I’m not entirely sure where to start, and I’m certain that I’ll add to this list as the years go on- but for those of you unaccustomed to the speak of ranchers, farmers, cowgirls and horsemen, this could be a good place to start and come back to if you get confused by the lingo.
Horse- the general term for anything that is in the species Equine.
Foal- a baby horse, under a year old.
Colt- general term for a horse over a year old, but not yet 2.
Stud Colt- a term for a male horse, over a year old that has testicles.
Stallion/stud- a male horse that has testicles.
Gelding- a male horse, usually over a year old, that has no testicles. We have *gelded* him.
Filly- term for a female foal, under 2 years old.
Mare- term for a female horse, over 2 years old.
Futurity- an aged event for a horse; usually for horses that are 2, 3, 4 or 5 years of age.
Derby- an aged event for a horse; usually for horses that were futurity horses the year prior.
Barrel Race- an event in which only barrel racing is the only event.
Cow- the general term for anything that is in the species Bovine.
Calf- a baby cow.
Heifer- a female cow that has not yet had a calf.
First-Calf Heifer- a heifer that will have her first calf in the spring.
Cow- a mature female bovine (for purposes of this blog).
Steer- a mature male bovine that has had his been castrated.
Bull- if you people don’t know what a bull is, then you should get out more!
Pair- a cow/calf unit.
Branding- when the calves are branded by use of a hot iron. Branding helps ranchers identify their stock from that of their neighbors. Calves are also castrated at this time.
Pouring/Poured/Pour- a term that refers to the act of de-worming cattle by use of a drug such as Ivomec to rid them of internal parasites by pouring the chemical down their backs.
Tank/Dam- a (usually) man-made watering hole. Some people might call them ponds. They are called dams here, and tanks in Texas. Just a difference in regions, I guess.
Preg checking- either by ultra-sound machine or by using an arm (yes a human one) to see if the cow is going to calve in the following spring.
Calving- assisting and or checking on first-calf-heifers when they have their calf. Typically first calf heifers are 2year old.
