30 Interesting Facts About Cows

Three black and white cows by Matthias Zomer-Pexels

30 Interesting Facts About Cows

Cows are one of the world’s most recognizable and beloved creatures. For thousands of years, they have been domesticated and have played a crucial part in human culture, providing us with milk, meat, and other essential resources. For generations, a variety of industries have relied heavily on these creatures. Cows, according to researchers, aid in the restoration of good soils, the preservation of vulnerable species, and the improvement of overall ecological function. The management of cow grazing can even lessen the effects of climate change.

Since early domestication, cows have been essential for the shift of human society from nomadic hunter-gatherers to sedentary farming communities throughout most of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Perhaps we should be thankful to them for their contributions to the advancement of our civilization. Whether or not you live on a farm surrounded by cows, the following facts are fascinating to anyone. These are truly unique animals.

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1. Domestication of cattle began around the 9th millennium BC in South West Asia

Corot – Cows and Water, Early 1800s-Mid 1800s-by Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot-Wikimedia Commons

Taurine cattle were domesticated some 10,500 years ago from as few as 80 wild aurochs progenitors in central Anatolia, the Levant, and Western Iran. Regrettably, due to overhunting and habitat loss, as well as the advancement of agriculture and domestic herds, the wild aurochs became extinct during the 1600s. In the Indian subcontinent, a different domestication process occurred, giving rise to the zebu. As of 2018, there were roughly 1.5 billion cattle in the globe, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO).

2. Cows are employed for farm work in several nations

Most farmers still employ a plow pulled by a cow today. The farming tradition of plowing fields with animals has been passed down through generations, partly because it is believed that the usage of cows gives fertility to the soil. The farm’s heaviest work is done by oxen, such as plowing the ground, transporting trees, and other farm work.

3. Cows were originally classified as three distinct species

Bos taurus 122570414-by Vincent Oostelbos-Wikimedia Commons

Cattle were formerly classified into three species: Bos taurus, the European or “taurine” cattle (containing related types from Africa and Asia); Bos indicus, the Indicine or “zebu” cattle; and the extinct Bos primigenius, the aurochs. The aurochs are related to zebu and taurine cattle. They were later reclassified as a single species, Bos taurus, with subspecies including aurochs, zebu, and taurine cattle. However, this taxonomy is disputed, and some sources, such as the American Society of Mammalogists’ Mammal Diversity Database, advocate separate species classification.

4. Black Angus cattle are one of the world’s most popular breeds

Angus cattle, often known as Aberdeen Angus, are the most prevalent breed in the United States and, probably, the entire world. This breed originated in northeastern Scotland and was introduced to the United States in the early 1870s. Bulls typically weigh around 850 kg (1870 lbs), and cows average around 550 kg (1210 lbs). Their skin is black, and their coat is either black or red.

5. Cattle form choosy friendships

Highland-cattle-1161694-by Miquel Rosselló Calafell-Wikimedia Commons

The University of Northampton’s most recent study brought attention to the human-like connections among cattle. According to the study, cattle make just certain types of buddies and are substantially less stressed when they are with their mates. Cows with similar personalities tend to draw toward one another, and they can even develop lifelong friendships in the process.

6. Cows produce between 110 and 180 L of saliva each day

An average milking cow can generate 98 to 190 liters of saliva every day. For dairy cows that produce a lot of milk, saliva is crucial because it acts as a rumen buffer aside from its lubricating qualities. In order to fulfill their enormous energy requirements, high-producing cows often require a diet with a low forage-to-concentrate ratio and a high concentration of fermentable carbohydrates.

7. Numerous national cuisines include beef tongue

BEEF TONGUE – BEEF TONGUE-by Lambda Boeotian-Wikimedia Commons

Beef tongue is a beef cut prepared from the tongue of a cow that can be roasted, boiled, pickled, or stewed in the sauce. This dish is served in many national cuisines, including Mexico (for taco fillings) and the United States (for open-faced sandwiches). It is served with Madeira sauce in France and Belgium, and a white roux with vinegar and capers in Germany, as well as horseradish cream, which is very popular in Polish cuisine.

