A breeding herd consists of mother cows no younger than 2 years and bulls are present when necessary to produce calves at the desired time (usually spring when feed is good for milk production) and at a level to have 20 to 30 cows per bull. Calves are sold after weaning to produce income. Bull calves are castrated to become steers to be fattened for slaughter, some heifers are not bred and also are headed to the feedlots. These are stockers and seldom go beyond three years of age. Others are destined to be replacement cows (higher pedigrees are more desirable just as bloodlines are so important in selecting bulls). Mother cows are "retired" when they "skip"...fail to become pregnant...infertile cows are eating valuable feed...this can occur as early as ten years of age...but many cows continue having calves much longer...then the condition of their teeth may result in an inability to maintain body weight wile nursing a calve...they are also sold to slaughter, but not as prime beef!
Dairy cattle are for milk production, of course, but their "retirement" age is similar.
"Calf" is a generic term for newborn to yearling aged animals whose gender is not readily observable on the "range" just as "foal" is applied to horses until it becomes apparent they are "fillies" or "colts", the terms "heifers"and "bullcalves"are applied until puberty is reached. So the terms "Foals or Colts" and "Calves" are appropiate when a mixed group of young is discussed. After puberty they are stallions or bulls, if male, steers or geldings, if castrated and mares or cows, ready to produce offspring.
So "Cows" and "Bulls"can be around two to ten or even twenty years.
Young cows are called calves because the term comes from the Old Norse word "kalfi," which means young cow or young elk. Calves are typically born in the spring and are nursed by their mothers until they are weaned.
A young moose is called a calf The baby moose are called calves. (Female moose are called cows.)
in pens, stables or paddocks.
4 years young...
Brahman cows have been known to get as old as 20, if not 30 years old or more.
they have to be atleast 3 or 2 years old
the horriglaphacal explanation to the saying "old cows eat young cows" is that the physical qualities in the cow allow it to digest a younger calf, comparing the sizes of these two farm animals makes it possible for the bigger cow to eat the younger calf. I would highly doubt that the older cow would eat the younger calf though.
Heifers.
They aren't. Bulls are when they're quite young, but not cows.
Calves .
Young cows are called calves because the term comes from the Old Norse word "kalfi," which means young cow or young elk. Calves are typically born in the spring and are nursed by their mothers until they are weaned.
No. Cows are herbivores, not carnivores, so they don't eat stillborn young.
They will kill only the young calves, but never the adult cows.
Cows give milk to feed their young, but humans like it so we drink it too.
The females are cows, the males are bulls and the young are calves. Just like cattle.
Cows can range from 2 to 20 years of age or older.
It depends. Some, like lambs and calfs, are very young, while things like chickens and cows can be fairly mature.