Cattle
From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change
Cattle are animals which are mammals and belong to the genus Bos. The word cattle is in the plural, meaning "some cattle" or "many cattle". There is no way of saying "one cattle", except to say "cow" or "bull" or "ox".
Cattle are large grass-eating animals with hoofs that are divided into two parts. They have horns which are a simple shape, usually curved upwards but sometimes down. They usually stay together in groups called herds. One male, called a bull will usually have a number of female cows in a herd. The cows give birth to one calf a year. The calves have long strong legs and can walk a few minutes after they are born, so they can follow the herd.
Cattle are native to most tropical and subtropical parts of the world except Australia and New Zealand. Cattle have been domesticated for about 7,000 years. They are used for milk, for meat, for transport and for power.
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[change] Word use
The word cattle has been used in English for about 1,000 years and the meaning has changed. In books that are written in Old English, such as the King James Version of the Bible, the word is used for all sorts of farm animals, including horses, sheep and goats. The word comes from the Old French word, chattels, meaning all the things that a person owns.
The word cattle is used for some wild animals as well as for domesticated cattle. Wild cattle include the Water Buffalo from South East Asia, the Musk Ox andYak from Central Asia, the Bison of North America and Europe and the African Buffalo. The last Aurochs, wild cattle of Europe, were killed in Masovia, Poland in 1627.
- This article uses the word cattle in the modern way.
- This article is about the domestic farm animal, and not the wild cattle which are still found in some parts of the world.
[change] Cattle vocabulary
A male is called a bull. A female is called a cow. A baby is called a calf. Two or more babies are calves. A young female that has not had a calf is called a heifer, (pronounced "heffer").
Because many cows will form a herd with one bull, most male cattle are used for meat. They are castrated by removing the testicles. A castrated male is called a steer or an ox. Steer is the usual word for beef cattle. Ox is the usual word for working cattle.
The adjective that is used to describe something that is like a cow or an ox is "bovine".
The words "cow", "bull" and "calf" are also used to describe some other large animals that are not related to cattle, such as elephants, moose and whales.
[change] Biology
Cattle can be found across the world, from snowy Scotland to the dry inland of Australia. Different types of cattle are suited to different environments. Their large wide hoofs are good in both wet areas and dry grassland. Their hairy coat grows much longer in the winter and has an extra fluffy layer to hold the warmth. Most cattle do not sweat, but their wet nose is a cooling system.
Cattle can make a range of noises, usually a gentle "Moo!" When they are angry or upset, they can bellow loudly.
Cattle are grass-eating animals. They are ruminants which means that they have more than one stomach and they digest their food very well. Cattle have very strong tongues and strong lower front teeth that help them to eat grass. After a cow has eaten and is resting, they return the grass from their stomach to their mouth and grind it with their very large back teeth to get all the nourishment from it. This is called "chewing the cud". Other ruminants like deer also do this. It means that cattle do not need as much food as horses, even though they are about the same size.
Female cattle, or cows, have large breasts called "udders" which are under the belly and partly between the back legs. The udder is divided into four parts, each with a large "teat" for feeding the calf. Cows usually make more milk than they need for one calf. If the milk is regularly taken from the cow, be hand or by machine, the cow makes more milk. Cows that have a lot of milk are used as dairy cows.
Male cattle, or bulls, can be fierce and dangerous. In the wild, they fight over the herds of cows and use their horns to gore each other. They also protect the herds from other animals such as wolves, jackals and lions. On farms, bulls are usually quieter and can be led by their owners, but they can be aggressive with other bulls and with strangers who might go near the herd.
For this reason, most male cattle are either sent to the butcher while they are still calves or are castrated so that they are not likely to fight. Young steers, or castrated males, can be safely kept together in herds until they are sent to the market for meat.
[change] Uses of cattle
Ever since people started using cattle in Prehistoric times, cattle have been seen as a sign of wealth. In many countries today, particularly in Africa and Asia, a person's wealth is judged by the number of cattle they owned.
Cattle are very useful animals. Their flesh can be eaten as meat. Their milk can be drunk and turned into cheese and yogurt. Their skin can be used as leather. They can pull carts and plows. They can make the power to turn flour mills or pump water. The food that they eat is not expensive.
[change] Dairy cattle
Dairy cattle are kept specially for milking. Herds of cows are kept and are regularly mated with a bull, so that they produce calves. This keeps the milk supply going.
Cows can be milked by hand, but in many countries where there are large dairies, the cows are milked by milking machine. The milk is collected in stainless steel containers and is taken by truck to the Milk Factory to be treated so that any germs are killed. The milk is also separated to remove most of the cream. It is then put into bottles or cartons to be sold. Some milk is turned into cheese and some is turned into yogurt. The cream is also put into bottles and sold. Milk factories often make ice cream as well.
Large dairy herds are usually kept in places where there is a good supply of grass and the fields are quite small. This is because the cows are brought in for milking every day.
Many types of cattle are used for milk. They include:-
- the Holstein-Friesian, which is black and white with short inward-curving horns.
