FACTS & INFO

You might be an urbanite if you see a herd of cattle and call them the plural noun “cows,” even if they’re not cows at all! (And, you may be an urbanite if you call a single bull, a steer, a calf, or a heifer that you can clearly see is a bull, steer, calf, or heifer the singular noun which is “cow.”)

Farmers, ranchers or anyone who works in the livestock industry (directly or indirectly) almost never call a herd of cattle “cows,” (or an individual bovine a “cow”) unless they know that they are, indeed, looking at a herd of cows (see definition below). They always use the term for a sex-not-known herd of bovines, “cattle,” or “animals.”

However, if they know what sex or general age they’re looking at, then they’ll be more specific: 

• Cow-calf pairs (or “pairs” for short);
• Bulls;
• Heifers;
• Steers;
• Calves;
• Yearlings;
• Stockers;
• Feeders;
• Culls; 
• “number [insert tag number here].”

A group of bovines (cattle) is called a herd, mob, drove, or drift. A group of Scottish Highland cattle (or “coo’s”) is called a “fold.” Other animal species that form groups called herds include wildebeest, horses, elk, bison, caribou, goats, buffalo, antelope, and deer. 

A flock is the term used for a group of sheep. It’s the same common term used for a group of birds. 

A cow is a female mature bovine that has given birth to at least one or two calves. A cow is also the name for females of other mammals, such as elephants, bison, buffalo, caribou, whales, moose, rhinos, giraffes, and other animals.

There is no such thing as a “female cow.“ There is such a thing as a female bovine or female cattle-beast. The term “female cow” is redundant and should never, ever exist on the internet, but sadly, it does, just like the equally goofy term “male cow.” 

There is no such thing as a “male cow.“ Sorry. Male bovines that get to keep their testes (are not castrated or “neutered”) are called bulls. These animals are used for breeding and for meat. Selectively-bred bulls are used as rodeo stock in the bull riding events. The males of elephants, bison, buffalo, caribou, whales, moose, rhinos, giraffes, elk, and others are also known as bulls.

(We will discuss more about how you can tell bulls apart from cows later.) 

There is no such thing as a “male bull” nor a “female bull” either!!  Either term is redundant or illogically used in a sentence by those who don’t know their livestock terminology (no offence intended, folks.)

PLEASE NOTE: The terms “cow” or “bull” refer to a mature animal’s sex, not as a common name. However, because domestic bovines have never been given a specific general name like those of moose, dogs, deer, pigs, sheep, horses, or other animals, it can be understandably difficult for someone outside of the realm of cattle to figure out what to call these critters. And since their urban peers tend to always call them “cows,” unfortunately, that’s the only colloquial, Urban Dictionary-accepted, popularized term that can be logically used. And we rural folk truly can’t do a darn thing about it. 

Male bovines which are castrated are called steers or bullocks. 

Young female bovines are called heifers if they are less than 2 years of age and have not yet given birth to a calf.

A calf is a general term for young cattle from birth to the general age of a yearling. 

A yearling is a young bovine that is at or under one year of age. 

Calving is the term for a cow giving birth.

The term for when a cow is not lactating is “dry.” 

A cow that is not pregnant is “open.”

A “springing” cow is the jargon used when a cow or heifer is close to calving or giving birth.

A “fresh” cow or heifer is one that has just calved or given birth. 

Meat from cows is called beef.

Stockers are young cattle past weaning age that are grazed on pasture to grow. They may be marketed and slaughtered as “grass-fed beef,” or sold to a feedlot where they are fed grain until they reach the target weight for slaughter. Stockers can be heifers or steers. 

Feeders are young cattle past weaning age (yearlings) that enter the feedlot to be fed a high-grain ration prior to slaughter. Feeders can be heifers or steers. Feeder bulls also exist, but are less common (at least in the United States and Canada). 

Cow-calf pairs are cows paired with their biological calves, and are raised by humans so that the cows can teach their calves bovine etiquette and nurse them until they must be weaned. 

