Lots of guests come into the farmyard, see Max, and call him a “cow.” I assume that a few know he’s not a cow but choose to use “cow” rather than “steer” because it’s an easier word of small kids, but I’d bet more people just don’t know what the difference is. So here’s a quick run down of the various common terms used for cattle:
Cow – A female who has had a baby (or many babies).
Heifer- A female who has not had a baby.
Bull- An intact male.
Steer- A castrated male.
Ox/Oxen- adult, male or female, trained in draft work (pulling). Often males that have been castrated as adults.
Calf- A baby, male or female.
Bullock- In the UK, a castrated male. In the USA, an intact male, less than a year old.
Cattle- either gender (or both) in a group.
What about the horns?
Horns are common on both males and females, especially in dairy breeds. It’s not usually possible to tell if you’re looking at a bull or cow just by looking at their face. You’d need to get a look at their bellies to tell them apart for sure. Udders are only visibly present in cows. Heifers have udders but they aren’t typically distended or visibly hanging because she’s never had a calf. Intact males are bulls, castrated males are steer.
Some cattle are naturally hornless. This is called being “polled” and is a genetic trait in cattle that can be passed down to their offspring. It’s also common for cattle on farms to have their horns removed as very young babies, so they never grow, and to have the horns on adult cattle cut or blunted so they don’t hurt each other or the people working with them. Max keeps his own horns blunted by rubbing them on all sorts of stuff, like toys, stumps, and his fence.
Do you guys have a cow named Bessie too? Could have sworn you had an all brown female cow there.
No Bessie here. We have a brown Jersey steer.
This was a very informative guide. Thanks for posting it. 🙂
Nice images.
cows have horns
What is a single “cattle” called, either gender, not trained to pull or work? COW!!!!! It’s not just a female.
This was an extremely informative, easy-to-understand article.
I was at a monastery yesterday, and they had four brown jersey cows. Three had obvious udders and one had one that wasn’t so obvious (heifer probably). They all had horns as well. At first, I mistook them for steer until I saw their udders. Thank you for this info. Helped me straighten out their cattle! 🙂
Glad that it helped you.
Thanks for posting it.
My most treasured memory is of my daughters laughing in delight from watching cows at play. They bucked, jumped and ran about their pasture.