- the Ayshire, which is very large, red and white with long up-curving horns.
- the Australian Illawarra Shorthorn, which is usually red with short inward-curving horns.
- the Jersey, which is small and dun-colored with black legs and eye patches. They do not give as much milk as the other breeds, but it is famous for the amount of cream.
- the Guernsey, which is pale red and white, and also give a lot of cream.
- the Swiss, which is short-legged and grey, and famous for the sweetness of its milk.
[change] Beef cattle
Beef cattle are kept specifically to provide meat. Steers are the best for this purpose because they can be kept in herds, without fighting each other. The cows of beef cattle are used to raise calves for meat. They are not usually used for milk, although some types of cattle, such as the Red Devon are used for both.
Beef cattle can be let loose to graze over a big area, because they don't have to be brought in every day like dairy cattle. The biggest farms in the world are cattle stations in Australia, ranches in North America and ranchos in Latin America where they run beef cattle.
Until the mid 20th century, beef cattle were often sent to market on the hoof. Cowboys or drovers would herd the cattle along the roads to the cattle markets in big towns. In Australia, sometimes the cattle would travel for hundreds of miles along roads known as Travelling Stock Routes. Big herds would have thousands of head of cattle. (Cattle are counted by the "head".) Nowadays cattle are usually sent to the market in huge lorries known as road-trains.
The meat of a young beast is called veal and from an older beast, beef. Meat that is cut into flat pieces for frying or grilling is called steak. Every part of a beast can be used. The skin becomes leather. The meat which is not used by humans becomes pet food and everything that is left over becomes garden fertilizer.
Types of cattle that are used for beef:-
- Hereford, which are large red and white cattle, with white faces and spreading horns. Some Herefords have no horns.
- Aberdeen Angus, which are small black cattle. Hereford heifers are often mated with an Angus bull so that their first calf is small and easy to give birth to.
- Brahmans are very large cattle originating in Asia. Unlike most cattle they have humps to store food and can sweat in hot weather. Brahmans are often crossed with other breeds to give Brahfords and Brangus.
[change] Oxen
Oxen are cattle trained as work animals. The word "ox" is used to describe just one. They are usually castrated males (steers), but in many poor countries, dairy cows are also used for work.
Usually, an ox is over four years old and grown to full size when it begins to work. Oxen are used for pulling plows and wagons, for hauling heavy loads like logs, for grinding grain by trampling it or for powering different machines such as mills and irrigation pumps.
Oxen are most often used in teams of two for light work such as plowing. In past days, very large teams of fourteen to twenty oxen were used for heavy work such as logging. The oxen are put into pairs and each pair must work together. A wooden yoke is put about the neck of each pair, so that the work is shared across their shoulders. Oxen are chosen from calves with horns, since the horns hold the yoke in place when the oxen lower their heads, back up or slow down.
Oxen must be trained from a young age. The owner must make or buy as many as a dozen yokes of different sizes as the animals grow. Ox teams are steered by shouted commands, whistles or the noise of a whip crack. Men who drove ox teams were called teamsters in America, wagoners in Britain, or in Australia, bullockies. Many bullockies and teamsters were famous for their voices and for their foul language.
Oxen can pull harder and longer than horses, especially for very large loads. They are not as fast as horses, but they are less often injured. Many oxen are still in use all over the world, especially in poor countries.
[change] Traditions
- According to Hinduism, the cow is holy, and should not be eaten: "the cow is our Mother, for she gives us her milk." See: sacred cow.
- In Portugal, Spain and some Latin American countries, bulls are used for the sport of bullfighting. In many other countries, this is illegal.
- A mistaken idea about cattle (mostly bulls) is that they become angry when they see the color red]. This is not correct. Cattle cannot see tell red from greencolors, and probably have limited other color vision. This mistake comes from Matadors (bull-fighters), that have always used red cloth to make bulls attack, in Spanish-speaking culture. But really, red is only used as a tradition. The movement of the cape is why bulls attack.
- The ox is one of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. See: Ox (Zodiac).
- The constellation Taurus represents a bull.
[change] Some close-up pictures
 A cow's face has thick hair, wide mouth for eating grass, wet nose, big eyes with long lashes, large ears that can turn, and horns - photo Pikaluk. |
 This new-born calf has been licked clean by its mother. White Park Cattle cattle have black noses and ears. They are a rare breed. |
 A calf suckling from a cow's udder. |
 A milking machine has cups which fit onto the cow's teats and suck the milk through tubes to a large container. At milking time, the cows often line up near the dairy shed. |
 When cattle have eaten, they often lie down to re-chew the grass they have swallowed. |
 This is a cross-bred bull with a hump and smooth coat of a Brahman. |
 The wild cattle of Europe, Aurochs, are extinct but cattle have been bred that are like the wild aurochs. |
 In some countries Bullfighting is a sport. Different places have different rules about whether the bulls get killed. |
[change] Other websites
- Cattle Breeds website - Oklahoma State University
- PBS Nature: Holy Cow (about cows in general)