Culls are typically breeding-age cattle that are heifers, cows, or bulls, that are selected to be separated from the main herd of the farm or ranch, and sold as meat or to be someone else’s problem to deal with. Cattle are culled for a variety of reasons, depending on the farm or ranch, from temperament to health concerns, from certain inferior body structure that will cause or is causing mobility or production issues to age or decline in productivity due to age. Cows can be culled for having bad teeth, bad udders, bad feet, or a bad attitude. Bulls are often culled for bad attitude, bad feet, poor sperm counts, broken penis, or risk of inbreeding due to breeding their own daughters. Dairy farms usually have different criteria for culling cows than beef farms. 

A cow’s gestation (pregnancy) period is around 280 to 285 days (or about 9 months, plus or minus a week or two) long. Yes, this is almost the same length of pregnancy as a woman. 

One bull can breed as many as 25 to 50 cows and heifers at a time in a span of a 45- to 60-day breeding season. He can service more if the breeding season is longer or if he doesn’t have far to travel to chase down and court any of “his girls.” A yearling bull can breed around 10 to 15 females. A 3- or 4-year-old mature bull can breed over 25 females.

There is no such thing as monogamy or life-long partners with cattle. New farmers make the common mistake of buying a bull with their single family milk cow, and pay the price later with wrecked fences, angry neighbours from their “surprise” calves, or a dangerous animal they don’t know how to work with. Bulls need multiple cows to court and service to be happy. They will defend their harem from other bulls and get into fights over a single cow in heat.

Cows never go through menstration like human females do. Instead, they go through “heat” or “estrus,” a short period of high estrogen levels that causes a change in behaviour from normally calm and focused on eating to a state where they are constantly calling, searching, and trying to mount other cows or even the bull. This period only lasts 24 hours; it’s the only window of opportunity the bull has to mate with them to conceive a calf. (It’s also the period that the artificial insemination tech needs to perform artificial insemination so that they can conceive as well.)

The reproductive cycle of an “open” or non-pregnant cow is 21 days long, called the estrous cycle. That means, 20 days of “anestrus” or time when the cow is neither receptive to the courting behaviour of the bull nor inclined to be mounted, and 1 day where she is receptive to his services and wooing. 

Both cows and bulls are capable of having horns; horns do not determine the sex of a bovine.

What actually determines the sex of a bovine is where you look. Look between the hind legs. If a bovine has a bag-like structure with what look like teats hanging down, then you’re looking at a cow. If you see a football-shaped structure that may or may not have two distinct ovoid-like appendages that look suspiciously like a pair of testicles, then you’re looking at a bull.

Bulls urinate from their belly; cows need to lift their tails to urinate. Heifers urinate from under their tail: steers urinate from their belly. So, sometimes you just gotta stand and watch until one of them has to urinate to know what you’re looking at. 

If you get close enough, look under the tail. A bull (or steer) only bears an anus when they swish or lift their tail. Cows and heifers have an anus and a funny-looking protuberance of a slit called the vulva beneath their tails. In other words, if you see one hole, it’s a male; if you see two holes, it’s a female. 

Cows produce milk for their calves, which is a highly nutritious substance packed full of amino acids, fats, and other nutrients for the calf to grow. Cows are among many of such female mammalian critters (any warm-blooded animal that gives birth to live young) that bear mammary tissue to produce milk from themselves. Dairy cows have been selectively bred to give 5 to 10 times the amount of milk that beef cows do. 

Colostrum (the “first milk” a cow or heifer gives for ~24 hours after calving) is crucial for a calf (as with all baby mammals) to consume immediately or within 12 hours after birth. A calf that does not receive colostrum is more prone to illnesses because its immunity is not as fully developed. Colostrum provides immunoglobulins and antibodies that the calf needs, and is a form of passive immunity. These can only be supplied by the cow. The best colostrum is that from an older cow.

A cow only has one udder, which is divided up into four (4) quarters, with a teat for each quarter. 

A calf needs a diet of milk only for the first two weeks of its life. A calf is not able to consume feed for this amount of time after birth.

Dairy farmers commonly put a “starter ration” (a mix of high-protein grains and pellets) in front of them when they are less than a week old, but the purpose of this is to begin teaching them about eating grain. Calves are driven by curiosity and use their mouths and tongues to test and taste everything around them (this never changes into adulthood), and farmers take advantage of this to start the training process and help their tiny rumens develop, too. 

