europe were strongly constrained by environmental factors, in particular forage resources. The ensuing fluctuations in milk availability would account for cheese-making, transforming a seasonal milk supply into a storable product.

Highlights

Present-day domestic cattle are reproductively active throughout the year, which is a major asset for dairy production
Aseasonal breeding in cattle is a major asset for dairy production, as the milk supply is regulated by the calving season
A comparison of cattle and sheep birth seasonality shows that calving and lambing periods are of similar duration (Fig. 4; the calving period is longer at Măgura, data may be biased by very small sample size), arguing in favour of seasonal calving

Summary

Introduction

Present-day domestic cattle are reproductively active throughout the year, which is a major asset for dairy production. Is the latest extension of the marked intensification of the artificial selection of animals, initiated in the eighteenth century Another dimension of the control exerted on domestic animal reproduction is the regulation of fertility cycles. Modern domestic cattle are aseasonal breeders: cows are reproductively active throughout the year enabling year-round or seasonal breeding through livestock management, depending on local conditions and the orientation of production. Aseasonal breeding in cattle is a major asset for dairy production, as the milk supply is regulated by the calving season. Cows and immature bulls lived separately from older bulls, and only joined them briefly during the mating season, which is characteristic of species with pronounced sexual d imorphism[12]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion