| Health points |
10 |
|---|---|
| Behavior |
Passive |
| Classification | |
| Hitbox size |
In Java Edition: |
| Spawn |
Grass blocks with at least two blocks of space above them. |
| Usable items |
A cow is a passive mob found in most grassy biomes and a source of leather, beef and milk.
Contents
Spawning[]
Natural generation[]
Cows spawn in small herds above grass blocks. However, their spawn rate varies per biome. Most cows spawn as adults, but they have a 5% chance of spawning as a calf, or baby cow.
In Bedrock Edition, herds of 2 to 3 cows spawn in grass blocks at a light level of 9 or higher with at least 2 blocks of space above, except in snowy taigas, snowy plains, meadows, mangrove swamps and wooded badlands. Cows commonly spawn individually above grass after world generation.
In Java Edition, herds of 4 cows spawn on grass blocks at a light level of 7 or higher with at least 2 blocks of space above, except in snowy plains, meadows, mangrove swamps and wooded badlands. Cows rarely spawn individually above grass after world generation.
Villages[]
A cow sometimes spawns inside animal pens and butchers' houses in villages.
Mooshrooms[]
Shearing a mooshroom turns it into a cow and drops 5 mushrooms corresponding to the type of mooshroom.
Drops[]
Adult cows drop:
- 0–2 leather. The maximum amount is increased by 1 per level of Looting, for a maximum of 5 with Looting III.
- 1–3 raw beef (or steak if killed while on fire). The maximum amount is increased by 1 per level of Looting, for a maximum of 6 with Looting III.
- 1–3 experience orbs are dropped when killed by a player or tamed wolf.
- 1–7 experience orbs upon successful breeding.
Killing a calf yields no items nor experience.
Behavior[]
A calf compared to a cow.
A cow wanders around aimlessly, mooing and huffing in small herds occasionally. A cow quickly flees for a few seconds when harmed. Additionally, cows tend to:
- go to lit and grassy places.
- sometimes look at players within eight horizontal and four vertical blocks for two to four seconds.
- avoid going to water unless they are following players and always avoid traversing minecart rails and walking off cliffs high enough to cause fall damage.
- avoid environmental hazards, such as fire, lava, cactus, sweet berry bushes or dripstone, but make no attempts to avoid explosions.
- cows can step on pressure plates, jump on dripleaves or farmland and climb ladders, stairs, vines and cave vines.
Milking[]
An adult cow can be milked by using a bucket on it, yielding a milk bucket.
Breeding[]
A cow follows a player who holds wheat but stops following if separated from the player by at least six blocks. Adult cows enter love mode and pair off to create calves after they are given wheat, granting the player one to seven experience orbs. The parent cows have a cooldown of 5 minutes before they can breed again. Babies follow adult cows and take 20 minutes to grow up.
A calf that results from breeding attempts to pathfind to the nearest available block to its parent, even if no path can be found. However, if the calf is separated from its parent by more than 24 blocks, it pathfinds to another adult cow. The growth of calves can be accelerated using wheat; each use reduces the remaining growth duration by 10%.
Sounds[]
The specific instructions are: Add high pitch cow sound that represent calves
| Sound | Subtitles | Source | Description | Resource location | Translation key | Volume | Pitch | Attenuation distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cow moos | Friendly Creatures | Randomly from adult | entity.cow.ambient | subtitles.entity.cow.ambient | 0.4 | 0.8 - 1.2 | 16 | |
| Cow moos | Friendly Creatures | Randomly from baby | entity.cow.ambient | subtitles.entity.cow.ambient | 0.4 | 1.3 - 1.7 | 16 | |
| Cow dies | Friendly Creatures | When adult cow dies | entity.cow.death | subtitles.entity.cow.death | 0.4 | 0.8 - 1.2 | 16 | |
| Cow dies | Friendly Creatures | When baby cow dies | entity.cow.death | subtitles.entity.cow.death | 0.4 | 1.3 - 1.7 | 16 | |
| Cow hurts | Friendly Creatures | When adult cow takes damage | entity.cow.hurt | subtitles.entity.cow.hurt | 0.4 | 0.8 - 1.0 | 16 | |
| Cow hurts | Friendly Creatures | When baby cow takes damage | entity.cow.hurt | subtitles.entity.cow.hurt | 0.4 | 1.3 - 1.7 | 16 | |
| Cow gets milked | Players | When a player milks a cow | entity.cow.milk | subtitles.entity.cow.milk | 1.0 | 1.0 | 16 | |
| Footsteps | Friendly Creatures | When cow walks | entity.cow.step | subtitles.block.generic.footsteps | 0.15 | 1.0 | 16 |
Data values[]
ID[]
| Name | Identifier | Translation key |
|---|---|---|
| Cow | cow | entity.minecraft.cow |
| Name | Identifier | Numeric ID | Translation key |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cow | cow | 11 | entity.cow.name |
Entity data[]
Cows have entity data associated with them that contain various properties.