A newborn calf’s rumen is the size of a pea. It reaches maturity when the calf is about 3 months old. A calf’s rumen matures by working to process a variety of feeds, from pasture grasses to some grain (if the farmer chooses to do so). Calves typically begin taste-testing and sampling the feed their mother eats merely a few days after birth, but they don’t truly learn about what to eat (and go for it themselves) until they’re over a week to two weeks old. Milk, as mentioned, remains a crucial staple for them at this age. 

Cows can have up to 18 to 20 offspring in their lifetime if they are easy-keeping, healthy, productive members of the herd.

A cow begins milking after giving birth to a calf. On occasion, a cow can be stimulated to lactate when she is not pregnant. She will continue milking if regularly stimulated by regularly scheduled milking, or by suckling a calf.

A cow can still be bred while milking. She can also be pregnant and be producing milk at the same time.

Most cows are found on farms or ranches. Except in India, of course; there, many cows and cattle are found in cities and towns and wander wherever they want, of their own free will, but typically subsist on garbage dumps rather than their natural diet of grass and forbs.

Most dairy cows’ lives, especially in North America and growing in much of Europe, are spent indoors. This is in stark contrast with most beef cows and cattle.

Most cattle raised for beef in the past 50 years have been finished for the last 4 months of their lives in what is known as a “feedlot.” They receive an 85-90% grain diet during the last few weeks of their lives prior to slaughter. Before they entered the feedlot, they were raised and pastured primarily on grass.

The only continent without cattle is Antarctica. 

Cows and cattle are very social animals. They thrive on living in a group and should never be raised alone. The purpose of staying in a group is to keep watch for predators, with many eyes, ears, and noses monitoring their surroundings 24/7.

You can herd, drive, or even lead cattle. Driving cattle using proper stockmanship principles, as those taught by the late Bud Williams, enables a surprisingly easy way to move cattle where you wish them to go, as well as “settle” them in a spot you need them to be. 

Cows are herbivores, meaning they are able to live and exist on plants only. Rarely are cattle seen eating bones or carrion on purpose; this condition is called pica. They will also eat insects unintentionally while grazing, or if they are fed feed containing insects.

All cows eat some form of grass or other, whether it’s fresh pasture or stored in the form of hay or silage. They also eat forbs, or broad-leafed plants, some shrubs, and tree leaves (if they can reach them), but not as often as goats and sheep do. As a matter of fact, 95% of the diet of cattle consists of grasses.

A cow, and all ruminant animals, have only one four-chambered stomach to efficiently digest roughage. The four chambers are named as follows: reticulum, rumen, omasum and abomasum. The rumen is the largest of the stomachs, capable of holding around 50 gallons of digesta. The abomasum, the fourth stomach, is very similar to a human stomach. The reticulum is called the “hardware” stomach because it collects foreign materials, such as wire, before the rest of the feed enters the rumen; the omasum acts like a sponge, extracting all water from the rumen digesta before they enter the abomasum.

The rumen is an anaerobic fermentation vat that contains billions of bacteria, fungi, and protists. This fermentation activity produces gaseous by-products primarily of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide.

Cows have been made most infamous for their ability to produce methane. It is estimated that a dairy cow produces around 70 to 120 kg (155 to 265 lb) of methane per year.

A cow primarily burps up methane. She emits much less methane via flatulence.

A cow eats to feed the rumen microflora in her rumen first, which then feeds her. This microbial community comprises billions of bacteria, fungi, and protists, which are best suited to breaking down fibrous material and starch. The volatile fatty acids these microbes produce primarily provide the cow with energy: propionic acid, acetic acid, and butyric acid. VFAs are a by-product of microbial synthesis and the digestion of plant matter.

Where does a cow get most of her protein? Well, almost half of her protein comes from dead microbes. The rest comes from protein that escaped consumption by microbes and was released during the breakdown of plant matter. “By-pass protein” moves from the rumen to the abomasum and small intestine for digestion and absorption into the bloodstream. Protein and amino acids are also absorbed into the bloodstream directly from the rumen. 

A cow doesn’t bite grass; she wraps her tongue around it and uses her bottom teeth to shear it off. She doesn’t use her whole head to tear off a mouthful of grass like sheep and horses do; her jaw and tongue does most of the work.

A cow that weighs 1000 pounds can produce an average of 12 tons (or 24,000 lb) of manure every year.

