Do animal brothers and sisters mate?

Answer 1

Since this is purely asked in a "Cows and Cattle" Q&A category, the short answer is yes. Now, keeping the question to the Cattle Category, inbreeding can be used and it is also shunned in the cattle industry. Inbreeding is when full brothers are mated to full sisters. Closebreeding is when daughters are mated to their sires, sons to their dams, and also considers breeding sibs together. Linebreeding is when animals are bred to more distantly related kin, such as a female to her grandsire, cousins, and half brother to half sister. Inbreeding, closebreeding or linebreeding is used and should only be used to "purify" a certain breed, no matter what breed that is. Inbreeding SHOULD NOT BE USED FOR ANY OTHER HERD. Accidental inbreeding in cattle can lead to disastrous consequences, from genetic abnormalities developing in the form of dead calves, abortions, calves with extremely retarded growth or other physical or psychological development, or illness that only come when the animal is more mature. When breeding cattle for other reasons besides purifying the herd, inbreeding is strongly reccommended to NOT be practiced under anycircumstances.

Now as for "other animals", yes it definitely can happen, and in any man-made environments like many of our pets are found in, including cats and dogs, inbreeding is not recommended to be practiced by any sort of breeders, for reasons described above in cattle. Female livestock like cattle, horses, pigs, sheep, goats, etc. cannot be spayed as the cost is too high, and so is the consequences. However, spaying is strongly recommended in dogs and cats, as well as neutering. Neutering should be done in male livestock that are not suitable for being used for breeding purposes nor are going to be used for breeding. Castrating livestock helps lessen the chance of inbreeding occurring, as well as actively handling and separating animals to further decrease the chances of inbreeding. Good husbandry starts with great management, and great management occurs with good and responsible producers and owners.