# A question best suited to a rancher or cowboy **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 21, 2018, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-best-suited-to-a-rancher-or-cowboy/810948 "2018-03-21T04:19:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RunSilent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e0b2c6/32.png) [@RunSilent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RunSilent)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-best-suited-to-a-rancher-or-cowboy/810948/21 "2018-03-21T15:49:42Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > The … lark. Not the… lark. It’s the… larch. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-best-suited-to-a-rancher-or-cowboy/810948/22 "2018-03-21T15:54:10Z")
> [@Steven\_Estes](#): > > The cowboy can tell it’s a cow or a bull—it has a lower centre of gravity than a horse–but not whether it’s a cow or a bull, because It is too far away to see horns or udders. There are many cows with horns around, and some bulls have balls that could [easily be mistaken for udders.](http://glimpse.clemson.edu/help-for-the-overheated-bull/) On the other hand, bulls are usually more massive than cows. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-best-suited-to-a-rancher-or-cowboy/810948/23 "2018-03-21T16:20:37Z")
I don’t know if this qualifies as ‘knowing the answer’ or ‘educated speculation’ but my dad was a rodeo cowboy (bareback rider) and worked at my hometown’s livestock exchange (sale barn) for 50 years and he just referred to them as cows or cattle. Also, when a farmer has an animal of the bovine persuasion that has escaped the pasture we just say he has a cow out. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-best-suited-to-a-rancher-or-cowboy/810948/24 "2018-03-21T16:54:19Z")
East of the Mississippi, we just called them all cows. That’s how I learned it. Of course, they were almost exclusively female, both the neighboring milking herds and our beef cattle. However, don’t call them “cowies”. I’m still living that down… ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-best-suited-to-a-rancher-or-cowboy/810948/25 "2018-03-21T19:06:57Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > I wish I could mention “kine” since I like that word, but like “cattle” it’s plural. More precisely, “kine” is the plural of “cow”, specifically. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-best-suited-to-a-rancher-or-cowboy/810948/26 "2018-03-21T21:06:04Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Anna Creek Station has ~20,000 cattle. I am pretty sure nobody knows all the bulls by name even if less than half are bulls. Less than half? :dubious: Good lord. We got to get you out of the house some more. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-best-suited-to-a-rancher-or-cowboy/810948/27 "2018-03-21T22:42:12Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Anna Creek Station has ~20,000 cattle. I am pretty sure nobody knows all the bulls by name even if less than half are bulls. A cattle ranch, or cattle station if you’re down under, doesn’t require a one-to-one ratio of cows to bulls. One randy bull could service quite a few cows, if that sort of thing were even allowed anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-best-suited-to-a-rancher-or-cowboy/810948/28 "2018-03-21T22:53:36Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > One randy bull could service quite a few cows, if that sort of thing were even allowed anymore. And surprisingly enough, it is [this](https://www.linkedin.com/in/randybull) one. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-best-suited-to-a-rancher-or-cowboy/810948/29 "2018-03-21T23:01:34Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > And surprisingly enough, it is [this](https://www.linkedin.com/in/randybull) one. I’m pretty sure there are laws against that. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-best-suited-to-a-rancher-or-cowboy/810948/30 "2018-03-22T02:33:30Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Anna Creek Station has ~20,000 cattle. I am pretty sure nobody knows all the bulls by name even if less than half are bulls. There are way less than half bulls. A common ratio is 1 bull to 25-30 cows, on operations that even use actual live cover anymore. Many cattle operations do not have any bulls at all – all the breeding is done by Artificial Insemination with cooled/frozen semen. This is especially common in dairy operations, with their longer-lived herds – you want to buy semen from a bull that is proven to sire cows that produce a lot of milk over their lifetime. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-best-suited-to-a-rancher-or-cowboy/810948/31 "2018-03-22T14:11:39Z")
Dont forget the silk of the kine (Ireland). People say “dog” for all the bitches too normally. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-best-suited-to-a-rancher-or-cowboy/810948/32 "2018-03-22T19:07:59Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > A beef. Or several beeves. That’s the way my Aunt Ivy said it, and she was a farmer for all of 100 years. “Imagine, not knowin’ a cockle from a whelk !” --Alan Jay Lerner “Imagine, not knowin’ a lark from a larch !” --Oliver Faltz ---
**Author:** ![oliversarmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/eb8c5e/32.png) [@oliversarmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oliversarmy)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2018, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-best-suited-to-a-rancher-or-cowboy/810948/33 "2018-03-23T02:00:46Z")
In my experience the conversation would go something like this: Cowboy 1: Is that one of ours? Cowboy 2: I can’t tell from here. Cowboy 1: Why’s it up there? Cowboy 2: I don’t know. Cowboy 1: Well, s\*\*\*, let’s go see. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2018, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-best-suited-to-a-rancher-or-cowboy/810948/34 "2018-03-23T03:37:55Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > A doggie is canis familiaris, which even the most nearsighted cowboy would be able to distinguish from bos taurus. A [dogie](http://www.dictionary.com/browse/dogie) is a motherless or neglected calf, which does not fit the OP. Huh, ignorance fought. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-best-suited-to-a-rancher-or-cowboy/810948.md?page=1)