A cow usually spends 6-7 hours a day eating cud and around 8 hours chewing it.

Almost all cows chew at least 50 times per minute.

An average cow has more than 40,000 jaw movements in a day.

A cow burps approximately once per minute.

An average cow produces 30 pounds of urine and 65 pounds of feces daily.

Cattle usually eat around 2% of their body weight in dry matter (all water taken out). As-fed percentages range from 3% to 10% of their body weight, depending on the moisture content and quality of the feed.

Cattle will drink between 8 to 11% of their body weight in water. Cows in milk (dairy or suckling a calf) drink about twice as much as when they are “dry”. Mature cows drink more than young cattle. Cattle drink more when it is hot than when it is cold. Cattle also drink more on dry feed than on fresh feed (such as lush pasture).

A lactating dairy cow can drink around 25 to 30 gallons a day.

Cows come in a wide variety of colours besides black-and-white. Bulls also come in a variety of colours, and most are not all brown with horns. Many colours you will find include white, grey (smokey to mousey), yellow (or blonde), tan, red, brown, orange, and black. You will never find cattle that are blue, green, pink, nor purple. 

Cows come in a variety of sizes. The smallest breed in the world (Miniature Cattle or Lowlines) has mature cattle weighing only 700 to 800 pounds. The largest cattle breed is the Chianina, with mature bulls weighing over 3,500 pounds.

There are two primary subspecies of domestic cattle. Bos taurus are European cattle, like your average dairy and beef cattle, such as Holstein and Angus cattle. Bos indicus are humped, loose-skinned, large-eared cattle found in hot, southern climates; they are usually known as Zebu, Brahman, or Nellore cattle. Desi cows of India are all of the subspecies Bos indicus. 

All cattle subspecies have sweat glands throughout their bodies. It’s a myth that European cattle only have sweat glands on their noses. As a matter of fact, the sweat glands of European cattle are not as well developed as those of their Zebu cousins, which makes it seem like they don’t sweat.

Different breeds have different skin thicknesses. A study by Dowling (1955) measured the thickness of skin of various breeds. The results found that Devon cattle had a skin thickness of 8.15 mm, Hereford of 6.7 mm, Zebu cross of 6.43 mm, Australian Illawarra Shorthorn of 6.23 mm, Friesian (Holstein) of 6.0 mm, Zebu of 5.77 mm, Aberdeen Angus of 5.75 mm, Shorthorn of 5.69 mm, and Jersey of 5.46 mm. 

There are over 900 breeds of cows in the world.

There are two main types of cows: dairy cows and beef cows. There are also dual-purpose cattle, which are breeds that can be raised and used for meat and milk, meat and draft, or milk, meat and draft. 

Dairy cattle breeds include Holstein, Jersey, Guernsey, Ayrshire, Canadienne, Australian Illawarra Shorthorn, Milking Shorthorn, Milking Devon, Brown Swiss, Fleckvieh, Montbellaird, Muesse-Rhine Issel, Dutch Belted, and Norwegian Red.

Beef cattle breeds include Aberdeen Angus, Red Angus, Hereford, Charolais, Maine Anjou, Shorthorn, Galloway, South Devon, Simmental, Gelbvieh, Blonde d’Aquitaine, Braunvieh, British White, Bonsmara, Belgian Blue, Scottish Highland, Texas Longhorn, Chianina, Brahman, Brangus, Santa Gertrudis, Beefmaster, Droughtmaster, and many others.

There are four types of beef breeds: British breeds, for those who originated in the U.K (Scotland, England, Ireland), the Continental breeds, for those who originated in parts of Europe (France, Spain, Germany, Holland, Denmark, Switzerland, etc.), Composites, for those who are comprised of more than one breed (Brangus, Santa Gertrudis, Beefmasters, Senepols, etc.) and the Exotic breeds, for those who are more rarely used for beef, no matter where they are from (Highland cattle, Dexters, Texas Longhorn etc.). The exception for all of the above is the Brahman breed, which originated in America. The Brahman is considered the fourth type of beef breed because it is a different species from the other common beef breeds.

The most common breed in the world is the Holstein. She can produce around 10,000 gallons of milk per year.

There are far more horned breeds of cattle than “naturally polled.” The naturally polled breeds are Angus, Red Angus, Galloway, Belted Galloway, British White, Speckle Park, Brangus, Murray Grey, American White Park, Amerifax, Red Poll, and Senepol.

