Translations For 'Cow' & Other Cow-Related Words

The books 'Biggest Mobs - Longest Shadows, 'Life as an Australian Horseman' and 'A Million Acre Masterpiece' contain more than 800 photos taken on almost 60 of Australia's largest and most famous outback cattle stations. The photos are accompanied by interesting captions explaining Australian cattle station work. 'A Million Acre Masterpiece' also has a glossary explaining many unique Australian outback words and expressions used to describe various types of cattle, such as: ‘cleanskin’, ‘forest gnome’, ‘killer’, ‘piker’, ‘poddy’, ‘scrubber’, ‘stranger’ and  ‘micky’.

As is the case in many countries, many of these very specific terms are only understood by those working in the industry.

Below are words for ‘cow’ in different languages. These translations have been gathered from various references plus an amazingly comprehensive site that listed the word for ‘cow’ in more than 500 different languages and dialects, called "Just Cows/Solo Vacas". This list was compiled be Eduardo Tobar of Madrid (Spain). Thanks to Eduardo for permission to quote some of the information he gathered.  Unfortunately Eduardo's original list is no longer online.

If you would like to help others by suggesting additions or corrections (including punctuation, plurals etc), please do send them to me.  Thank you!

Words for ‘Cow’ in Other Languages

Explanations for many uniquely Australian outback, cattle-related words are found in the glossary in the  book A Million Acre Masterpiece — Images of Australia's largest cattle stations.

Other Cow-related Words Used on Cattle Stations (Ranches)

Words for unbranded and feral cattle:

• ‘cleanskin’ — Australia (cattle with no brand)
• 'scrubber' — Australia (cunning wild cattle that hide in scrub)
• ‘maverick’ — U.S.
• 'ladinos' — southern U.S., eg Texas ('ladinos' means cunning brush-dwelling wild cattle)
• 'cimarron' — American Spanish found in southern U.S., eg Texas, and Mexico. 'Cimarron' means wild, unbroken, untamed; and is used to refer to all livestock; such as horses, cattle, sheep, pigs etc.
• ‘orejanos’ — Spanish-speaking South American countries
• 'bigua' — Brazilian Portuguese

Words for gathering the cattle together into a mob:

• ‘muster’ — Australia
• ‘roundup’ & 'herding' — U.S. & Canada
• 'rodear' — southern/most heavily Spanish influenced U.S. (historical term, meaning to circle round/gather in; which evolved into the word 'rodeo')
• 'reuniendo' — Mexico
• ‘acubilar’ — Spanish-speaking South American countries
• ‘repuntar la hacienda’ — Argentina
• 'ajuntar' or 'tocar' — Brazil

Words for a group of cattle:

• ‘mob’ — Australia - beef cattle. Dairy cattle - herd or mob.
• ‘herd’ — U.S.
• 'hato' — Mexico
• 'rebanho' — Brazil
• ‘ganado’ or ‘hacienda’ — Argentina
• 'vacada' — some Spanish-speaking South American countries
• ‘los ganados’ — means ‘the cattle’ in Spain and Spanish-speaking South American countries

Words for a group of cattle that take fright and rush off (most likely to be in the middle of the night):

• ‘rush’ — Australia
• ‘stampede’ — U.S.
• ‘estampida’ — Spanish

Words for cattlework:

• castrating, dehorning, vaccinating, branding, earmarking, tagging etc (no single term to sum this veterinary treatment & identification procedures up, other than 'yardwork' or 'branding') — Australia
• 'doctoring' — U.S., Canada

Words for a track made by cattle:

• ‘pad’ — Australia
• ‘trail’ — U.S. & Canada
• ‘cañadas’ — Spain

Terms for cow dung:

• 'cow pat' - Australia
• 'cow pie', when fresh, & 'cow chip' when dry - Canada

Standard basic Australian terms for cattle (bovines):

• Cow — adult female ('une vache' — French; 'vaca' — Spanish)
• Bull — adult or young adult male ('un taureau' — French; 'toro' — Spanish; 'touro' Portuguese; Portugaul & Brazil)
• Bullock — adult male that has been castrated (testicles have been removed, so it cannot breed).
• Stag - adult male that hasn't been castrated properly (more commonly used on large northern cattle stations)
• Steer — young adult male that has been castrated
• Heifer — young adult female that is old enough to breed, or nearly so. Heifers have not had a calf, or they have only just had one.
• Weaner - a calf that is old enough to be weaned (separated) from its mother
• Calf — baby bovine (far too young to breed)
• Poddy calf — a calf that has lost its mother so it has been handfed — usually starting on milk, then hay and/or calf pellets (or just good grass). Ordinary calves are sometimes referred to as 'poddies' too, especially if they've got the pot belly typical of a hand-reared calf (which rarely look as muscly and well-proportioned as calves reared by their mothers). 'Poddy dodging' is flogging (stealing) calves (usually neighbours).
• Cracker cow (northern Australia only) — scrubby, poor quality cow good for not much at all (usually too bony even for the meatworks). Interestingly, 'cracker cow' is a term also used in Florida and southern Georgia (U.S.) to mean a poor quality scrub beast.  More words used only on large cattle stations in Northern Australia can be found in the glossary of the book 'A Million Acre Masterpiece', and other terms appear in the other books - 'Life as an Australian Horseman' and 'Biggest mobs - Longest Shadows'.
• 'cattle' — plural. ('betail' — French)

There are also different nicknames for breeds; for example, Santa Gertrudis cattle are called 'Santas' in Australia, and 'Gerts' in America.

SHEEP

I've tacked on a sheep section, as I've been asked a lot about different sheep terminology and there's interesting variations across the world.

The term for a cast sheep (which can't get up off the ground - lying on it's back or side)

• Riggwelter, parts of England (eg Lincolnshire & Yorkshire) & Canada (Alberta)
• Kessin, Lake District of England
• Cowped, Scotland

Ram

• Tup, UK

Heft - UK term; refers to sheep born & bred in a particular area, that willingly stay in the same area, though unfenced. (Cattle have the same habit.)

Please note - the text on these translation pages is protected by copyright laws, like the rest of the website.

Many hours of work have been spent compiling these pages of translations, cross checking as much as possible, to ensure accuracy. But because I am not a linguistics expert all words and meanings translated here should be cross checked with other sources before being quoted, because I am not able to guarantee there are no errors.

To see more than 800 fascinating images illustrating life and landscapes on almost 60 of the world's largest cattle stations (ranches), with interesting captions, see the unique books 'Biggest Mobs - Longest Shadows', 'Life as an Australian Horseman' & 'A Million Acre Masterpiece'.