160 Fun Facts About Farm Animal

How many compartments does a cow's stomach have?

Food is regurgitated and chewed again as cud.

What is the name of the first and largest compartment of a cow's stomach?

Bacteria there break down grass that the animal cannot digest alone. The whole group of animals is named after it.

What is a cow doing when it chews the cud?

Most ruminants do the same thing. It lets them extract nutrition from tough grass.

Roughly how many cattle were there in the world in 2022?

India alone had 307.5 million in 2023, about a third of the total. Brazil and China came next.

Which country has the most cattle?

Its 307.5 million head make up nearly a third of the world total. Brazil is second with 194.4 million.

How long is a cow pregnant for?

That is close to the human figure. Calves can stand within hours of being born.

From which wild animal were cattle domesticated?

It happened about 10,500 years ago in Anatolia, the Levant and western Iran. The wild ancestor died out in 1627.

How many toes does a cow walk on?

They are the third and fourth digits, forming the cloven hoof. Sheep, goats and pigs share the arrangement.

How long can domestic cattle naturally live?

Very few are ever allowed to. Dairy cows are usually culled after a handful of lactations.

Roughly how many chickens are alive in the world?

More than 50 billion are reared each year for meat and eggs. They outnumber every other bird by an enormous margin.

Which wild bird are chickens mainly descended from?

It still lives in the forests of South and Southeast Asia. Domestication happened thousands of years ago.

What is a young female chicken under a year old called?

An adult female is a hen and a castrated male is a capon. The words are still used in the poultry trade.

What is a castrated male chicken called?

The meat is prized for being fattier and more tender. The other three words belong to sheep, horses and pigs.

How long does a fertile chicken egg take to hatch?

The hen turns the eggs regularly during that time. Ducks and geese take considerably longer.

What are the fleshy flaps hanging under a chicken's beak called?

The crest on top of the head is the comb. Both help the bird lose heat.

What is the highest authenticated rate of egg-laying by a hen?

Some breeds routinely manage over 300 a year. That record required laying more than one egg on some days.

How many teeth does an adult pig have?

The snout is a sensitive organ used to dig for food. Rooting is instinctive comfort behaviour, not just feeding.

Why do pigs wallow in mud?

Like elephants, they have no working thermal sweat glands. Evaporation from wet skin does the job instead.

How intelligent are pigs said to be?

They can learn tasks quickly and remember them for years. Wild groups contain about eight to ten adult sows.

How long is a pig pregnant for?

Farmers remember it as three months, three weeks and three days. Sows typically have twelve to fourteen nipples.

What is 'rooting' in pigs?

It is an instinctive comforting behaviour as well as a way of finding food. The snout is an acute sense organ.

What is a castrated male sheep called?

An intact male is a ram, sometimes a tup. Females are ewes and the young are lambs.

Roughly how many domestic sheep are there in the world?

More than 200 breeds are recognised. They were domesticated between 11,000 and 9000 BC in Mesopotamia.

What shape are a sheep's pupils?

They give a field of vision of 270 to 320 degrees. A sheep can see behind itself without turning its head.

Which wild animal are sheep most likely descended from?

Iran sits at the centre of the domestication zone. It happened around 11,000 to 9000 BC.

How many sheep breeds are recognised?

They were bred for wool, meat, milk and even land management. Wool is the most widely used animal fibre in the world.

What is a group of sheep called?

Cattle come in herds and pigs in drifts. Flocking behaviour is so strong that a single sheep becomes distressed alone.

Which wild animal is the likely ancestor of domestic goats?

It survives today in the Zagros Mountains. Genetic analysis confirmed what the archaeology suggested.

Why will a goat chew on cardboard, paper or clothing?

Goats are browsers rather than grazers, and extremely curious. That is where the tin-can cartoon comes from.

What share of the world's milk supply comes from goats?

A dairy goat gives 540 to 1,180 kg over a 284-day lactation. Far more people drink it than the figure suggests.

What shape are a goat's pupils?

The shape gives a wide field of view and stops sunlight from above dazzling them. Sheep have the same arrangement.

What is a castrated male horse called?

An uncastrated male of four or older is a stallion. Females of the same age are mares.

At what age does a young horse stop being called a foal?

Stallions and mares are so called from four years old. A foal is either sex.

How many inches is one hand, the unit horses are measured in?

Height is measured to the withers, not the head. A 16-hand horse stands 64 inches at the shoulder.

Which of these is one of the four natural gaits of a horse?

