Kentucky  - Our Place in the World    
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Although, all cattle are sometimes called "cows", an actual cow is the mature female of the species. Young cattle are called calves and males are either bulls or steers. (A large steer can weigh up to 4000 pounds and a cow can live up to 25 years.)

Once consider a form of wealth, cattle ownership and farming continues to increase across the state of Kentucky, with the cash receipts from cattle gradually edging closer to those of tobacco, as tobacco farming is phased out. Kentucky now produces more beef cattle than any state east of the Mississippi and ranks 8th nationally in sales of beef cows and 11th in all cattle and calves.

Another domesticated animal whose populations are growing in the state are goats.

Goat farming in Kentucky has grown over 300% in the last 10 years and continues to climb as former tobacco farmers seek alternatives. As there is only a small percentage of overlap in the dietary preferences of cattle and goats, the two types of animals can readily share the same lands.

The domestic goat is a close relative of the sheep, yet they differ from sheep in several ways, one of which is that the male goats -- bucks, or billies, as they are called, grow beards. The female is called a doe, or a nanny, and a baby goat is a kid. The nanny carries her young for approximately 150 days before giving birth. She will usually give birth to twins and sometimes triplets.

Despite their reputation for eating anything, goats prefer certain types of plant material for their diet and will eat noxious weeds and brush that can be harmful to cattle and other domesticated animals. They are a curious animal and will use their upper lip and tongue to explore various materials, giving the appearance of eating. Like cattle, goats are ruminants, having four seperate chambers in their stomach, and are cud chewers.

Records indicate that the goat was domesticated approximately 10,000 years ago in Iran and has since been farmed worldwide for their milk, meat, hair and skin.

Milk goats are bred for milk for drinking and processing into cheese, goat butter, and ice cream.

Goat skins are used to make boots, gloves, and other soft leather products.

Some types of goats are bred for their hair, such as the Angora for mohair and the Cashmere for the cashmere fabric of the same name. The goats are not killed, but instead sheared or combed, like their cousins the sheep.

The domestic sheep is also a woolly ruminant. The female is called a ewe and males are either rams or wethers. Baby sheep are lambs.

Sheep are raised for their milk, meat, and wool, but are not generally a viable farm product in Kentucky, due to the large areas of land they require.

Pigs are omnivores, meaning they will eat both plant and animal material. Naturally scavengers, they will use their long snouts to dig through garbage and uproot large areas of land, if left unattended. They have been known to eat small trees and rotting carcasses.

A mature female pig is called a sow and baby pigs, like the ones pictured at left, are called piglets.

Chickens are by far, the most popular bird farmed. China is the top consumer of chicken, followed by the United States. There are more chickens worldwide than any other bird, and broilers, (young chickens raised for human consumption), rank second, behind horses, in the list of top farm commodities produced in Kentucky.

A mature female chicken is called a hen; a young female, a pullet; the male is a rooster and the young, like those pictured at right, are collectively called chicks.

The crest on a chicken's head is called a comb, or cockscomb and the the skin hanging underneath their beak is called a wattle. The color of their feathers vary in different breeds, ranging from white to blue, brown, green, black, etc.