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Besides the lamb for shepherd's and beef for cottage pies, what differentiates them?  Flavor differences?  Standard ingredient differences? I want to use ground beef for either pie.  

I have seen and eaten shepherd's pies in various places in the US, but they were awful. I have not seen cottage pies on menu yet in the US. Maybe in the New England states?   Though I don't think I attempted to make shepherd's pie, I have made at least 3-4 various versions of cottage pie and my husband really likes them.  

I want to try new version of cottage or never made shepherd pie.   

Nothing really differentiates them except the base meat as you observed: traditionally  lamb in shepherd's and beef in cottage .. sometimes they're based on leftover roasted meat (traditional sunday roast/ Monday leftovers in the UK).. according to Wiki "cottage" pie came into vogue when potatoes arrived in the UK villages in the early 1800s.. some have pastry bases, with mashed potato tops; some replace potato with sweet potato mash on top; my husband has his own favourite variant to which he lays claim... experiment with the 127 online recipes for cottage pie or 261 recipes for shepherd's pie in EYB's library!

Off topic but related.

In the late 60's a friend wanted me to make a steak and kidney pie like one cooked by a professor's British wife. No amount of research came up with the magic taste. Finally, for the friend's birthday, I got my nerve up to call the professor's wife from 2000 miles away. I explained that my friend loved her steak and kidney pie and I wanted to make it for his birthday. After laughing, she explained that I was missing only one ingredient - whatever leftovers she happened to have in her refrigerator on the day he ate it.

Thank you debkellie and mjes for your info.  Maybe outside of their origin, they can be called either names using other proteins.  I read many comments on Cook Illustrated's site on their recipe Shepherd's Pie published in 2012 using beef.  Some people were put off by their naming of Shepherd's instead of Cottage and that is ok.  Some who made it, wanted to add regional spin such as New Mexico hatch chilies and I want to try that version perhaps next time.  Much like teriyaki, many regional variations with passing time and place.  I used to get putoff with addition of ingredients such as ginger and garlic or very thick teriyaki, but no more.  Recipes evolve over time and place.  

I ended up using the CI's shepherd's pie recipe using beef.  Very tasty and one happy husband who is looking forward to having the leftovers again today.

My go-to shepherd's pie recipe is from Gary Rhodes' New British Classics.  I have been making it for at least 15 years and it always gets rave reviews.  If you google it you will find the recipe online.  As a Brit I can attest it is the best shepherd's pie recipe I've ever eaten.

Thank you FJT I found it.  This one uses cinnamon which is interesting.  And red wine in place of madiera or port and celery in place of peas.  I will make this version next time.  Since  I really liked the method of putting in small amount of baking soda and pinching 2" pieces of ground meat when cooking which really improved the texture of ground meat by keeping meat more sausage like sizes and tenderness coming from baking soda, that I will add that technique in this recipe.  

You can also look at recipes for Hachis parmentier for a French take on the recipe.

Whatever recipe you use it's important to season it well and use plenty of butter in the potato. I always bake mine until brown with crispy edges. I also make sure there is plenty of butter dotted on the top before baking. So delicious. Did I say how important it is to have plenty of butter😋

Thank you Leo.  I veered from CI by putting grated cheddar cheese on top of mashed potatoes and that was the right call but did not think about adding extra pats of butter on top.  Next time for sure.  I like butter.