I have never heard Cows referred to as 'He', The Udder and producing milk make it rather obvious that they are female
For bees my guess is that it is because we are taugh as young chindren how to recognize as bee, and to stay away from it, because bees can sting. Later we are taught that fighting and being warriors is for boys, while girls are more suited for "Sugar and spice and all things nice" ;-) That makes it pretty clear that Bees that sting are not girl bees.
When I read this question, I thought another member had posted it. I have never heard a cow referred to as he. As for ants and bees, I don't recall anyone calling them anything but 'it'. I guess it's more difficult to determine gender on an insect.
I have never heard of a cow being called a he, as for bees, I am not sure what others call them but for me they are it, perhaps there is indeed justification for calling bees he, after all they do mate with the 'queen' bee and are referred to as worker bees.
Most people are ignorant of the fact that most bees and ants you see are female... carpenter bees are one exception. We all have heard the expression 'cowboys', but the proper name should be 'steerboys.
Referring to cows as "male"? Heifer-dust! Just sounds like a lot of bull to me.
There are male honeybees though. They're referred to as "drones". They hatch from unfertilized eggs and live the life of Riley until they're on a "date" with a young queen or they reach the end of the nectar season. If they're on a date with a young queen they suffer a mortal injury as soon as they mate. Otherwise they're left to starve to death as soon as the nectar flow dries up as they no longer have a useful purpose to the colony (the perfect Socialist society). And they have no stinger, look more like a large fly from the rear.
The queen (obviously) and the workers are all female.
Jane S 