A cow is the female version of Cattle. Most people raise a Steer for meat. Of course they don’t bury cows and they are probably ok for hamburger.
Cows are routinely sold for meat. Steers tend to bring a few more cents per pound than cows because they will fatten up faster in the feed lots.
More than half of the McBurgers you buy are old (and I mean OLD) milk cows.
On butchering in the driveway, I prefer a pulley attached to a stout overhead beam. Rope or cable winches the body up off the ground. Much easier to do neat, clean work.
It's been a long time since I read the Nero Wolfe story Some Buried Caesar, but as I recall the bovine American named Caesar was of the male variety.