Q&A for How to Tell the Difference Between Bulls, Cows, Steers and Heifers

Angus. The scurs are very likely to come from some breed that had horns that was used to "breed up" a supposedly "closed-book" breed, such as Jersey or Shorthorn, or even another continental breed to encourage bigger and blacker cattle.

Calves weaned off their dam are typically 6 months old (though they can range from 4 to 10 months old), and calves weaned off the bottle are typically 2 to 3 months old.

If a cow lived to 15 years old, she could have had 13 calves.

Not a freemartin calf, though a heifer may be a decent idea. There's no real need to treat with hormones (but talk to your veterinarian to see what they say), because she will still be able to detect heat and ride those in heat like any female bovine with no bull present will. Gomer bulls (bulls made sterile) have a halter with a chalk chin ball on to mark cows and heifers that are in heat, so you can use that on the freemartin. If the freemartin is a legitimate hermaphrodite, that's an even greater use for heat detection.

The sac is just the scrotum, and will eventually shrink (if the castration was done right) so that the fluid will not accumulate in the sac, but run out. So yes, it's normal for the steer to have what's called a "cod" remaining post-castration.

Most heifers are about 2 years old when they calve.

Luck, really. The sperm cell with the X chromosome buries itself first into the ovum of the cow. Like with humans, the female bovine has two X sex chromosomes, and the male has an X and a Y chromosome. Whether the calf ends up being male or female depends on which sperm cell (and there's a a multitude of these haploid X vs. Y sex cells) gets to the egg (ovum) first.

Yes. Regardless of the breed, both male and female cattle are capable of having horns. What determines presence of horns is genetics. Horns are deemed a recessive gene, and polled (naturally hornless) dominant, meaning that if the polled gene is present in the parents, then the offspring have a significant chance of being horned too. The gene for horns is not sex-linked like in cervids (deer, elk, moose) or in antelope.

Humans have to castrate him (surgically remove the testicles) some time after birth. There's no other natural way it can be done.

Age of the beast, genetics, and drought conditions can cause the toughness of muscle mass. So can over-cooking.

It is the same as a cow's: smooth-ish with some roughness to it. You'd be feeling the fur or hair, though, which is relatively smooth - especially if he's wearing a short summer coat.

Testosterone. Testosterone acts as the secondary sex hormone that helps bulls build muscle and increase in frame. Steers do not have testes for this, so they will grow slower and put more fat on.

Yes, he can unless there was some sort of obstruction. Have the bull checked out by a vet, who may also be able to advise on whether or not the castration should be completed under general anesthetic or bred from (whatever is most suitable to your farm needs).

It is impossible for a heifer that is born by itself (no twin) to be a hermaphrodite. What you may be thinking as a "penis" is in fact not at all. The vulva tip extends down from the vaginal opening, this is completely normal. If the heifer is a Brahma-cross type, the flap of skin at her belly is merely a flap of skin, not a sheath. The penis of a bull is tucked up inside the body cavity, it almost never hangs out like a male human, and if it does, it hangs down from the belly via the hairy prepuce, and is noticeably pink. Therefore yes, your heifer will be fertile.

There is no difference in texture whatsoever. Texture is primarily determined by how you cook the meat, the amount of intramuscular fat within the meat (very little difference between bulls and steers), and the way the animal was treated just before slaughter. Rough treatment gives tougher meat, versus gentle treatment giving tender meat.

Holsteins are the most popular breed used for milk production.

Steers have already been defined in the article above, but "bullock" means a young bull, or in some countries, a steer.

There is no difference between steer or heifer for using to graze your land. It just depends on what you want to do with these animals. A steer is ideal for butchering later for the freezer, whereas a heifer you can breed to get a calf to either butcher or keep (if the calf's female) as other breeding stock.

Its easier to control the cow. For example, if you have to bring it in for a checkup, you simply get a rope and feed it through the nose ring.

Still a milk cow. Sorry. There's no name for a milk cow with a black udder. You'd be better off going by breed: Certain breeds with this characteristic are Kerry cattle, Canadienne cattle (the latter two breeds very likely), Dutch Belted (most are part-black, some all-black), Holsteins/Friesians (rare), Angus-Holstein crossbreds (definitely), and Holstein-Jersey crossbreeds (commonly).

Long-haired steer are either Galloway or Scottish Highland breeds.

Chalk it up to a combination of curiosity and no fear of humans. To this cow you're a stranger, but a human nonetheless, and by smelling you, she gathers information about you (just like a dog does when it sniffs your hand or shoes) to better know who you are, where you've been, and whether you're a friend or someone to merely tolerate for the time being. It's her version of getting to know you, compared with how we get to know other people by talking to them. Since she can't talk, scent and body language is the best communication tool for her. She means absolutely no harm, even though her size and the fact that she came to you seems pretty intimidating!

There are some clear symptoms. First, the bull will be in posture the bull will frequently tried to mount the cow most of the time and the cow won't hold the weight of the bull until reaching a point at the hours of the heat period called standing heat this means that the cow will be willing to tolerate the weight of the bull without moving. Second, there will be mucus discharge, it can happen during the day of the heat symptoms and also it can happen the next day. Third, the cow won't eat very much and will be very restless and sometimes she'll start making loud calls. Four, there will be swelling of the genital area but this isn't precise indicator because there's some diseases cause inflammation that gives the same result.

That's mean that the bull is in heat period. And extra caution is required because the bull will be aggressive at this period. And you should release him with a cow in heat too.

Yes, more than one name actually. One instance is a "gomer bull." These bulls are often used to help with heat detection of cows and heifers in an artificial insemination breeding program. Typically such bulls have been seen as not useful for breeding, but are gentle enough to handle that they've been made sterile by a vet. Another term for a bull that is sterile because his testicles haven't descended normally (one or both) is often called a crypto bull, short for "cryptorchodism." Other names often used include an infertile bull, a sterile bull, a bull that's shooting blanks, a useless bull, the list goes on!

A stag is a male intact deer. It is also known as a buck. Stags can only produce offspring by breeding with hinds, which are female deer (also called does), who get impregnated by the stag and give birth several months later. Stags cannot breed bovine cows and produce offspring. Such a breeding is impossible due to the fact that there is quite a bit of genetic difference between cattle and deer.