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8. Their gestational duration does vary by breed and calf sex

Their gestation period is between 279 and 287 days (about 9 months and 10 days). 283 days is the most usual for most breeds. Unlike cows carrying heifer calves, bull calves often have a little longer gestation. When a calf is born, it weighs approximately 45 pounds and can stand and walk within an hour or two. Cows may generally be bred for the first time at about 21 months of age and continue to deliver until they are about 7 or 8 years old.

9. Cows are inherently scared in certain situations

Cattle on a grass field by Julie Aagaard-Pexels

Cattle are naturally reactive or scared in particular situations because they originated as prey animals, including fear of novel objects, situations, odors, unexpected movements, and noises. When they are alone or secluded, their terror becomes even more.

10. Cows have excellent peripheral vision

Cows can see behind them because their eyes are located on the side of their heads. They can see a range of more than 300 degrees thanks to these eyeballs (compared to our range of 180 degrees). When they lower their heads to graze, their range expands to about 360 degrees, providing them with a panoramic vision of everything around them.

11. They have extremely complex digestive systems

Ruminant Stomach-by Davidbena-Wikimedia Commons

Cow stomachs are divided into four pouches: the reticulum, the rumen, the omasum, and the abomasum, each of which has a specific function. Cows rarely chew their meal before it enters the rumen, the first and largest region of the stomach. When the rumen is full, the cow lies down, and the reticulum, which is comprised of muscle and is attached to the rumen so food and water can easily travel back and forth, forces the unchewed food up the esophagus and into the mouth. The meal finally travels through the omasum after re-chewing or rumination. The omasum filters the water, giving the bacteria in the rumen more time to break down food and absorb more nutrients. Lastly, the meal enters the abomasum, which works in the same way that a human stomach does.

12. They have excellent hearing

Cow hearing spans from 23 Hz to 35 kHz. Their best sensitivity frequency is 8 kHz, and their lowest threshold is 21 dB (re 20 N/m2), indicating that they have better hearing than horses (lowest threshold of 7 dB). The average threshold for sound localization acuity is 30°. This suggests that cattle are less able to localize sounds than goats (18°), dogs (8°), and humans (0.8°). Because cattle have vast foveal fields of view that reach practically the whole horizon, they may not require highly accurate locus information from their auditory systems to guide their gaze to a sound source.

13. Hinduism reveres the cow as a sacred animal

The holy Cow personified as World Mother with many Sanskrit Wellcome V0045137-by Unknown-Wikimedia Commons

For religious cow facts, Hindus do not consume meat, especially cows, and consider it a sacred animal; consequently, even meat-eating Hindus refrain from consuming beef. Cows, according to their beliefs, represent divine and natural beneficence, and hence should be preserved and adored. In general, Hindus regard the cow as a sacred emblem of life.

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14. The color red is invisible to cows

Cows are actually dichromatic organisms. According to experiments, cattle can only distinguish between long (colored red) and short (blue) or medium (green) wavelengths of light, but not between short and medium wavelengths. They are colorblind to even the swankiest of capes because they lack red receptors in their retinas.

15. The weight of adult cattle varies according to breed

Jersey cow by Poppy97-Pixabay

Dexter and Jersey adults, for example, weigh between 300 and 500 kg (600 and 1,000 lb). Adults of large continental breeds such as Charolais, Marchigiana, Belgian Blue, and Chianina weigh between 640 and 1,100 kg (1,400 to 2,500 lb). British breeds such as Hereford, Angus, and Shorthorn mature between 500 to 900 kg (1,000 to 2,000 lb), with Angus and Hereford reaching even higher weights. Bulls are several hundred kg heavier than cows of the same breed. Cows in the British Hereford breed weigh 600-800 kg (1,300-1,800 lb), whereas males weigh 1,000-1,200 kg (2,200–2,600 lb).

Chianina bulls can weigh up to 1,500 kg (3,300 lb); Angus and Hereford bulls can weigh as little as 900 kg (2,000 lb) or as much as 1,400 kg (3,000 lb). When a Chianina named Donetto was displayed at the Arezzo show in 1955, he set the world record for the heaviest bull at 1,740 kg (3,840 lb). In 1910, the heaviest steer was an eight-year-old Shorthorn/Hereford hybrid named ‘Old Ben,’ who weighed 2,140 kg (4,720 lb). The average weight of beef cattle in the United States has continuously increased, particularly since the 1970s, necessitating the construction of new slaughterhouses capable of handling larger corpses. In the 1980s, new packing plants stimulated significant growth in cattle weights. Beef cattle averaged only 160 kg (350 lb) net before 1790, after which weights progressively increased.

