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Veterinary Medicine vocabulary · Animals, Species and Breeds

Cattle

Meaning in veterinary medicine, with examples

/ˈkætəl/nounCore term

In veterinary medicine, cattle means: Cows, bulls, steers and calves kept for milk or meat. It is a plural noun with no singular form.

In Turkish: sığır, sığırlar, büyükbaş hayvan

How it is used

Always plural: the cattle are, never 'a cattle' or 'cattles'. For one animal say a cow, a bull, a heifer or a head of cattle. Vets split the work into dairy cattle and beef cattle; the adjective is bovine.

Example sentences

  1. The cattle are housed indoors from November to April.

  2. He runs a beef unit with about three hundred head of cattle.

Common collocations

  • dairy cattle
  • beef cattle
  • head of cattle
  • cattle movement
  • cattle shed
  • herdA group of animals of one kind that live, feed or are farmed together, especially cattle, goats, pigs or horses.
  • ruminantA plant-eating animal with a four-compartment stomach that chews the cud, such as cattle, sheep, goats and deer.
  • calvingThe process of a cow giving birth to a calf. The verb is calve, and the time of year when the cows give birth is the calving season.
  • mastitisInflammation of the udder or mammary gland, usually caused by bacterial infection. It is one of the most common and costly diseases of dairy cows.
  • livestockAnimals kept on farms to produce meat, milk, eggs, wool or other products, such as cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and poultry.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Animals, Species and Breeds

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not medical advice.