Cow

Cows are passive mobs. They, along with mooshrooms, are the only source of leather, raw beef, and milk. They are 1.6875 blocks tall, 0.625 blocks wide, and 1.5 blocks long.

Appearance
Cows have black/brown skin with white spots. All cows have a pair of horns on their head. They are most likely modeled after the Norwegian Red Cattle.

Xbox 360 Edition
They are extremely unaware of cliffs and holes in the ground, and will sometimes fall and die. They will drop leather on death (as of 1.7.3)and can be milked. They are usually found in herds of around 4 cows, but can, uncommonly, be found alone.

Behavior
Cows roam in the Overworld, usually in herds of 4 to 10 (however it is not uncommon to find a lone cow). They tend to walk around slowly and aimlessly, mooing, but they will flee and jump wildly if attacked. They also tend to jump off high cliffs (and die in the process). Cows make no attempt to stay out of water and will follow the player when he/she is holding wheat, which is used for breeding. They also can climb ladders in certain conditions. A cow can be milked by right clicking the cow with an empty bucket, while below the cow. A cow may be milked an unlimited number of times.

Breeding
Breeding cows with wheat will create a calf and give experience. The parent cows have a delay of 5 minutes until they can breed again. Calf will follow its parents or other adult cows until it's fully grown.

Calves will move faster and take 20 minutes to fully grow. They do not drop anything when killed. They can be milked, however.

It is possible to herd cows along with any other animal if you simply walk by a cow while holding wheat. The cow will follow you wherever you go. You can do this to lead animals into fenced areas for easy breeding.

Farming
Trapping a herd of cows in an enclosed area and breeding them is very beneficial to the player. Cows drop more types of useful resources than all other passive mobs (excluding the rare Mooshroom), providing the player with an unlimited supply of steak, milk and leather.

Bugs

 * Sometimes, when there are many calves and parent cows in close proximity, parent cows may "forget" which calf is their child and begin to follow the wrong calf.
 * Sometimes in SMP, if cows don't have enough space, they will push each other into walls and teleport to other places until they are approached.

Trivia

 * Cows in the PC Gamer Demo of Minecraft are branded with a 'PCG' logo on their side.
 * Because of the lack of hierarchy in every box model, the horns of the cow are sometimes misplaced. Jeb is planning to fix this.
 * All cows in Minecraft both give milk and are capable of breeding with each other; there are no distinct genders.
 * Cows are able to climb up elevation but are unable to climb down inclines lower than two blocks.
 * Because cooked beef is equal to cooked porkchops, it is more profitable to breed cows instead of pigs. While pigs only provide porkchops; cows not only provide beef, but also milk and leather with the same amount of wheat and time.