Cattle, colloquially referred to as cows (though technically cow refers only to female bovines), are domesticated ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. They are raised as livestock for meat (called beef and veal), dairy products (milk), leather and as draught animals (pulling carts, plows and the like). In some countries, such as India, they are honored in religious ceremonies and revered. It is estimated that there are 1.3 billion cattle in the world today.

The Agriculture Department tests fewer than 1 percent of slaughtered cows for the disease, which can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. A beef producer in the western state of Kansas, Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, wants to test all of its cows. Larger meat companies feared that move

The Bush admin. said Tuesday it will fight to keep meatpackers from (voluntarily) testing all their animals for mad cow disease . The Agriculture Department tests less than 1 percent of slaughtered cows for the disease, which can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. But Kansas-based Creekstone Farms Premium Beef wants to test all of its cows.

Applying cutting-edge genomics techniques to cattle might produce more milk and tastier beef.

The city once known for its stockyards is at the center of a hip food trend: designer beef. Today, diners can select a steak that in its cow days was fed nothing but sweet, tall grass. They can sit down in a restaurant where the steaks comes from cattle that shared the same father or eat a steak exactly like one designer Ralph Lauren dines on.

The ability of scientists to improve health and disease management of cattle and enhance the nutritional value of beef and dairy products has received a major boost with the release this week of the most complete sequence of the cow genome ever assembled.