TO most people they are just cows, sheep and pigs. They look picturesque grazing in the fields and reconciled as they wait their turn to be sold in the livestock markets The nearest many people get to them is when they drive along rural roads, often diverting cantankerous child passengers by stopping in a gateway or looking over the hedge and shouting ‘ooh, look at those cows’ – even if they are bulls.

But all farm animals are graded into categories spelling out their specific role or destiny in life.

Farmers keep them to breed, or to produce meat, milk and wool and the animal’s individual status is of vital importance.

People are categorised too – babies, youngsters, teenagers, the middle- aged, pensioners and the old. It is all based on age.

But for farm animals the choice is far more humiliating – depending on how many offspring they have had, whether they have been castrated or how many teeth they have got.

Cattle can become steers or weanlings, pigs may be cutters or porkers and sheep might be wethers or gimmers and it is hard to recognise the difference on face value.

If a potential buyer is seen sticking his hand in the mouth of a sheep at market sales it is to check its teeth, probably to see if it is broken-mouthed or good in udder. Few people know what a gimmer, hogg, wether or cull is, making them a good source of questions for pub quizzes. But be careful, a hogg can be either a female sheep or castrated male pig.