Livestock play multiple and significant roles in the rural livelihoods of most developing countries where they provide both direct and indirect benefits to communities. Herrero et al. (2012) reported that livestock roles in the economies of developing countries are significant to millions of both producers and consumers that are often vulnerable and economically constrained. Livestock serve as a source of food, income, manure, traction, and transport as well as serve as financial aids and enhance social status among others. The various benefits of keeping livestock confirm that livestock form an integral and indispensable part of social life and sustenance of poor communities (Meissner et al., 2013). According to Bettencourt et al. (2014), livestock uses can be classified as economic (source of cash income, means of saving accumulation and investment, and economic status), household use (feeding, transportation, fertilizer, and animal draught), sociocultural (social status, paying bridewealth, providing animals for communal feasts or sacrifices), and leisure (horse racing, cockfighting, bullfight, and hunting). In their review, Alonso et al. (2019) classified nonfood roles of livestock as economical (access to credit, draft power, transport, asset accumulation, household energy production, nonedible byproducts [hides, horns, fiber, etc.], and construction material); environmental (manure, nutrient recycling, landscape amenity, improving pastureland, and carbon sequestration); and social (psychosocial well-being, traditional foods, cultural events, ritual and religion, exercise, sport, and recreation). Therefore, there is evidence that livestock do not only directly produce food but also provide key nonfood roles to communities. Sometimes, the roles are quite complex and span across value chains, but documentation of such roles is scanty. It is the objective of this manuscript to highlight the key roles of livestock in smallholder production systems in developing countries.