A number of breeds that have been used in the past 100 years for modern beef production have been selected to “naturally” have no horns, which is a part from their history of being predominantly horned. Such breeds are Charolais, Simmental, Main Anjou, Gelbvieh, Salers, Beefmaster, Santa Gertrudis, Braford, Charbrah, Hereford, Shorthorn, Devon, South Devon, Tuli, and Dexter.

Many breeds are most noted for their horns. These include Texas Longhorn, Scottish Highland, English Longhorn, Ankole-Watusi, Spanish Fighting Cattle, Corriente, Criollo, Heck Cattle, Florida Crackers/Pineywoods, Dexters, Herefords, White Park, Hungarian Grey, Afrikaner, Milking Devon, and Sanga, to name some.

Cows are used for much more than food (meat and milk). Leather, bones, gelatin, and other parts of the bovine is used in everything from construction materials to furniture to pharmaceuticals.

Cows can live, on average, up to 15 to 20 years of age. Cattle intended for meat often live only 2 or 3 years. Feedlot-finished cattle are slaughtered at 18 to 24 months of age; Grass-fed/finished cattle are slaughtered at 30 to 40 months old.

Cows can walk up stairs, but not down them. This is because they are more limited in movement in their front legs compared with the greater ease of movement of a dog or cat. They are also limited in their feet, having to stand on their human equivalent of tippy-toes (think of a ballerina) rather than on the “balls of their feet” (like a boxer).

Bulls (or any cattle in general) in the Spanish fighting ring do not charge at red. Rather, they are charging at the cape’s movement. Spanish fighting bulls have already been riled up with the prior “running of the bulls” through the streets, having people shout, jab, and tease or taunt them into charging them, coupled with their breeding to be half-feral, so they’re more than inclined to charge at anything that moves that they perceive as a threat. 

All cattle are colour-blind. They cannot see reddish hues. They can only see bluish or yellowish hues.

Cow-tipping is pure myth. Cows are not inanimate objects, nor are they slow and stupid to know if and when a drunken, or very stupid (or both) brazen human is running at them to try to prove this urban legend true. They are prey animals, quite perceptive of their surroundings (including the docile ones), and will move surprisingly quickly out of the way at the last second when they sense or suddenly see something coming at them that shouldn’t! They’re also really tough to topple over (if said dumb human actually successfully makes contact), because they can quickly move their feet to right themselves, or simply be in the process of making a fast getaway, causing said dumb human to fall and hurt themselves, and receive a bit of humiliation in front of their friends.

Cattle do not sleep standing up. They may lightly doze while chewing cud, but not get into a real sleep as horses do. Cattle need to lie down on their fronts, or even lie out on their sides, to get a good sleep. 

Hair or fur, it doesn’t matter. Cattle have both.

A cow has 206 bones, just like a human.

The average body temperature of a cow is 101.5 degrees Fahrenheit

A cow stands up and lies down about 14 times a day.

A cow gets up back-end first, followed by the front. She needs to rock herself to get her back feet up from under her, then pushes the rest of herself up with her front feet.

Cows are venerated in the Hindu religion of India.

Cows have an almost total 360-degree panoramic vision. They cannot see directly behind them, nor close in front of their noses, just like with horses.

Cows have an acute sense of smell and can smell something up to 6 miles away.

As of census from 2018, there are over 1.006 billion cows and cattle in the world. (source: http://beef2live.com/story-world-cattle-inventory-ranking-countries-0-106905)

The country with the most bovines in the entire world is India, with a population of 301 million head.

The oldest cow to date was Big Bertha, a Devon, which died just 3 months shy of her 49th birthday.

Cows produce around 90 percent of the milk in the world.

Dairy cows can produce up to 125 pounds of saliva a day.

A dairy cow can give nearly 200,000 glasses of milk in her lifetime.

A Holstein cow, named Robthom Suzet Paddy, holds the record for the greatest yield for a single lactation (365 days), at 59,298 pounds.

A cow named “Cow No. 289” holds the record for the highest lifetime yield of milk for a single cow, at 465,224 pounds.

The highest milk yield for a single day is 241 pounds, by a cow named Urbe Blanca.