KINI
Where I grew up we said, “There’s a cow.” for the singular of any such creature that we saw out in a pasture regardless of sex.
That usage is supported by Merriam-Webster Collegiate definition no. 3 for “cow” - “a domestic bovine animal regardless of sex or age.”
It’s true of other birds as well:
Duck: drake (male), duck (female)
Goose: gander (male), goose (female)
Falcon: tercel (male), falcon (female)
That may be true in some areas of Australia, but certainly not all. The general usage in Australia, and the rest of the English speaking world, is that a steer is castrated prior to sexual maturity. A bullock is castrated after sexual maturity, often after 18 months.
The idea behind using bullocks for draught animals is that the animal develops the muscle mass and strength of a bull, but that castration makes them far more tractable, both highly desirable features.
A beef also has historical precedent behind it. I think John Donne or someone of his vintage used the term beef as a singular generic term for a bovine anmial.
So, how does ‘heifer’ fit into the scheme? What’s the male equivalent?
Females: calf - heifer - cow
Intact males: calf - ? - bull
Castrates: calf - steer - oxen
Or is this a case of something being so rare (since the vast majority of males are castarated) that there just isn’t a specific word?
A heifer is a female who has not yet been bred and had a calf. I’ve never heard a male equivalent.
It’s not quite that simple StarvingButStrong. Females are technically considered heifers until they drop there first calf, or are at least mated. It’s possible to have a 17 yo heifer. Castrated calves are still either steers or just calves. If they are castrated berfore maturity they remain steers until they die. It’s not an age thing. Enitire males start out as bul calves or bobbies ddepending on where and what for. They just prgress as entires until they become bulls at maturity. There has never been any real need to distingush between a virgin and non-virgin bull since it doens’t affect there eating quality and so no specific terms to differentiate ever developed,
So remember that, the next time someone tells you you’re as strong as an ox.
The human equivilant of “heifer” would be virgin, which, now that I think about it, is a unisex term…
Although, there is something called a “first-calf heifer”, which is a cow which has just had her first calf, but hasn’t started being milked for production yet. Generally this term is used when buying or selling.
But the term has always had sort of the flavor of “born-again virgin”…
“Stud” is just a generic term for a male animal of any species which is kept for purposes of breeding, so I don’t think we can count that as the male form of “dog” (for the curious, I think that the female non-species-specific equivalent is “slut”).
And “kine”, “bovine”, or “beef” will all work for a singular Bos, but none of them is the singular of “cattle”. “Kine” is the singular of “kine”, “bovine” is the singular of “bovines”, and “beef” is the singular of “beeves”.