Farm Animal Trivia
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154 free Farm Animal trivia questions with answers — nature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
40 free Farm animal trivia questions with answers. Farm animals are the ones everybody thinks they know, which is what makes a quiz about them so satisfying. These 154 questions cover the seven creatures on almost every farm: how many compartments a cow's stomach really has, why a pig wallows, what shape a sheep's pupils are, and what a castrated chicken, sheep and horse are each called. There are numbers worth remembering too — the world's 26.5 billion chickens, the hen that laid 371 eggs in 364 days, the 44 teeth in a pig's jaw, and the four inches in a hand. Wild ancestors get their own run of questions, from the aurochs to the mouflon and the bezoar ibex. Every answer was checked against a primary reference before publication, so the figures and terminology here are accurate rather than farmyard folklore. It works for a family game, a classroom round or a country show quiz, with a difficulty range that suits children and adults playing together.
30 of 154 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01How many compartments does a cow's stomach have?
Four
Food is regurgitated and chewed again as cud.
Q 02What is the name of the first and largest compartment of a cow's stomach?
The rumen
The rumen is the first and largest compartment; its microbes ferment grass the cow cannot digest alone, and ruminants take their name from it.
Q 03What is a cow doing when it chews the cud?
Re-chewing regurgitated food
Chewing the cud means re-chewing regurgitated food: partly fermented grass is brought back up from the stomach and ground again, as all ruminants do.
Q 04Roughly how many cattle were there in the world in 2022?
Over 940 million
Over 940 million. India, Brazil and China kept the three largest national herds in 2022, together accounting for well over half a billion head.
Q 05What is a female pig called before she has had her first litter?
A gilt
A gilt is a young female pig that has not yet farrowed; once she has produced a litter she is called a sow.
Q 06How long is a cow pregnant for?
About nine months
About nine months: a cow's gestation averages around 283 days, close to the human figure, and calves can stand within hours of birth.
Q 07From which wild animal were cattle domesticated?
The aurochs
It happened about 10,500 years ago in Anatolia, the Levant and western Iran. The wild ancestor died out in 1627.
Q 08How many toes does a cow walk on?
Two
Two, the third and fourth digits, forming the cloven hoof; sheep, goats and pigs share the arrangement.
Q 09Roughly how many chickens were alive in the world in 2023?
Over 26.5 billion
Over 26.5 billion chickens were alive in 2023, and more than 50 billion are reared each year for meat and eggs; no other bird comes close.
Q 10Which wild bird are chickens mainly descended from?
The red junglefowl
It still lives in the forests of South and Southeast Asia. Domestication happened thousands of years ago.
Q 11What is a young female chicken under a year old called?
A pullet
A pullet is a female chicken under a year old, becoming a hen once mature; the word is standard in the poultry trade.
Q 12What is a castrated male chicken called?
A capon
The meat is prized for being fattier and more tender. The other three words belong to sheep, horses and pigs.
Q 13How long does a fertile chicken egg take to hatch?
About 21 days
About 21 days: a hen's eggs hatch after three weeks of incubation, while duck eggs take about 28 days and goose eggs about 30.
What are the fleshy flaps hanging under a chicken's beak called?
Q 21Roughly how many domestic sheep are there in the world?
About 1.2 billion
About 1.2 billion sheep are kept worldwide, China alone holding well over 100 million; they were domesticated around 11,000 to 9000 BC in Mesopotamia.
Q 22What shape are a sheep's pupils?
Horizontal slits
They give a field of vision of 270 to 320 degrees. A sheep can see behind itself without turning its head.
Q 23Which wild animal are sheep most likely descended from?
The mouflon
The mouflon, a wild sheep of Iran and Anatolia; domestication happened around 11,000 to 9000 BC, with Iran at the centre of the zone.
Wattles
Wattles are the fleshy flaps under the beak; the crest on top of the head is the comb, and both help the bird shed heat.
Q 15What is the highest authenticated rate of egg-laying by a hen?
371 eggs in 364 days
371 eggs in 364 days, set by a hen in a 1979 official laying test; that required more than one egg on some days.
Q 16How many teeth does an adult pig have?
44
44: an adult pig has 44 teeth, including four canine tusks that grow continuously, a dozen more than an adult human's 32.
Q 17How intelligent are pigs said to be?
Roughly on par with dogs
Roughly on par with dogs: pigs learn tasks quickly, remember them for years, and in tests have used mirrors to find hidden food and worked a joystick for rewards.
Q 18How long is a pig pregnant for?
About 114 days
About 114 days: farmers remember a sow's gestation as three months, three weeks and three days. Litters commonly number ten or more piglets.
Q 19What is 'rooting' in pigs?
Nudging the snout into something
It is an instinctive comforting behaviour as well as a way of finding food. The snout is an acute sense organ.
Q 20What is a castrated male sheep called?
A wether
An intact male is a ram, sometimes a tup. Females are ewes and the young are lambs.
Q 24Which sheep, born in 1996, was the first mammal cloned from an adult cell?
Dolly
Dolly, born at the Roslin Institute near Edinburgh in July 1996, was the first mammal cloned from an adult body cell; her birth was announced in February 1997.
Q 25What is a group of sheep called?
A flock
A flock: the flocking instinct is so strong that a lone sheep becomes distressed, and shepherds rely on it to move hundreds of animals with a single dog.
Q 26Which wild animal is the likely ancestor of domestic goats?
The bezoar ibex
The bezoar ibex, a wild goat that survives in the Zagros Mountains; genetic studies confirmed it as the ancestor of domestic goats, tamed around 10,000 years ago.
Q 27Why will a goat chew on cardboard, paper or clothing?
It tastes to test for food
Goats are browsers rather than grazers, and extremely curious. That is where the tin-can cartoon comes from.
Q 28What share of the world's milk supply comes from goats?
About 2%
About 2%: cows supply more than four-fifths of the world's milk and buffalo most of the rest. A dairy goat gives 540 to 1,180 kg over a 284-day lactation.
Q 29How long is a goat pregnant for?
About 150 days
About 150 days: a doe carries her young for roughly five months, and twins are common; the newborns can stand and nurse within an hour of birth.
Q 30What is a castrated male horse called?
A gelding
A gelding is a castrated male horse; an uncastrated male of four or older is a stallion and a female of that age is a mare.