Tragically, the food system views cows as mere machines for profit. Whether raised for meat or milk, cows endure extreme confinement, separation from their mothers, and painful mutilations such as branding, dehorning, and castration. In the United States alone, more than 30 million cows are killed every year for human consumption.

We’ve compiled our nine favorite facts about cows—just a few of the many reasons they continue to win our hearts. Take a few moments to learn who these gentle giants truly are and how you can help protect them.

The word “cow” is often used to refer to all cattle (like in this article), but in fact, there are several names for these animals depending on their age, sex, and reproductive status. A female who has given birth to at least one calf is called a cow, while a female who has not given birth is known as a heifer. As for male cattle, castrated males are called steers, and intact males are called bulls.

Cows exhibit unique personalities, including cognitive bias, meaning their emotions influence how they make decisions. A cow who has recently experienced stress may be more hesitant to take on a new task or less likely to perform well on it. In fact, some calves have been found to be optimists or pessimists, consistently making choices that align with their innate personalities.

 

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At our sanctuaries, cows routinely engage in play—running, kicking, leaping, and interacting with objects or one another. Studies of cows on dairy farms show that they tend to play more when their welfare is better—for example, when they receive better food or are housed with a fellow cow. When calves are weaned early or experience pain, on the other hand, their play decreases.

Cows are prey animals, vulnerable in the wild to predators like wolves, bears, and coyotes. Because of this, cows evolved to have eyes on the sides of their heads, similar to horses, giving them a wide field of vision of at least 330 degrees. When they lower their heads to graze, that range increases to almost the full 360 degrees.

Cows are perhaps best known for their complex digestive systems, but they don’t exactly have four stomachs. In fact, they have a single stomach with four compartments, or chambers, each specialized to take on a function of digestion. As ruminants, cows’ digestive systems can break down a range of grasses and vegetation that other animals can’t eat.

Cows can distinguish between humans, other cows, objects, and locations. Cows can learn to associate humans with past behaviors and favor those who have provided treats or handled them kindly. In one study, cows were taught to press their noses to handlers’ wrists to obtain a treat. One handler readily gave treats, while the other did not. The cows learned to approach the more generous handler more often. They can tell humans apart in many ways, even by what clothing they’re wearing. Cows can also learn about the location of a feeder, identify and remember the best grazing and resting spots, and retain this learned information over long periods.

Young calves identify and show a preference for their mothers’ vocalizations over those of unfamiliar cows. In one study, calves were exposed to recordings of calls from various cows. The calves stood closer to and for longer by the speakers that played their own mother’s calls. This suggests a strong bond between mother and baby, making it all the more tragic that these pairs are routinely separated on dairy farms within hours of birth. This often results in calves becoming physically ill and emotionally distressed, crying so much that their throats become raw and inflamed.

Kept in a constant cycle of pregnancy to maximize milk production and thus profits, the average cow on a U.S. dairy farm produced more than 23 thousand pounds of milk in 2019. That’s more than double the amount produced 40 years prior. The cycle—artificial insemination, pregnancy, birth and separation, and mechanized milking—repeats on dairy farms until a cow is considered “spent” and is no longer profitable to the farm, at which time she is sent to slaughter.

Between six months and one year of age, cows raised for beef are transported—often over long distances without food, water, or protection from the elements—to large, isolated feedlots where they are fattened for slaughter. Around 88 percent of these cows are raised in feedlots that confine 1,000 animals or more.

Instead of their natural diet of grasses and foliage, cows on feedlots eat a corn- or grain-based diet that includes antibiotics and antibacterial agents (and, occasionally, aftermarket human food products, including candy). Such practices bring most cows to a “market weight” of 1,200 pounds in just six months.

Many of the facts featured here come from The Someone Project, a Farm Sanctuary-sponsored research-based initiative documenting farm animal sentience through science.