Timeline for What advantages would bovines have over horses when used as cavalry?

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Dec 18, 2014 at 21:39	comment	added	SJuan76		But you could have trained and untrained bovines. The bigger ones get picked up for training, the rest are just herded.
Dec 18, 2014 at 21:35	comment	added	bowlturner		@SJuan76 yes that is the point. You'll be less likely to eat the bovine you've trained for the saddle, since then you have to train another one...
Dec 18, 2014 at 21:28	comment	added	SJuan76		`peoples who tend to domesticate animals for work don't tend to eat them`. May be purelly accidental. The animals we use for work are few and expensive (need to be big, after all). It is not that you would not eat them, but the ones you have you use them for work until they are old (and almost inedible) because it gives you a better ROI. For your needs of meat, you get a better investment in other animals which grow faster/are less delicated (chicken, pigs).
Dec 18, 2014 at 20:11	comment	added	bowlturner		@ckersch yes, actually that would be a likely scenario.
Dec 18, 2014 at 20:02	comment	added	ckersch		Would it make more sense, then, to have separate lines/breeds of riding and eating cows? I'm thinking of something larger and more bison-like for combat, and something smaller and more cow-like for food.
Dec 18, 2014 at 19:14	comment	added	user2813274		While it is a taboo in the U.S, horse meat is eaten in countries like Italy and Japan.
Dec 18, 2014 at 19:06	history	answered	bowlturner	CC BY-SA 3.0