- Entity data
- Additional fields for mobs that can breed
- Tags common to all entities
- Tags common to all mobs
Achievements[]
| Icon | Achievement | In-game description | Actual requirements (if different) | Gamerscore earned | Trophy type (PS4) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PS4 | Other platforms | |||||
| Cow Tipper | Harvest some leather. | Pick up leather from the ground. | 15G | Bronze | ||
| Repopulation | Breed two cows with wheat. | Breed two cows or two mooshrooms. | 15G | Bronze | ||
Advancements[]
| Icon | Advancement | In-game description | Parent | Actual requirements (if different) | Resource location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The Parrots and the Bats | Breed two animals together | Husbandry | Breed a pair of any of these 22 mobs:
| husbandry/breed_an_animal
|
 | Two by Two | Breed all the animals! | The Parrots and the Bats | Breed a pair of each of these 21 (22[upcoming: JE 1.19]) mobs:
| husbandry/bred_all_animals
|
History[]
The specific instructions are: 12w05a changes
| Java Edition Alpha | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| v1.0.8 |  Added cows.
| ||||
| Cows are currently black and white. | |||||
| Cows exhibit strange sounds. | |||||
| v1.0.9 | Cows now emanate a new and realistic bovine sound. | ||||
| v1.0.14 |  Added horns to cows. Cows now have a new look, brown with white spots, instead of black with white spots and have a 3D udder. | ||||
| Java Edition Beta | |||||
| 1.3 |  The position of the cow's horns has been changed. | ||||
| 1.8 | Pre-release | Cows now run away when attacked. | |||
| Added raw beef and steak, which are now dropped from cows. | |||||
| Java Edition | |||||
| 1.0.0 | Beta 1.9 Prerelease 2 | Cows can now be bred using wheat. | |||
| Beta 1.9 Prerelease 3 |  The cow's horns have been moved, once again.
| ||||
The cow udder's model has been changed from  to  . | |||||
 Added calves. | |||||
| Beta 1.9 Prerelease 6 | The texture of the cow's back has been changed from  to  . | ||||
| 1.2.1 | 12w07a | The cow AI has been updated. | |||
| Cows can no longer be bred with mooshrooms. | |||||
| 1.4.2 | 12w38a | Cows' sounds have been changed. | |||
| 1.8 | 14w02a | Calf growth can now be accelerated using wheat. | |||
| 1.9 | 15w39a | Cows are now slightly taller (1.4 blocks tall rather than 1.3, with babies 0.7 blocks tall rather than 0.65). | |||
| 15w50a | Added a sound when the player milks a cow: entity.cow.milk. | ||||
| 1.10 | 16w20a | Cows no longer spawn in ice plains. | |||
| 1.11 | 16w32a | The entity ID for cows have been changed from Cow to cow. | |||
| 1.14 | 18w43a | The textures of the cow and calf have been changed. | |||
| 1.15 | 19w37a | Five percent of cows now spawn as babies. | |||
| 19w39a | The models of the calves have been changed. | ||||
| 1.16 | pre1 | Cows can now be milked in Creative mode. | |||
| Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||
| v0.3.0 | Added cows with old sounds. | ||||
| v0.6.0 | Added calves that spawn naturally 25% of times.
| ||||
| Cows can now drop leather. | |||||
| v0.7.0 | Cow spawn eggs have been added to Creative. | ||||
| v0.8.0 | build 2 | Cows are now attracted to wheat and can now be bred. | |||
| The cow AI has been improved, cows now avoid falls, fire, water, cactus and lava. | |||||
| v0.12.1 | build 1 | The cow sounds have been updated. | |||
| v0.14.0 | build 1 | Baby zombie jockeys now check for nearby cows to mount prior to attacking the player, villager or golem. | |||
| Cows no longer spawn in snowy tundra biomes and variants. | |||||
| v0.15.0 | build 1 | Baby husks can now mount cows. | |||
| ? | The chance of baby cows spawning instead of adults has been reduced to five percent. | ||||
| Bedrock Edition | |||||
| 1.10.0 | beta 1.10.0.3 | The textures of the cow and calf have been changed. | |||
| 1.11.0 | beta 1.11.0.1 | Cows spawn in animal pens in villages. | |||
| 1.18.30 | beta 1.18.20.27 | Cows no longer spawn in snowy taigas. | |||
| Legacy Console Edition | |||||
| TU1 | CU1 | 1.0 | Patch 1 | 1.0.1 | Added cows.
|
| Cows do not run away when attacked. | |||||
| TU5 | Cows now run away when attacked. | ||||
| TU7 | Added calves.
| ||||
| Cows can now be bred with wheat. | |||||
| TU14 | 1.04 | Using a cow spawn egg, calves can now be spawned by using  on an adult cow. | |||
| TU31 | CU19 | 1.22 | Patch 3 | Calf growth can now be accelerated using wheat. | |
| TU43 | CU33 | 1.36 | Patch 13 | The baby cow's sounds have been updated. | |
| 1.90 | The textures of the cow and calf has been changed. | ||||
| New Nintendo 3DS Edition | |||||
| 0.1.0 | Added cows and calves. | ||||
Historical images[]
The old black-and-white cow.
The cow as it appears in the PC Gamer Demo.
A cow from the PC Gamer Demo, with an exclusive texture.
Historical sounds[]
| Sound | From | to | Pitch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Idle | Alpha v1.0.8 | Alpha v1.0.9 | ? |
| Hurt | Alpha v1.0.8 | Alpha v1.0.9 | ? |
| Idle | Alpha v1.0.9 | 1.4.2 | ? |
| Hurt/Die | Alpha v1.0.9 | 1.4.2 | ? |
Trivia[]
- Cows are visually based on the Norwegian Red cattle.
- Cows in the PC Gamer Minecraft Demo are branded with a 'PCG' logo on their side.
- Notch stated in a Tumblr post that all "breedable" peaceful mobs displayed traits of both genders and could breed with any other individual of their species.[1] This applies to cows as they have horns and give milk (although, in some breeds, female cows also have horns).
- Cows prefer to stay on lit places to dim places.
Gallery[]
Screenshots[]
A dying cow.
A cow begging at the player holding a wheat.
A cow attempting to follow the player through a fence.
In other media[]
A cow in promotional artwork for the Horse Update.
A cow in promotional artwork for the first Caves & Cliffs update.
LEGO Minecraft cow.
A cow plush.
Issues[]
Issues relating to "Cow" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.
