Did you read The Berenstein Bears books when you were a kid?
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No. Nobody did. 
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Luke, I am your father.
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Funny you mentioned them. Hadnât heard of them til last weekend. A couple of the grand nieces were reading them.
No they werenât
They might have been reading The Berenstain Bears though.
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Ox are just cows, usually castrated males
I donât think itâs âusuallyâ. I think the definitional difference between a bull and an ox is that a bull is in tact whereas an ox is castrated.
Not per wikipedia
Interesting. So oxen is the plural form? I have used that as plural for lots of male and female cows.
Cattle is the word youâre looking for.
I have used them interchangeably.
(Also âmale cowâ is an oxymoron as a cow is definitionally female.)
Cattle = males, females, young, old
Bull = in tact male
Ox = castrated adult male used for work*
Steer = castrated male raised for beef
Cow = adult female (in dairy cows this usually implies having already given birth and producing milk)
Heifer = young adult female who has not yet given birth
Calf = under 1 year old
Bull calf = male under 1
Heifer calf = female under 1
In calf = preggers
Jersey, Holstein = common dairy breeds in U.S.
Angus, Hereford, Longhorn = common beef breeds in U.S.
*except Wikipedia seems to have a broader definition of ox. Oxen are usually dairy breeds: when a dairy cow would birth a bull calf (useless for producing milk) sometimes the farmer would castrate it and use it for work around the farm. Oxen and veal are essentially byproducts of the dairy industry ⌠a way to do something with all of the superfluous males.
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And one more:
The singular of cattle is neat. I learned this from a vet friend who said a professor gave them a test which included a question about the bloodwork from a neat and everyone was baffled as they didnât even know what species they were dealing with.
I can honestly say Iâve never heard that. Iâve heard of just using âcattleâ as a singular, kind of like âfishâ, or just specifying âbullâ, âoxâ, âsteerâ, âheiferâ, âcowâ, âcalfâ as applicable.
So thatâs my TIL!
What about the Weinhard?
TIL an ox is a former bull
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Sort of. Technically a bull could mean any in tact male, but typically youâd use âbull calfâ to refer to a youngster. And I think they typically castrate around 2-3 months old, before the calf has matured into a full grown bull.
Ah thatâs fair. Yes I can imagine castrating a full grown bull would be rather difficult.
And one more:
A plural of cow is kine, which doesnât share any letters with the singular.
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Plus the main point is to do it early before they become aggressive. I donât know how effective it is to castrate a mature bull.