Cows – A Summery
Before we discuss cows in more detail, we must establish the differences between Cows, Cattle and Bovine. Cows are female cattle. Cattle are a species cows are a part of. Bovine is the family Cattle are a part of, other members of this family include buffalo, yak,ox and bison.
Etymology
Bovine – The word bovine originates from the proto-indo-european word “Gwous” . This then transformed into the Latin word “Bos”. Later, this became the late Latin word “Bovinus”. Finally this word became the English word “Bovine”.
Cattle – The word cattle originates from the old French word “Chatel”. This then transformed to the Anglo-Norman French word “Catel”. Later, another “t” was added to the word to created the English word “Cattle”
Cow – The word cow originates from three different words:
- The old English word “Cū”
- The Dutch word “koe”
- The German word “kuh”
All of these words then combined to become the English word “Cow”
Breeds
The type of cow with white and black spots is called the Holstein Friesian. It is one of the most well known breeds of cow. They are predominantly used in the dairy farming industry. The do have horns, however they are unfortunatly removed most of the time
The Highland cow is a breed of cow that originates from the Scottish highlands. Highland cows are well known for having long thick fur. This fur is usually brown but can be other colours such as black. Luckily Highland cows are one of the few breeds of cow who’s horns are not usually removed for the purposes of farming. This differs to most other cow such as the Holstein Friesian whose horns are regularly removed due to the dairy farming industries standards. Just like all members of the bovine family, cattle do not shed their horns naturally. This means that if you see a cow without horns, they have been removed by humans.
This Venn Diagram shows the similarities and differences between cows and humans
Fun facts
The term for young cattle is calf
A group of cows is called a herd or drove
A cows maximum speed is 40 km/h
A young female cattle is a Heifer
A young male cattle is a Bullock
A castrated cattle is a Steer or Oxen
Cows have large stomachs with 4 chambers
Bulls are larger than cows
The largest cattle (chianina) can get up to 1.8m tall and up to 1280kg
Our Cow Images
