I was listening to the news today about the cow that tested positive for mad cow disease in Washington. In the course of the story they used the term "downer cow". This is an official USDA term for an animal that can not make it to the slaughter station under its own power.

They were talking about how downers are not supposed to make it into the human food chain, but sometimes they do. Normally they get ground up into animal feed.

I just thought it was interesting that there was an official USDA term for this.