Cattle raiding is the act of stealing live cattle, often several or many at once. In Australia, such stealing is often referred to as duffing, and the perpetrator as a duffer. In other areas, especially in Queensland, the practice is known as poddy-dodging with the perpetrator known as a poddy-dodger. In North America, especially in the Wild West cowboy culture, cattle theft is dubbed rustling, while an individual who engages in it is a rustler.

The act of cattle-raiding is quite ancient, first attested over seven thousand years ago, and is one of the oldest-known aspects of Proto-Indo-European culture, being seen in inscriptions on artifacts such as the Norse Golden Horns of Gallehus and in works such as the Old Irish Táin Bó Cúailnge ("Cattle Raid of Cooley"), the paṇis of the Rigveda, the Mahabharata cattle raids and cattle rescues; and the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, who steals the cattle of Apollo.

In his childhood, the Turco-Mongol conqueror Timur and a small band of followers raided travelers for goods, especially animals such as sheep, horses, and cattle. Around 1363, it is believed that Timur tried to steal a sheep from a shepherd but was shot by two arrows, one in his right leg and another in his right hand, where he lost two fingers. Both injuries disabled him for life. Timur's injuries have given him the names of Timur the Lame and Tamerlane by Europeans.

In Gaelic Ireland, cattle raiding, whether in retaliation for an insult under the code of conduct or to keep the whole clan fed during a difficult winter, was a common part of warfare between Irish clans, as is often depicted in stories from Irish mythology, such as the Táin Bó Cúailnge and the Táin Bó Flidhais. Cattle raiding and selling protection against theft continued by Irish clan chiefs and rapparees, particularly against the estates of Anglo-Irish landlords, well into the 18th century in Ireland.

Warfare between Scottish clans was often for very similar reasons and, during the 17th and 18th centuries, many Scottish clan chiefs would similarly operate an extralegal Watch over the cattle herds of the Lowland gentry in return for protection money, which Highland Chiefs similarly used to feed their tenants and clansmen. Any cattle that were stolen from herds under the Chiefs' Watch were either retrieved, or he paid for them in full.

Cattle-raiding by the Border reivers was a serious problem for many centuries on both sides of the Anglo-Scottish border.

In the American frontier, rustling was considered a serious offense and in some cases resulted in vigilantes hanging or shooting the thieves.

Mexican rustlers were a major issue during the American Civil War (1861–1865); the Mexican government was accused of supporting the habit. American rustlers also stole Mexican cattle from across the border. Failure to brand new calves facilitated theft.^{[citation needed]}