16. Cows, according to studies, are generally fairly clever animals with lengthy memories

 In laboratory studies, young cattle are able to learn the locations of several food sources and preserve this memory for at least 8 hours, albeit this decreased after 12 hours. Fifteen-month-old heifers learn faster than mature cows with one or two calvings, but their long-term memory is less solid. In these assessments, mature calves perform well in spatial learning tasks and have good long-term memory. Cattle tested in a radial arm maze can remember where they found high-quality food for as least 30 days.

Although they first learn to reject low-quality food, this memory fades over time. Young cattle demonstrated the ability to remember the location of feed for at least 48 days under less contrived testing conditions. Cattle may form a link between visual input and food in one day, and this memory can be sustained for one year despite some deterioration.

17. Cows can distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar individuals

A man feeding cows by Lan Yao-Pexels

Cattle can distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar members of the same species (conspecifics). According to studies, when they create a new group, they behave less aggressively against familiar individuals. Calves can also distinguish between humans based on prior experience, as demonstrated by approaching those who treated them warmly and avoiding those who treated them negatively. Although cattle can distinguish between humans based just on their faces, they also employ other clues such as clothing color when available. They can recognize familiar individuals. Visual discrimination is a simpler mental procedure than visual individual recognition.

It necessitates the recall of a previously encountered individual’s learned distinctive identity and the development of a mental image. All of the tested heifers demonstrated individual recognition of familiar and unfamiliar cows from their own breed by utilizing two-dimensional photographs of the heads of one cow. Also, almost all of the heifers recognized unknown individuals from various breeds, however, this was more difficult to do. Individual recognition was particularly difficult when the visual traits of the breed being tested differed significantly from the breed in the image, such as when the breed being tested lacked spots and the image depicted a spotted breed.

18. Cattle have an acute sense of taste 

Cattle have a highly developed sense of taste and can distinguish between the four major flavors (sweet, salty, bitter, and sour). They have approximately 20,000 taste buds. The intensity of taste perception is determined by the individual’s current food needs. They shun bitter (possibly poisonous) foods and have a strong affinity for sweet (high calorific value) and salty foods (electrolyte balance). Their sensitivity to sour meals aids in maintaining normal ruminal pH.

19. Various types of cattle are found in different geographical areas

Cow from Kerala-by Ramesh NG-Wikimedia Commons

Taurine cattle are mostly found in Europe and temperate Asia, the Americas, and Australia. Zebus (also known as indicine cattle) are largely found in India and tropical Asia, America, and Australia. Sanga cattle are mostly found in Sub-Saharan Africa. These categories are further subdivided into approximately 1,000 recognized breeds (which are sometimes regarded as separate species or subspecies).

20. The breed with the most milk production worldwide is the Holstein-Friesian

A holstein-friesian cattle on a field by Ravish Maqsood-Pexels

Holstein Friesians (also known as ‘Holsteins’ in North America and ‘Friesians’ in the United Kingdom and Ireland) is a dairy cattle breed that originated in the Dutch provinces of North Holland and Friesland, as well as Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany. This breed is popular because it was named “the world’s most prolific dairy cow” and is now a common cattle breed in more than 100 nations.

21. Cows are excellent swimmers

One of the most unexpected things about cows that most people discover is that they are good swimmers. They have a natural affinity for water like many mammals other than humans and can easily swim from one side of a pond or stream to the other. While some cows can swim long distances, others prefer to swim short lengths to the other side of a feeding opportunity. 

22. Cows sleep very little

A cow resting on the ground by Gina Alexandra Jacobs-Pexels

Cows, contrary to popular belief, do not require much sleep.  Cows spend 10 to 12 hours a day lying down, but the majority of that time is well-deserved leisure, not sleep. In fact, the average cow only sleeps four hours a day. According to Colorado veterinarian Greg Goodell, non-predator animals such as cows sleep relatively little as an intrinsic survival mechanism against threats. Sleep studies have also revealed that, much as in people, a lack of sleep can have an impact on a cow’s health, productivity, and behavior.

