Cattle
Cattle were domesticated mammals native to Earth. The males were called bulls, the females were called cows (TV: Image of the Fendahl [+]Loading...["Image of the Fendahl (TV story)"]) and the young were called calves. (TV: City of Death [+]Loading...["City of Death (TV story)"], Ghost Light [+]Loading...["Ghost Light (TV story)"]) Clyde Langer once succinctly said — while he was looking after the baby Sky Smith — that "cows eat grass, and they make milk and they go moooo... [and] they also make steak." (TV: Sky [+]Loading...["Sky (TV story)"]) Indeed, Rose Tyler once suggested to the Ninth Doctor that being out of cow's milk was a part of the reason that they often ended up back on Earth. "All the species in the universe," the Doctor replied, "and it has to come out of a cow." (TV: The Empty Child [+]Loading...["The Empty Child (TV story)"]) Many restaurants served cow meat. (TV: The Bells of Saint John [+]Loading...["The Bells of Saint John (TV story)"])
History[[edit] | [edit source]]
17th century[[edit] | [edit source]]
In 1648, cattle were among the animals which dwelled in St James's Park in London. (PROSE: The Roundheads [+]Loading...["The Roundheads (novel)"])
20th century[[edit] | [edit source]]
Zygons once used body-prints to take the form of cows, as they were allowed to roam freely. As was necessary for the proper operation of body-print technology, the Zygons stored the real cows in their ship. (PROSE: Sting of the Zygons [+]Loading...["Sting of the Zygons (novel)"])
In 1913, the Sixth Doctor and Peri Brown witnessed the heavens open up to dump cows on the beaches of Ostend, Belgium. This was cause by a time bomb sending the cows back in time. (AUDIO: Year of the Pig [+]Loading...["Year of the Pig (audio story)"])
Tegan Jovanka lived on a cattle farm when she was young. (AUDIO: Psychodrome [+]Loading...["Psychodrome (audio story)"])
After materialising in a field, the Second Doctor and companions turned on the TARDIS scanner to see the face of a curious cow staring at them. (TV: The Invasion [+]Loading...["The Invasion (TV story)"])
The Third Doctor, John Benton and Mike Yates were attacked by cattle infected with the Sild. In defence, they shot them all, disgusting the Doctor. (PROSE: Harvest of Time [+]Loading...["Harvest of Time (novel)"])
The Wholeweal community kept cattle. (TV: The Green Death [+]Loading...["The Green Death (TV story)"])
While walking near a Buddhist meditation centre in England, Mike Yates walked past a group of cattle. (TV: Planet of the Spiders [+]Loading...["Planet of the Spiders (TV story)"])
The Fourth Doctor once landed the TARDIS amongst a herd of cattle and facetiously asked them (calling them "ladies") if they had a time scanner, to no avail. (TV: Image of the Fendahl [+]Loading...["Image of the Fendahl (TV story)"])
The TARDIS materialised in the middle of a herd of cattle again when the Seventh Doctor visited Llanfer Ceiriog. (PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Witch Mark [+]Loading...["Cat's Cradle: Witch Mark (novel)"])
While briefly a vampire, Nyssa feasted on the blood of a cow in the fields outside Manchester in the 1990s. (PROSE: Goth Opera [+]Loading...["Goth Opera (novel)"])
21st century[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Eighth Doctor also liked to talk to cows. After Destrii and he had defeated the Cybermen, he landed the TARDIS in a pasture. He spoke to the cows, telling them what a great day it was to have saved the universe. Noticing he had lost his frock coat in the battle, Destrii suggested that he would look good in leather (she was wearing a black leather jacket). The Doctor replied that Destrii was once again "charming the locals", indicating that leather came from cattle. (COMIC: The Flood [+]Loading...["The Flood (comic story)"])
Dr Scotus, a veterinarian working near Cardiff, once examined a cow that had begun eating other cows because it had been affected by an alien tapeworm which had come through the rift. (PROSE: Slow Decay [+]Loading...["Slow Decay (novel)"])
Later history[[edit] | [edit source]]
When humanity became a space-faring race, they took cows with them to the stars. As Earth's influence spread, cattle were shipped across the galaxy, to planets such as Jadea (PROSE: Placebo Effect [+]Loading...["Placebo Effect (novel)"]) and Sarath. (PROSE: City at World's End [+]Loading...["City at World's End (novel)"])
