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15 Udderly Interesting Fun Facts About Cows

Cows are udderly fascinating creatures. Find out 15 intersting and amoosing facts here!

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Beano Facts Team
Last Updated:  March 28th 2022

Cows have loads of stomachs? LIE. That’s fake moo’s! If there’s a source of amoosing cow jokes you can trust, it’s the Beano.com! All of your Cattle-based facts can be found here (well 15 at least). They’re udderly interesting so get reading! Once you’ve troughed yourself silly on this beefy list, check out some of are other animal facts like our 10 Amazing Reptile Facts You Never Knew and our 10 Majestic Fun Facts About Swans!

1. All cows are female! 

We’re really talking about cattle here. Male cattle are called bulls, bullocks or steers. A female is called heifer until she has her first calf, then she becomes a cow!

2. Cow’s have feelings too!

Cow’s can have complex emotions, just like us. They can be intelligent or slow to understand, arrogant, kind, nervous, bossy, and even cheeky. It sounds unlikely but scientists say that 80% of cow genes are shared with humans so no wonder we’re so similar (apart from the udders and horns)!

3. There are over 800 different cattle breeds! 

Different types have been created for different reasons. Some are especially good at producing milk and others make huge beefy steaks. Some of the more strangely named breeds include the Brangus, the Limosine and the Beefalo!

4. Cows can nearly see 360 degrees without moving their heads!

This means they can constantly keep watch for predators, beefeaters and matadors. Cow’s aren’t so good at looking directly ahead so will turn their head to look at you with some serious bovine sideeye!

5. Cows have no upper front teeth!

Cows have a hard palette instead. They use their sharp bottom teeth as a knife and the palette like a chopping board! In total, a cow with a perfect set of gnashers has 32 teeth! Udderly fascinating!

6. Cows can’t tell you what the weather is going to be!

Ancient folklore says that a herd of cows sitting down in a field means that rain is on its way. There’s no proof of this being true and cows actually spend loads of time sitting down whatever the whether. Apparently they’re just chilling. 

7. The hamburger premiered at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, USA!

Proper hamburgers don’t contain ham (otherwise they wouldn’t have made this cow list) instead they’re based on a similar ground beef snack originally eaten in the German city of Hamburg. Since 1904, Beano experts have estimated that Americans have eaten literally a zillion hamburgers. In response, American experts have estimated that Beano experts have eaten about the same amount! 

8. Still on the subject of hamburgers…

2,000 quarter pound hamburgers can be made from one cow! A cow’s milk can also be used to make the cheese for the top, and manure(cow poo) can be used to fertilise the soil used to gow wheat to make the burger bun. Sadly, a cow can’t produce a gherkin for your hamburger. This is because they can’t unscrew the lid of the jar! 

9. In 1850 nearly every family in the U.S. had its own cow!

We think this fact is correct. The expert we were talking to might have said “couch”. Amoosing jokes aside, the cow was an important part of family life, providing dairy produce for the family throughout the year! Thank you, Ermintrude!

10. Cows can fall asleep standing up!

It’s fairly common in large animals due to the energy needed to stand up. It’s an impressive party trick too except for the fact that you can’t see anybody look impressed on account of being asleep! 

11. Cows change colour as they age!

Just like how some children are born blonde and slowly turn brown haired so do cows change colour as they age. 

12. Talking of colour… Cows are colour blind!

Turns out the bull-fighting phrase “ A red rag to a bull” is a bit muddled because cows are red/green colourblind. It’s actually the fact that the cape is being waved around that causes a bull to charge. And no wonder. If someone paraded us in front of a crowd and waved a cape in our faces we’d be a bit annoyed too. So to summarise, the phrase should be changed to “A moving rag to a bull” and don’t tease massive animals with horns.

13. Cows only have one stomach!

Not an amazing fact unless you’d bought into the fake moos that cows have loads of stomachs. They really only have one, just that’s it’s very complex and consists of four parts, the abomasum, reticulum, omasum and rumen. This complicated stomach allows the cow to eat things that we humans find indigestible, like grass, weeds and (maybe) moosli. 

14. Cows love being groomed!

Like lots of animals, cows love being groomed. Some farmers say that the cow is a proud animal that isn’t happy if it isn’t looking it’s best. Other farmers even massage their cows believing it gives the beef a lovely marbled texture. 

15. Cow farts are bad for the environment!

When cows digest grass they create up to 50 litres of greenhouse gas, methane gas DAILY. There are 1.4 BILLION farmed cows on Earth. Put those last two facts together and thats a whole load of gas! Environmental experts agree that cutting down on meat and dairy is a very effective way to fight climate change!