23. Cow hugging has been proven in studies to provide humans with a peaceful and relaxing feeling

Cow petting or hugging, according to some accounts, can help ‘increase optimism and alleviate stress by boosting oxytocin in humans.’ In fact, Americans pay $75 per hour to hug a cow. These creatures enjoy being petted, massaged, and scratched behind the ears, and they enjoy interacting with people of all ages.

24. Cows have a 3-5% probability of having twins

CSIRO ScienceImage 1082 Murray Grey cows-by Judith Maunders, CSIRO-Wikimedia Commons

In comparison to other animal species that have several offspring per pregnancy, most cows have one calf every pregnancy. As a result, they rarely have more than one calf, though twins do occur on occasion. In 5% of these circumstances, twin pregnancies pose substantial hazards to both the mother and her fetus. Cows seldom have triplets, but in Northeast Texas, a cow gave birth to extremely uncommon quadruplets. The four calves are “Moo, Eeny, Meeny, and Miny,” but because the mother cow was unable to support all four calves, the owner sought assistance from neighbors and friends. Moo has stayed with her mother, while Eeny, Meeny, and Miny are with two other caretakers.

25. Temperament can influence cow production qualities

In cattle, temperament can have an impact on reproductive success and general health as well as production qualities including carcass and meat quality and milk yield. The term “cattle temperament” is used to describe the relatively stable variation in an animal’s behavioral predisposition that can be linked to psychobiological mechanisms. It is defined as the consistent behavioral and physiological difference observed between individuals in response to a stressor or environmental challenge.

26. There is conflicting evidence regarding magnetoreception in cows

A cow lying down by David Roberts-Pexels

According to one study, cows tend to align their body axes with the geomagnetic north-south direction while grazing and resting. In a subsequent investigation, cattle exposed to different magnetic fields beneath or close to power lines trending in various magnetic directions showed diverse alignment patterns. However, a team of Czech researchers reported on their unsuccessful attempt to repeat the discovery using Google Earth photographs in 2011.

27. They change numerous features of their bite while grazing

Depending on the qualities of the plant they are eating, cattle during grazing change numerous features of their bite, such as tongue and jaw movements. Bite area increases with plant height but decreases with plant density. One study that looked at steers weighing 750 kilograms (1,650 lb) found that the biting area might reach a maximum of about 170 cm2(30 sq in) and is determined by the sweep of the tongue. The height of the plants causes the bite depth to rise. Cattle change their behavior to bite more heavily in tall, sparse swards than in short, dense swards of the same mass/area. In locations with an abundance of palatable feed, cattle change other characteristics of their grazing behavior, such as foraging velocity and intake rate.

28. The average cow has about 22,000 genes

Cows livestock by Leamsii-Pixabay

A group of scientists from the National Institutes of Health and the US Department of Agriculture disclosed mapping the bovine genome in the journal Science on April 24, 2009. The researchers discovered that cattle have roughly 22,000 genes, of which 80% are shared with humans. They also discovered that cattle share about 1000 genes with dogs and rats, but not with humans and that they share a few hundred genes with other animals. 

29. Their behavioral characteristics may be heritable

Cattle behavioral characteristics can be as heritable as some production characteristics, and frequently the two can be connected. The heritability of fear in cattle ranges significantly from low (0.1) to high (0.53); this large variation is also present in pigs and sheep, perhaps as a result of the different methodologies utilized in these species. According to calculations, the heritability of temperament (reaction to isolation during handling) is 0.36 and 0.46 for handling habituation. The heritability of aggression in cattle is approximately 0.36, according to rangeland assessments.

30. Cows are employed as a symbol of wealth in some cultures

Maasai cattle, Kenya-by imaginextra-Wikimedia Commons

The Maasai regard their cattle as their most prized asset and will go to any length to defend them. Their cattle serve as a sort of cash and a status symbol, and they are an important element of the family’s riches. They have traditionally relied on their cattle to provide all of their fundamental requirements, including food, clothing, and shelter. Their traditional diet is heavy on milk and dairy products, lean beef and other meats, calf fat, and blood, on which they rely for salt.

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