The others are the walk, the trot and the gallop. The remaining options are gaits particular to certain breeds.

Can a horse sleep standing up?

A locking mechanism in the legs makes it possible. They still need to lie down for deep sleep.

How long is a mare pregnant for?

The range runs from 320 to 370 days. Foals can stand and run within hours of birth.

What is the fleshy protuberance on top of a turkey's beak called?

The flap under the beak is the wattle instead. Both change colour with the bird's mood.

What is a baby turkey called?

Adult females are hens and, in North America, males are toms. The other words belong to swans, pigeons and geese.

Why are commercial turkey breeds bred by artificial insemination?

Selective breeding for breast meat made natural mating impractical. Domestication began in Mesoamerica at least 2,000 years ago.

From which wild animal are all domestic cattle descended?

Taurine cattle were domesticated from wild aurochs in the Near East about 10,500 years ago.

Roughly what share of global greenhouse gas emissions comes from cattle farming?

Cattle were also among the first animals to have a fully mapped genome.

The word 'cattle' derives from a Latin word for what?

It once meant movable property, as opposed to land.

How many recognised breeds of cattle are there?

They fall into taurine, zebu and sanga types.

Which small breed of cattle is sometimes kept as a pet?

Cattle are sacred in Hinduism and killing them is illegal in parts of India.

From which wild bird is the chicken descended?

It was first domesticated in Southeast Asia around 8,000 years ago.

What is a castrated or neutered male chicken called?

A young male chicken is a cockerel; a young female is a pullet.

Why did 'rooster' become common in 18th-century North America?

A rooster is a fertile adult male chicken.

Below what age is a female chicken called a pullet in the poultry industry?

Generally a pullet is a young female under a year old.

How many pigs are raised worldwide each year?

They produce some 120 million tonnes of meat.

Which country is the world's largest pork producer?

The EU is second, followed by the US.

What special feature strengthens a pig's snout?

The snout is used to dig for food and is an acute sense organ.

In which two Neolithic regions were pigs independently domesticated?

European pigs later interbred with wild boar.

What is an intact male sheep called?

It is occasionally called a tup; a castrated male is a wether.

How do lamb and mutton differ as meats?

Meat from mid-aged sheep is sometimes called hogget.

What is the most widely used animal fibre?

It is usually harvested by shearing.

Which wild species is the ancestor of the domestic goat?

It was domesticated in Iran around 10,000 years ago.

How many goats were there in the world in 2022?

India alone had about 150 million.

Which goat breed produces the lustrous fibre called mohair?

Its whole body is covered in mohair with no guard hairs.

What is a castrated male goat called?

An adult female is a doe or nanny; an adult male a buck or billy.

What term describes the distinctive smell of a male goat?

Both hircine and caprine mean goat-like, but hircine stresses the smell.

From which small multi-toed ancestor did the horse evolve over 45-55 million years?

The horse originally evolved in North America.

When did humans begin domesticating horses in Central Asia?

The Botai culture is primarily associated with early domestication.

For roughly how long does a mare carry her foal?

A foal can stand and run shortly after birth.

At what age do horses typically reach full adult development?

Training under saddle usually starts between two and four.

From which wild bird is the domestic duck mainly descended?

It was domesticated in China around 2000 BC.

Which duck breed is prized for laying over 300 eggs a year?

White Pekins are raised mainly for meat.

What share of global duck production comes from China?

Rice-duck polyculture is widely practised in East and Southeast Asia.

Where was the domestic turkey first domesticated over 2,000 years ago?

The Spanish imported it into Europe in the 16th century.

Why were most domestic turkeys bred to have pale plumage?

Brown and bronze varieties are also raised.

The turkey may be named after the country Turkey because it was confused with which bird?

Its Latin name gallopavo means 'chicken peacock'.

From which two wild geese are domestic geese derived?

Chinese geese descend from the swan goose.

What feature distinguishes domestic swan geese from greylag geese?

The earliest goose domestication dates back 7,000 years in China.

Which untamed equine gave rise to the donkey?

It was domesticated in Africa some 5,000-7,000 years ago.

What is an adult female donkey called?

An adult male is a jack or jackass.

What is the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse?

The rarer cross of a stallion and jenny is a hinny.

What is the cross of a stallion and a female donkey called?

Both mules and hinnies are usually sterile.

Roughly how many donkeys are there in the world?

Most are in developing countries as draught or pack animals.

How many chambers does a ruminant's stomach have?

The word ruminant comes from Latin rumen, the first stomach.

