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This article is about the regular cow mob. For the cow mob covered with red mushrooms, see Mooshroom.

Cows are passive mobs found in the Overworld.

Spawning

Natural generation

Cows spawn in herds of 4 on top of grass blocks with at least 2 blocks of space above them, at a light level of 9 or higher. They spawn in herds while the world is first generating; although if there are no passive mobs in loaded chunks, they can spawn after world generation in normal spawning cycles. 5% of they will be calves when naturally spawned.‌[Bedrock Edition only]

Breeding

Minicow

A calf compared to an adult cow.

Main article: Breeding

If cows are given wheat, their love mode will be triggered, and they will pair off to create calves, which may grant the player a small amount of experience. The parent cows will then have a cooldown of about 5 minutes before they can breed again.

The growth of baby cows can be slowly accelerated using wheat. Each use takes 10% off the remaining time to grow up.

Mooshrooms

Shearing a mooshroom will turn it into a cow.

Drops

Adult cows drop when they die (affected by looting):

Cows can be milked by using a bucket on them.

Like other baby animals, killing a baby cow yields no items, nor experience.

Behavior

Cows wander around slowly, mooing and breathing occasionally. They will avoid walking off cliffs high enough to cause fall damage. Like other passive mobs, they will flee around for a few seconds if you hit them.

A cow will follow the player if they are holding wheat, but will stop if the player travels too far away (8 blocks).

Data values

See also: Chunk format

Cows have entity data associated with them that contain various properties of the mob. Their entity ID is cow.

  • 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
Cow TipperHarvest some leather.Pick up leather from the ground.15GBronze
RepopulationBreed two cows with wheat.Breed two cows or two mooshrooms.15GBronze

Advancements

Icon Advancement In-game description Parent Actual requirements (if different) Resource location
Advancement-plain-rawThe Parrots and the Bats
Breed two animals together HusbandryBreed a pair of any of these 25 mobs: A mule must be the result of breeding a horse and a donkey for this advancement as they are not breedable together. Other breedable mobs are ignored for this advancement.husbandry/breed_an_animal
Advancement-fancy-rawTwo by Two
Breed all the animals! The Parrots and the BatsBreed a pair of each of these 24 mobs: A trader llama does not count as a llama, and a mule must be the result of breeding a horse and a donkey for this advancement as they are not breedable together. Other breedable mobs can be bred, but are ignored for this advancement.husbandry/bred_all_animals

Video

Cow/video

History

alpha
v1.0.8File:Cow Revision 1.png Added cows. They exhibit kazoo-like audio and are black and white.
v1.0.9Cows now emanate a more realistic bovine sound.
v1.0.14File:Cow Revision 2.png Added horns to cows. Cows have a new look, brown with white spots, instead of black with white spots, and have a 3D udder.
beta
1.3File:Cow Revision 3.png Changed position of cow horns.
1.8?Updated cow AI as part of the first AI update; they now run away when attacked.
Added raw beef and steak.
release
1.0.0Beta 1.9 Prerelease 3Cow The cow's horns are moved once again.
File:Cow Udder Comparison.png The cow udder's model is changed.
Baby Cow Added baby cows. Cows can be bred with wheat.
Beta 1.9 Prerelease 6File:Cow Butt Comparison.png The texture of the cow's butt is changed.
1.2.112w07aUpdated cow AI.
Cows can no longer breed with mooshrooms.
1.4.212w38aAdded new step, hurt, and idle sounds.
1.814w02aBaby cow growth can be accelerated using wheat.
1.915w39aCows are slightly taller (1.4 blocks tall rather than 1.3, with babies 0.7 blocks tall rather than 0.65).
15w50aAdded sound: entity.cow.milk.
1.1116w32aThe entity ID is changed from Cow to cow.
Pocket Edition Alpha
0.3.0Cows were added.
0.6.0Baby cows were added.
Cows can now drop leather.
0.7.0Cow spawn eggs were added to creative.
0.8.0?Cows are attracted to wheat and can be bred.
Improved cow AI.
0.12.1?Updated sounds
0.14.0build 1Baby zombie jockeys will now check for nearby cows to mount prior to attacking the player.
Legacy Console Edition
TU1CU1 1.0 Patch 1Added cows. They will not run away when attacked.
TU5Cows will run away when attacked.
TU7Added baby cows.
Cows can be bred with wheat.
TU14 1.04 Using a cow spawn egg, baby cows can now be spawned by using Left trigger on an adult cow.
TU31CU19 1.22 Patch 3Baby cow growth can be accelerated using wheat.
TU43CU33 1.36 Patch 13Added sounds for cows.
Updated cow sounds.

Issues

Issues relating to "Cow" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia

  • Cows resemble Norwegian red cattle.
  • Cows in the PC Gamer Minecraft Demo are branded with a 'PCG' logo on their side.
  • Notch stated in a tweet that all “breedable” peaceful mobs displayed traits of both genders and could breed with any other individual of their species. This applies to cows, since they have horns and give milk (although, in some breeds, female cows also have horns)

Gallery


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