[Sca-cooks] Burt Wolf venting

[Decker, Terry D.]

Cattle is the generic for members of genus Bos.  Oxen is often used a
synonym.  Technically, an ox is a castrated male commonly used as a draft
animal.  A steer is a young ox (with conotations of castration before sexual
maturity and being used as a food animal rather than a draft animal).  Since
steer derives from the Old English "steor," I would say the term was used in
period even thoguh none of us have come across it.

As a small afterthought, all those Irishmen in the Tain Bo Culain must have
starved to death, since according to the article, they didn't know how to
raise cattle.

Bear

> I wonder if it's possible he's referring to gelded steers. After a
> not-very-deep study of this, I STR seeing references to beef coming
> from bulls and bullocks, and occasionally from cows, heifers, and
> oxen, but I don't believe I've run across any references to steers in
> period, or even until the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries. Unless
> anybody else has some specifics on this...
>
> Adamantius