What is the regurgitated, re-chewed food of a ruminant called?

Rechewing it is called rumination or chewing the cud.

What are a ruminant's first two stomach chambers, together called the reticulorumen?

They have very similar tissue and are hard to tell apart.

Roughly how many species of ruminant are there?

They include both domestic and wild grazing and browsing artiodactyls.

What is the first milk, rich in antibodies, called?

It strengthens a newborn's immune system.

Which enzyme is needed to break down the lactose in milk?

Milk also contains calcium, protein and saturated fat.

Which breed is the most common dairy cow in the UK, Europe and US?

Its milk becomes butter, cheese and yogurt.

How does wool differ chemically from plant fibres like cotton?

Wool is akin to silk, another protein fibre.

What springy property distinguishes true wool from most hair?

Crimp gives wool fabrics bulk and helps them hold heat.

Which breed produces the fine, costly fibre used in pashmina shawls?

The soft down also goes by the name pashmina.

Which sheep breed dominates the world wool industry?

Most fine-wool breeds derive from it.

How many castes make up a honey bee colony?

A colony has one queen, up to a few thousand drones and tens of thousands of workers.

What do male honey bees, the drones, develop from?

Drones are haploid; queens and workers are diploid.

What are honey bee larvae first fed?

They later switch to honey and pollen.

Besides honey, which of these is a hive product beekeepers collect?

Beeswax, bee pollen and royal jelly are others.

Where is a group of beehives kept?

The earliest evidence of beekeeping is from Egypt around 3,100 BCE.

Which wild species gave rise to farmed and pet bunnies?

It has been introduced on every continent except Antarctica.

How long is a rabbit's gestation period?

Litters range from four to twelve kits.

What is a group of baby rabbits from one mating called?

Domestic rabbits living together are sometimes called a herd.

The alpaca and llama are domesticated members of which animal family?

Their wild relatives are the guanaco and vicuña.

Which wild camelid is the ancestor of the domestic llama?

DNA analysis shows the vicuña is the alpaca's wild ancestor.

How much of its body weight can a llama carry as a pack animal?

It can carry that load for 8 to 13 km.

What are the two modern breeds of alpaca?

Suri fibre grows in straight locks; Huacaya is crimped and wavy.

On how many toes does a cow walk?

They are the cloven third and fourth digits.

In which religion are cattle considered sacred animals?

Killing them is illegal in parts of the Indian subcontinent.

The separate domestication of cattle in India gave rise to which type?

Zebus are found mainly in India and the tropics.

What are the four natural gaits of the horse?

The gallop averages 40 to 48 km/h.

What is the slowest horse gait, a four-beat movement?

It averages about 6 km/h.

Where on a horse is its height measured?

The withers is where the neck meets the back.

What are the three temperament categories of horse breeds?

Draft horses are 'cold bloods'; warmbloods are crosses.

How tall are heavy or draft horses usually, at least?

They can reach 18 hands high.

How intelligent are pigs generally reckoned to be?

Pigs have 1,113 smell-receptor genes versus 1,094 in dogs.

How many hoofed toes does a pig have on each foot?

The two central toes bear most of the weight.

Which Swedish scientist described the chicken 'pecking order' in 1921?

Dominant birds get first access to food and nests.

What are chickens farmed for meat called?

A modern Ross 708 broiler can weigh over 1 kg by day 35.

Roughly how wide is a sheep's field of vision, thanks to its slit pupils?

They can see behind themselves without turning their heads.

From which Israelite ritual does the English word 'scapegoat' come?

Goats also appear in Greek, Norse and Hindu myth.

Which two goats pull the Norse god Thor's chariot?

Thor can eat them and revive them if all their bones stay whole.

In Greek myth, who or what was Amalthea, linked to goats?

Jupiter is the Roman name for the god she nursed.

Which untamed species is the pig usually classed as a subspecies of?

Linnaeus named it Sus scrofa in 1758.

What behaviour characterises a mistreated or over-handled adult llama?

Correctly reared, llamas rarely spit at humans.

What role do well-reared llamas serve in some nursing homes and hospitals?

Their calm temperament makes them suitable.

What is raw fleece straight off a sheep, still full of natural grease, called?

It also contains sweat residue and vegetable matter.

What valuable waxy substance is found in unwashed raw fleece?

It is separated out during cleaning.

How is a horse or pony's competition age reckoned in the Northern Hemisphere?

In the Southern Hemisphere the date is 1 August.

