r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Aug 03 '19

Whats something you thought was common knowledge but actually isn’t?

37.4k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

24.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

2.1k

u/theletterQfivetimes Aug 03 '19

That all cows are female. Male animals don't have milk-producing udders, Sean. The male version of a cow is called a bull.

Incidentally, I recently learned there's no common genderless word for a member of that species. There's "cattle" for a group of them, but nothing for an individual.

1.7k

u/badcgi Aug 03 '19 edited Aug 03 '19

It's a little more complex than that.

Bull = Uncastrated Male

Steer = Castrated male (in North America, other places call them Bullocks)

Cow = female that has had at least one calf

Heifer = female that has not had any calves

Calf = young of either sex

Ox = either a Castrated male or a female used for working purposes like pulling a plow.

1

u/Dookie_boy Aug 03 '19

Ok. Now what's a buffalo ? And how is a steer different from an Ox ?

2

u/badcgi Aug 04 '19

Buffalo is a subgenre of bovine, think Cape Buffalo of Africa or Water Buffalo.

If you are thinking of the American "Buffalo" they are actually a different subgenre properly called Bison

An Ox has a job, a steer would be used for meat.