Cattle as live stock: a concept for understanding and valuing the asset function of livestock.

Where the main purpose of cattle keeping is not for meat and milk production, their valuation should be based on other functions, which may be deduced from the origin and meaning of the term 'live stock'. By way of example, the monetary value was calculated of the market and non-market functions of cattle kept on Amazonian smallholdings. These cows were kept primarily for savings and financing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]