On what basis is a pony distinguished from a horse for competition?

Sugar Puff, listed as the world's oldest pony, died at 56 in 2007.

Domestic geese are kept for meat, eggs and which insulating product?

They descend from greylag and swan geese.

Alongside chickens and dogs, pigs were carried across the Pacific by which people?

The migrations reached Oceania around 4,000 years ago.

An ox is typically which kind of cattle?

Castration makes the animal docile and safe to work with.

How are working oxen usually harnessed?

Heavy loads add further pairs, sometimes nine or ten.

When were oxen first harnessed and put to work?

They are used for ploughing, transport and threshing.

What British and Indian English word also means a working ox?

'Steer' is another term for it.

What are the three main parts of a bird's egg?

They sit within thin membranes.

What are the spiral bands of tissue that suspend an egg yolk in the white called?

The name comes from Greek for 'hailstone'.

What are fish eggs eaten as food known as?

Chicken eggs are by far the most widely eaten.

In which year did the European Union ban battery husbandry of laying hens?

An estimated 62.1 million tonnes of eggs were produced worldwide in 2009.

Before roughly which date was the chicken most likely domesticated for its eggs?

It came from junglefowl of Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent.

Which breed dominated dairy specialisation in the 20th century?

Jersey, Brown Swiss, Guernsey and Ayrshire are other dairy breeds.

What share of Canada's national dairy herd is the Holstein breed?

A Canadian Holstein averages over 10,000 kg of milk a year.

Roughly how many dairy cows does the United States have?

They are kept in around 75,000 herds averaging 120 cows.

Which country has the largest average dairy herd, over 375 cows?

UK farms average about 100 cows.

To which continent are guinea fowl native?

The helmeted guinea fowl has been domesticated worldwide.

Which of these guineafowl has been domesticated widely as a farm bird?

Guinea fowl resemble partridges but with featherless heads.

What distinguishes a guinea fowl's head from a partridge's?

Most species have grey plumage with dense white spots.

What is a young male chicken called?

A young female under a year is a pullet.

Which South American wildfowl contributed to some domestic breeds besides the mallard?

The mallard was domesticated in China around 2000 BC.

Why is the donkey's subspecies name Equus africanus asinus rather than asinus asinus?

So it is Equus africanus asinus as a subspecies.

What is true of mules and hinnies as breeding animals?

They are inter-species hybrids of horse and donkey.

On which continent did the horse originally evolve before spreading?

Eohippus was its small multi-toed ancestor.

Which US state's tomb depiction from about 1420 BCE shows a man carrying egg bowls?

Chickens reached Greece around 800 BCE.

Roughly how many hens made up the world laying flock in 2009?

They produced some 62.1 million tonnes of eggs.

What did the Romans crush in their plates, believing it stopped evil spirits hiding?

Eggs have been valued foodstuffs since prehistory.

How do pasture-raised hens' eggs compare with cage-raised ones nutritionally?

Their varied forage diet also gives unpredictable flavours.

Which two types of domestic water buffalo are recognised?

The river type was domesticated in western India about 6,300 years ago and spread as far as Egypt and Italy.

Where did a large feral water buffalo population establish itself in the late 19th century?

The animals are prized for tilling rice paddies, and their milk is richer in fat and protein than cows'.

Linnaeus's 1766 name for the domestic yak, Bos grunniens, means what?

The wild yak is now called Bos mutus, 'mute ox', after an ICZN ruling in 2003.

For what product are ostriches particularly farmed around the world, besides their lean meat and leather?

The plumes are decorative and also made into feather dusters; males stand up to 2.75 metres tall.

Reindeer herding is practised in nine countries. Roughly how many people are engaged in it across the North?

Reindeer are the only semi-domesticated animal native to the North; a small herd even lives in Scotland's Cairngorms.

Roughly how many silkworm cocoons are needed to produce one kilogram of silk?

Each cocoon is a single raw-silk thread 300 to 900 metres long; about 32 million kg of raw silk are made a year.

The domestic silkworm's preferred food is the leaves of which tree?

Sericulture began in China at least 5,000 years ago; the domestic moth is now entirely dependent on humans to reproduce.

Guinea pigs were first domesticated for meat around 5000 BC by peoples of which region?

Known as cuy, from the Quechua quwi, they were the Inca's preferred sacrificial animal, according to Spanish accounts.

Genetically pure wild rock doves now survive mainly in which remote island group?

Centuries of interbreeding with feral pigeons have made true wild-type birds rare and endangered.