Livestock

In animal husbandry the term livestock refers to live animals kept by farmers.

Over recent millenia humans have domesticated animals, like chickens, cows, sheep and horses, and these animals are refered to as livestock, even when they are free-ranging. The fish in fish farms are also considered livestock, even though they are genetically wild, and not domesticated.

Farmers traditionally used branding irons on free ranging animals, to show ownership.