Comments on: Holy Cow! Bull is the Size of a Small Elephant

By: Toni

Toni — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 03:34:13 +0000

Just to help clear up any confusion:

Heifer- immature female
Cow- mature female

Bullock(UK) or Steer(USA)- castrated male
Bull- intact or breeding male

By: Toby B

Toby B — Thu, 15 May 2008 16:34:14 +0000

I was going to say PHOTOSHOP! But, then I clicked the link and looked at the other pics and they look real.

By: DavidJ

DavidJ — Wed, 14 May 2008 15:24:45 +0000

Well, I’d guess it’s a bull, since the photos in the story show it has no udder.

By: Thomas

Thomas — Wed, 14 May 2008 15:09:32 +0000

Sorry I’m no expert. Never lived on a farm. Ask 10 city folk if bulls have horns and cows don’t, I bet 9 will agree. Thanks for correcting me, but you don’t have to be a dick.

By: andrewdoane

andrewdoane — Tue, 13 May 2008 21:49:42 +0000

If I didn’t see the article (and whoa’s reference to the TV story) I would have thought for sure the picture was photoshopped.

By: whoa

whoa — Tue, 13 May 2008 19:38:16 +0000

to the doubters:
the article is not fake or embellished.

I saw a news story on it this morning with video footage, and the cow is every bit as massive as it look in this picture. amazing.

By: Christophe

Christophe — Tue, 13 May 2008 19:17:22 +0000

This is mad.

By: Ali S.

Ali S. — Tue, 13 May 2008 19:08:49 +0000

As if we don’t have enough worries about cows releasing gas into the air now we have this big guy to contend with!? O_o

By: Ashley

Ashley — Tue, 13 May 2008 17:41:32 +0000

@Thomas: Not all breed have horns as males. Some also have horns as females. And most of the horned breeds are dehorned when the animal is very young. If you click the article, you can see a picture further down that definitely confirms it’s a male.

@Hezzawezza: Just because someone doesn’t know the same things you do doesn’t mean they are ignorant in general.

By: Oomi

Oomi — Tue, 13 May 2008 17:32:55 +0000

That’sa big burger!

By: Jess

Jess — Tue, 13 May 2008 17:01:46 +0000

I imagine that while the cow/bull/whatever is massive, the lady next to it is short and standing further back than it looks, so the animal looks even bigger - like what they did in Lord of the Rings to make the hobbits look smaller. It makes it look about 8ft tall!

By: Hezzawezza

Hezzawezza — Tue, 13 May 2008 16:30:59 +0000

Thanks for that Thomas, you just acted as confirmation of the ignorance of a vast majority of the population.

By: Thomas

Thomas — Tue, 13 May 2008 15:45:12 +0000

That’s a cow, not a bull. At nine years old, it should have horns if it were a bull.

By: Saffron

Saffron — Tue, 13 May 2008 15:22:59 +0000

There is an article about Chilli over at the BBC News website-I take it that the poor choice of wording in the featured article here has more to do with a reporter not understanding the difference between the various phrases and not an attempt at a fakery…that being said, one article did mention that the keepers shown posing with Chilli are only about 5 feet tall so yes, he would appear to be even more abnormally large than he would be if he was standing beside your average farm hand at 6 feet tall!!

By: Viola

Viola — Tue, 13 May 2008 13:59:44 +0000

On farms in England, the cows eat YOU.

By: ted

ted — Tue, 13 May 2008 11:41:22 +0000

He probably just lives on a farm with short people.

By: MoonCake

MoonCake — Tue, 13 May 2008 11:10:18 +0000

quick! take it to india before they make it the biggest HAMBURGER ever!

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 13 May 2008 10:01:18 +0000

Over in England, a swede is a root vegetable - I think either a rutabaga or a turnip.

I have my doubts about this article. The photos are taken at low angles, with a wide angle lens & with the owner/handlers behind Chili the steer. Chili IS clearly a steer (neutered bull) yet the article refers to him as a bull/bullock/heifer/cow which points towards sloppy writing and I suspect a bit of hyperbole.

Steers can get huge (taller than bulls) and Holsteins are one of the taller cow breeds. Most steers we ever see are beef steer and the beef breeds tend to be short & stout. I recall seeing a team of Holstein oxen (oxen are adult steers trained to work) and they were huge. So I’m not doubting Chili is probably the tallest Holstein steer than most people have seen but mature Holstein steers just are not very common.

By: Pam

Pam — Tue, 13 May 2008 07:40:00 +0000

I’m confused - the title states the cow is a bull, but the story states it’s a heifer?! A bull is an intact male cow; while a heifer is a female cow, which sex is it? Otherwise very interesting story.

By: SenorMysterioso

SenorMysterioso — Tue, 13 May 2008 07:19:49 +0000

and the ever gratuitous … I for one welcome our bovine overlords

By: Terry B

Terry B — Tue, 13 May 2008 06:46:17 +0000

Um …okay, it’s possible that s/he is snacking on persons of Swedish descent …but if so, it should be capitalized. It’s possible that this is a cow, and simultaneously a heifer. But since both these terms apply to the female of the species; then it’s not also possible to be a ‘he’ as has been written.

Hey, you guys are one of my favorite blogs. You usually do much better than this, even if this IS fake, it should be written up right, LOL.

By: hedwig

hedwig — Tue, 13 May 2008 06:36:52 +0000

Let’s just get this straight:
a bullock (according to wikipedia) is a castrated male- for sure a male.
a heifer is a female.

this article calls the poor animal both of the above and refers uses the word ‘he’- so is he a he…or a she. Can’t be both.

By: S-r-ex

S-r-ex — Tue, 13 May 2008 06:15:04 +0000

Let’s go cowtipping!