# Cattle (singular) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 18, 2000, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cattle-singular/6355 "2000-01-18T04:05:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![frolix8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f04885/32.png) [@frolix8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/frolix8)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2000, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cattle-singular/6355/21 "2000-01-20T00:19:00Z")
Well, I grew up on a cattle ranch so I’ll throw in my 2 bits. If you see a single animal in the distance, you can say “who’s cow do you s’pose that is?”. If you are near enough to distinguish its sex and it’s really a bull or steer you will be ridiculed by your dad and all other male adults. It seems like among cattlemen “cow” is acceptable for a single animal if you don’t know the sex. It’s even more common to refer to them by size, as newborns, calves, yearlings, or feeders when they’re young. One last thought, when my relatives from town came out to visit us they seemed to have a driving need to “moo” at the cows. I often wondered what the cows thought of that. ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2000, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cattle-singular/6355/22 "2000-01-20T01:31:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by frolix8: > **One last thought, when my relatives from town came out to visit us they seemed to have a driving need to “moo” at the cows. I often wondered what the cows thought of that.** ## We have a resident expert on what cattle think. Just send a note to **Imthecowgodmoo** to get th Straight Dope. “To do her justice, I can’t see that she could have found anything nastier to say if she’d thought it out with both hands for a fortnight.” Dorothy L. Sayers _Busman’s Honeymoon_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cattle-singular/6355.md?page=1)