Why We Should Appreciate Cows: Fun Facts

1. Ruler-Size Tongues!

A cow's tongue can be over 30 centimetres long,¹ which they use to grasp and pull grass over their incisors to cut it from the pasture.²

2. Almost 360-Degree Vision

Cows have an excellent panoramic vision, allowing them to see 330 degrees around them. They have a small blind spot directly behind them.³ While they are not experts in colour (seeing dichromatic vision), they still have a wide visual field.⁴

3. Varied and Vocal Communication

Cows communicate with each other through a variety of vocalisations,⁵ body language,⁶ and facial expressions.⁷ They use these methods to convey different emotions and intentions to their herd mates and can even tell humans apart!⁸

4. Highly Social

Cows are highly social animals who form close bonds within their herd.⁹ They can have best friends and become stressed when separated. In stressful situations, they seek comfort and reassurance from their peers.¹⁰

5. Impressive Problem Solvers

Cows are impressive problem solvers with excellent memory.¹¹ They can navigate complex mazes to find food and remember the route even after a long time.¹² They perform almost as well as dogs and better than cats in these tasks.¹³

6. Unique as a Fingerprint!

Holstein-Friesian cows are the most commonly used breed in the dairy industry in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Each cow sports a unique pattern of black and white (or brown and white) fur, much like a human fingerprint—no two cows have the same spot pattern.¹⁴

Why We Should Appreciate Cows: Not-So-Fun Facts

This leads us to the not-so-fun facts that make us appreciate just how unique each cow truly is...

1. Pushed to the Max!

A typical cow farmed for dairy in Aotearoa, New Zealand, produces about 18 to 23 litres of milk per day, totaling over 4,700 litres per year. Cows get a few weeks off before giving birth to a new calf, so their milk is collected for around 276 days each year.¹⁵ Naturally, a cow would produce exactly enough milk to feed her calf, amounting to less than 800 litres per year.¹⁶

With breeding cows at the core of the dairy industry, it's no surprise we have millions of them. Despite a decrease in numbers, there are still more dairy cows (5.91 million)¹⁷ in Aotearoa, New Zealand, than humans (5.3 million).¹⁸

2. High Water Intake

Cows farmed for dairy need a lot of water to make milk—up to 120 litres each day! On average, they drink about four litres of water for every litre of milk they produce.¹⁹ Research from Victoria University found that up to 11,000 litres of water might be needed to clean up the nitrogen pollution from producing just one litre of milk, depending on water quality standards.²⁰

3. Four Stomachs!

Cows farmed for dairy have four stomachs that help them digest tough plant material. They also eat their food twice. First, they swallow it quickly while standing, then they relax, lie down, and chew it again. This is called rumination.³ Unfortunately, these impressive digestive abilities are often pushed to the limit to maximize milk production from each cow.²¹

4. Natural Lives Cut Short!

On average, the life of a cow farmed for dairy ends at about 4.5 to 6 years, cut short by the metabolic strain of high milk production and frequent pregnancies, making them unprofitable for farms to keep.²² Naturally, cows can live over 20 years,²³ with the oldest cow on record nearly reaching 49 years.²⁴ Therefore, these animals only live about 30% of their natural lifespan.

The Bigger Picture

Did you know that cattle are the most commonly used animals for science in Aotearoa, New Zealand? Many of these animals suffer in research aimed at sustaining or enhancing the animal agriculture industry. Learn more here.

To end this, we must work together to shift our animal-protein-obsessed food system away from farming animals. Let's make this change happen in our lifetime!