I have a couple of pet peeves. Littering is one of them, hypocrisy is another. Mostly I cannot stand when people call a castrated male bovine a cow. Is it so hard to understand that it is not physically possible for a male bovine to be a cow?

Now, granted not everyone is interested in cattle. Sometimes it’s hard for me to understand, but not everyone wants to grow up and become a cattle producer.

But alas, I have to acknowledge it.

Cattle are not the only victims – sheep, hogs and most other types of animals fall prey to this ignorance. My roommate, who is not exactly what you would call a farm girl, is quite fascinated by this concept. She loves to harass me about my pet peeve whenever a farm animal comes on television. “Is that a sow or a gilt?” she teases.

Laugh all you want. I’ll just continue to go off about this issue until the day I die. That steer will never give milk and he’ll never produce a calf, but he will go to market and make a nice hamburger for Joe Schmoe to enjoy.

Here’s the deal. There are four different types of cattle.

A heifer is a female that has never produced offspring. A cow has produced a calf at some point in her life. A steer is a male bovine that has been castrated. A bull is male and has not been castrated. If you do not know what castrated means, go ask your mother.

The same can be said for pigs; however, different names are put into each area. A gilt is the equivalent of a heifer, a barrow the steer, a boar the bull, and sow rhymes with cow; you get the idea. If you are interested in finding out other animal gender issues, consult your local library.

You are probably thinking, “What’s the point?” There is a deep seated miscommunication problem in the way that we teach our kids about farm animals.

When we go down that list of animals you know how it goes – “What does the sheep say?” Baaaaaa.”

“What does the pig say?” “Oink oink.”

“What does the cow say?” Right there is where we get into trouble. We’re teaching our kids to improperly identify an entire species of animals.

OK, at the risk of totally going off the deep end about this, I have to admit I can understand why this happens. Obviously it is much easier to teach a little kid what the cow says rather than what the bovine says, or what the cattle say. So I have to accept it. But I do not have to understand that when adults continue to say this, they are being totally ignorant. So, when the day comes and you decide to procreate, for the love of Pete, teach your kid when they are of a proper age to say “steer.”

Now, you might point out that most people who are interested in a certain subject are going to know more about it.

For example, upon seeing an airplane most would just call it a plane, but those interested in aeronautics would tell you it was Boeing 747.

But it is hard for me to let this go. This is mostly because I hear this misconception all the time. It is a widespread epidemic that just mushrooms.

Pretty soon, the animal science department will begin to just allow it like that and they’ll change it in all of their required textbooks.

That little guy who sits alone in the library will go through all of the books and cross out “steer” and pencil in “cow.” That is the day when a deep dark hole will look like a good place to hide.

So now you are thinking, “Wow, this ag columnist is a psycho.” Well, that may be, but at least I know the difference between a steer and a cow.

Danelle Zellmer is a sophomore in public service and administration in agriculture from Atlantic.