What Is the Difference Between a Cow and a Bull? Cattle Terms

Cattle terms at a glance

Farmers use precise words for cattle depending on sex, age and whether a male has been castrated:

Cow vs bull: the main differences

Sex and role. A cow is female and produces milk after giving birth; a bull is male and is used to sire calves. Most farms keep many cows and only one or a few bulls, and many dairy farms keep no bull at all, using artificial insemination instead.

Body shape. Bulls are much more muscular than cows, with thicker bones, larger feet, a heavy crest of muscle on the neck and a broad, bony head. Many have a curly “mane” of hair on the head and neck. Cows have a lighter build, narrower head and an udder with four teats.

Weight. Bulls are usually about the same height as cows of their breed or a little taller, but far heavier. In the Hereford breed, cows weigh 600–800 kg (1,300–1,800 lb) and bulls 1,000–1,200 kg (2,200–2,600 lb). See How much does a cow weigh? for other breeds.

Horns. Contrary to a common belief, horns are not a sign of a bull. In horned breeds both sexes grow them; bulls’ horns tend to be thicker and shorter, often curving outward, while cows’ horns are often longer and lyre-shaped. Naturally hornless cattle are called polled.

Temperament. Bulls are more likely to be aggressive, especially dairy-breed bulls, and they cause a large share of serious livestock injuries to farm workers. Cows are usually calmer, but a cow with a young calf can be very protective. Walkers in the countryside should keep their distance from both.

Heifer, steer, ox and calf explained

A heifer is a young female before her first calf. On dairy farms heifers usually calve for the first time at about 2 years old and then become cows. Some farmers say “first-calf heifer” until she has her second calf.

A steer in American English, or bullock in British English, is a male castrated as a calf. Castration makes males calmer and easier to handle, and nearly all male cattle that are not needed for breeding are castrated and raised for beef. A male castrated late, after he has developed bull features, is sometimes called a stag.

An ox is defined by its job rather than its sex: it is a mature bovine trained as a draft animal. Most oxen are castrated males because they are large and docile, but cows and bulls are also worked in parts of Asia and Africa. In New England, young castrated cattle in training are called working steers and are considered oxen once fully trained, at about four years old.

Is there a word for one cattle?

English has no everyday singular for cattle. “Cow” is technically female, and “bull” male, so people fall back on “a head of cattle,” “a bovine,” or, in British and Australian farming slang, “a beast.” Old English had the plural kine (cows) and the word neat for cattle, both now archaic, and “neat” survives in “neatsfoot oil.”

Because “cow” is the most familiar word, it is often used loosely for any cattle, and people may call a bull or a steer a “cow.” In everyday speech that is fine, but in farming the difference matters.

British vs American usage

Most terms are shared, but a few differ:

• Steer is standard in North America; bullock is the usual word in Britain, Ireland and Australia. In the US, “bullock” sometimes means a young bull instead.
• In Britain, “cattle” and “cows” are used in much the same way in everyday speech, and store cattle are young animals sold for fattening.
• In Australia, a wild, young, unbranded bull is called a micky.

“Bull” and “cow” in other animals

The same words are used for many other large mammals. Males of bison, buffalo, elephants, whales, seals, moose and giraffes are called bulls, and the females are cows. That is why you will read about bull and cow American bison or bull African buffalo, even though they are not cattle. Their young are usually called calves.