cows
bulls
oxen
steers
heifers
calves
bullocks
bovines
bobby steers (I went to grade school with him!)
bollocks
buttocks
cattle
Bos
what am I leaving out?
One of these things is not like the others…
The hen.
To be fair, an animal meant to be an ox is probably a very different breed than your local milk cow. Domestic cattle are highly bred to task, and there is a strong physical difference. breeding for hard strong muscle vs milk production vs tender yummy muscle yields different forms.
Oh, and the chicken is the baby, the hen and the rooster are the Mommy and the Daddy respectively. Costanza is sick.
My daughter asked, as we drove past a field of cattle, why there were mummy cows and baby cows, but no daddy cows. I never thought of it like that before, it seemed sort of odd all of a sudden.
Daddy was busy.
The President and Mrs. Coolidge were being shown [separately] around an experimental government farm. When [Mrs. Coolidge] came to the cattle she noticed that a bull was mating very frequently. She asked the attendant how often that happened and was told, “Dozens of times each day.” Mrs. Coolidge said, “Tell that to the President when he comes by.” Upon being told, President asked, “Same cow every time?” The reply was, “Oh, no, Mr. President, a different cow every time.” President: “Tell that to Mrs. Coolidge.”
Also, there are species which are just called oxen, like the river ox and musk ox. Then the word applies to the whole species, not just the bastards who lost their marbles.
The babies are chicks. Chicks, hens and roosters are all chickens, just as calves, bulls and cows are all cattle.
Not the usage I’ve heard from people who actually raise them, but Webster agrees - sort of:
Oh, the hilarity that ensued when Cal *wasn’t *silent! 
Count me as another who thought oxen were different from cows.
So, now that we have tractors and trucks and whatnot, I guess it’s safe to assume we don’t have many oxen anymore and that most males are cattle and some very lucky souls remain bulls.
Is that correct?
It is a curious feature of modern English that there really isn’t a word for the animal that chews its cud and goes “Moo”.
You have a word for a male animal of that species, a word for the female animal, a word for the immature female, the immature male, the undifferentiated immature animal, the undifferentiated adolescent animal, the castrated male, the male animal used as a draft animal, the mature female who has not yet borne offspring, the infant animal used for food, and, finally, a word for an undifferentiated group of the animals.
However, there is no generic word for an unspecified, individual, animal.
It has been suggested that this species is unique in that the generic term for the animal is the term for the female of the species, and this is not implausible, but not entirely correct. It has also been suggested that the more or less archaic usage of “a beef” is another possibility, but this is certainly not modern English.
It is a conundrum.
I always liked beeve and beeves
It’s actually a template joke. You can insert your own favorite taciturn President.
There are still oxen at historical recreation museums, like Sturbridge Village.
I’ll bet there are still plenty of oxen in the US, although I don’t know why. I’m certain there are plenty of oxen elsewhere in the world. Oxen don’t require gasoline or regular mechanical maintenance, and can work on uneven surfaces. Better still, you can get them created and raised them organically!
Could this reflect the difference in importance and function of the different sexes and ages of the animal? If you rely on the animals for food, clothing, and labor on a daily basis, it probably doesn’t make much sense to think of them all the same. You got your female cattle, who provide milk and baby cattle. Then you got your adult intact male cattle, who help get the baby cattle started, but are rather dangerous and not good for much else. Your altered adult male cattle are strictly working beasts. The babies - if they aren’t destined to become one of the above - are tasty little things wrapped in nice leather.
It’s a bit like the old saw about how “Eskimos have 24 words for snow.” It’s not as simple as that, but people who have so much to gain or lose from (mis)understanding the nature of frozen precipitation are unlikely to talk about “snow” in generalities. They’re going to talk about “dry snow,” “wet snow,” “snow in flakes,” “snow in little pellets,” “snow on the ground,” “snow blowing around in the air,” and so one.
This is different from, say, pigs, who are generally destined to become food and skin, regardless of gender. Horses, too, are more interchangeable than cattle - stallions are generally stronger than mares and nastier than geldings, but all of them are perfectly capable of being good mounts or draft animals.
I think “commonly” refers to “as an adult” not “castrated” (i.e. some oxen may be rarely castrated as children).
You missed “beef,” which sometimes refers to the whole animal, especially when it’s ready for butchering, but more importantly you left out it’s fantastic plural, “beeves,” which I think deserves more frequent use. Beeves!
Thanks for the wit and wisdom all! SD needs a “Like” button!!! 
So what’s a “gentleman cow”?