Meaning & use
head of cattle
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UK/ˌhed əv ˈkætl/
US/ˌhed əv ˈkætl/
Meaning
phrasefixed phrasespecialist
A unit used for counting cattle, where each head means one animal.
Grammar: Follows a number and keeps head singular: 200 head of cattle.
Patterns
- fifty head of cattle
- a hundred head of cattle
The ranch owns about three hundred head of cattle.
Thieves drove off twelve head of cattle during the night.
The farmer sold forty head of cattle at the market.
Common combinations
- a hundred head of cattle
- They keep a hundred head of cattle on the farm.
- sell head of cattle
- He sold fifty head of cattle last week.
- graze head of cattle
- The pasture can graze ten head of cattle.
- lose head of cattle
- The farm lost five head of cattle to disease.
- thousand head of cattle
- The company ships a thousand head of cattle each month.
Synonyms and how they differ
- cows
- Cows are female adult animals specifically, while head of cattle includes bulls, calves and steers.
- cattle
- Cattle is the general group word and does not count individual animals the way head does.
- livestock
- Livestock includes any farm animals, not only cattle.
Word family
- cattle noun
- Cows and bulls kept for milk or meat.
- cattleman noun
- A person who raises cattle.
- herd noun
- A group of animals.
- rancher noun
- A person who owns or manages a ranch.
Commonly confused: head of cattle or heads of cattle?
head of cattle vs heads of cattle
Heads of cattle is not standard when a number is given; use head.
Practice
The farm has two hundred ____ of cattle.
Choose one answer.
After a number, head stays singular in this counting phrase. Heads would be non-standard here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “head of cattle”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.
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