Bernice Summerfield once experienced a freak time anomaly in which leather shoes were turned back into cows. However, the time anomaly only restored the cows to shortly before they were turned into leather. The floors of the Gigamarket were littered with dead cows. (AUDIO: The Greatest Shop in the Galaxy [+]Loading...["The Greatest Shop in the Galaxy (audio story)"])
Unknown dates[[edit] | [edit source]]
Maxine Andrews grew up on her father's cattle farm outside Castic City on Insculpo. (AUDIO: The Memory Bank [+]Loading...["The Memory Bank (audio story)"])
Elsewhere[[edit] | [edit source]]
On another occasion, the Eighth Doctor (who was then split into three bodies), Charley Pollard and C'rizz encountered cows in the Garden of Curiosities. This meant that cattle existed not only off-Earth, but in completely different dimensions. One of the three Eighth Doctors noted that cows could become dangerous if they herded together and stampeded. He seemed particularly concerned about cow hooves during a stampede. (AUDIO: Caerdroia [+]Loading...["Caerdroia (audio story)"])
References[[edit] | [edit source]]
According to Rose Tyler, cows farting methane into the atmosphere was one of the causes of global warming on Earth. (AUDIO: The Flood [+]Loading...["The Flood (RTDC audio story)"])
On the planet Dido, Barbara Wright speculated that David Campbell was teaching Susan Foreman how to milk cows on post-Dalek Earth. (TV: "The Powerful Enemy" [+]Part of The Rescue, Loading...{"namedep":"The Powerful Enemy (1)","1":"The Rescue (TV story)"})
When Steven Taylor still disbelieved the Doctor's claim that the TARDIS was a time machine, even after being shown a horned Viking helmet, the Doctor asked him if he thought it was a space helmet for a cow. (TV: "The Watcher" [+]Part of The Time Meddler, Loading...{"namedep":"The Watcher (1)","1":"The Time Meddler (TV story)"})
Though some believed it a myth, the Eighth Doctor claimed that cattle could tell when it was going to rain and would sit down so that they would have a patch of dry grass to eat from. He said that, like cows, he could tell when it was going to rain, and when something was wrong. (PROSE: Placebo Effect [+]Loading...["Placebo Effect (novel)"])
In 1979, Professor Chronotis commented that he could alleviate his lack of milk by keeping a cow. (TV: Shada [+]Loading...["Shada (TV story)"], WC: Shada [+]Loading...["Shada (webcast)"])
The Second Doctor noted that cows were always very friendly to him. (PROSE: One Small Step... [+]Loading...["One Small Step... (short story)"])
King Garth offended the natives of Corpos Delta when he compared them to cows. (PROSE: Placebo Effect [+]Loading...["Placebo Effect (novel)"])
When explaining to the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler that the Ood were a herd race in 43K2.1, Danny Bartock compared them to cattle. (TV: The Impossible Planet [+]Loading...["The Impossible Planet (TV story)"])
The Editor of Satellite Five referred to humanity as cattle. (TV: The Long Game [+]Loading...["The Long Game (TV story)"]) Elliot Sardick thought the same. (TV: A Christmas Carol [+]Loading...["A Christmas Carol (TV story)"])
The legendary Minotaur had the form of a human with the head of a bull. (TV: The Mind Robber [+]Loading...["The Mind Robber (TV story)"], The Time Monster [+]Loading...["The Time Monster (TV story)"])
As a metaphor for how her client protected his human flock, Rosemary Kizlet said, "No one loves cattle more than Burger King." (TV: The Bells of Saint John [+]Loading...["The Bells of Saint John (TV story)"])
The Sycorax referred to humans as cattle. (TV: The Christmas Invasion [+]Loading...["The Christmas Invasion (TV story)"]; PROSE: The Final Darkness [+]Loading...["The Final Darkness (short story)"]; AUDIO: Harvest of the Sycorax [+]Loading...["Harvest of the Sycorax (audio story)"])
The Valethske had a domesticated species on their home planet that they referred to as cattle. (PROSE: Superior Beings [+]Loading...["Superior Beings (novel)"])
As an insult[[edit] | [edit source]]
"Cow" was also used as an insult. Clara Oswald once called the TARDIS a "grumpy old cow". (TV: Hide [+]Loading...["Hide (TV story)"]) Martha Jones also called Eve a "scheming cow". (PROSE: The Last Dodo [+]Loading...["The Last Dodo (novel)"]) Before Heather Lake defeated the Mavora Queen, she called it a cow. (COMIC: The Broken Man [+]Loading...["The Broken Man (comic story)"]) Sally Sparrow called Kathy Nightingale a "lying cow" upon realising that Kathy had lied about her age while she examined her grave. (TV: Blink [+]Loading...["Blink (TV story)"]) Bob Hall thought of his landlady in London as an "old cow". (PROSE: The Evil of the Daleks [+]Loading...["The Evil of the Daleks (novelisation)"])
