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
A calf compared to an adult cow.
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):
- 0–2 Leather
- 1–3 Raw Beef if killed by a player
- 1–3 Steak if killed by fire
- 1–3 experience orbs
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
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 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 25 mobs:
| husbandry/breed_an_animal
|
![]() | Two by Two | Breed all the animals! | The Parrots and the Bats | Breed a pair of each of these 24 mobs:
| husbandry/bred_all_animals
|
Video
Cow/video
History
| alpha | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| v1.0.8 | File:Cow Revision 1.png Added cows. They exhibit kazoo-like audio and are black and white. | ||||
| v1.0.9 | Cows now emanate a more realistic bovine sound. | ||||
| v1.0.14 | File: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 | |||||
| 1.3 | File: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 | |||||
| 1.0.0 | Beta 1.9 Prerelease 3 | The cow's horns are moved once again.
| |||
| File:Cow Udder Comparison.png The cow udder's model is changed. | |||||
Added baby cows. Cows can be bred with wheat. | |||||
| Beta 1.9 Prerelease 6 | File:Cow Butt Comparison.png The texture of the cow's butt is changed. | ||||
| 1.2.1 | 12w07a | Updated cow AI. | |||
| Cows can no longer breed with mooshrooms. | |||||
| 1.4.2 | 12w38a | Added new step, hurt, and idle sounds. | |||
| 1.8 | 14w02a | Baby cow growth can be accelerated using wheat. | |||
| 1.9 | 15w39a | Cows are slightly taller (1.4 blocks tall rather than 1.3, with babies 0.7 blocks tall rather than 0.65). | |||
| 15w50a | Added sound: entity.cow.milk. | ||||
| 1.11 | 16w32a | The entity ID is changed from Cow to cow. | |||
| Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||
| 0.3.0 | Cows were added. | ||||
| 0.6.0 | Baby cows were added. | ||||
| Cows can now drop leather. | |||||
| 0.7.0 | Cow 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 | |||
| 0.14.0 | build 1 | Baby zombie jockeys will now check for nearby cows to mount prior to attacking the player. | |||
| Legacy Console Edition | |||||
| TU1 | CU1 | 1.0 | Patch 1 | Added cows. They will not run away when attacked. | |
| TU5 | Cows will run away when attacked. | ||||
| TU7 | Added baby cows. | ||||
| Cows can be bred with wheat. | |||||
| TU14 | 1.04 | Using a cow spawn egg, baby cows can now be spawned by using | |||
| TU31 | CU19 | 1.22 | Patch 3 | Baby cow growth can be accelerated using wheat. | |
| TU43 | CU33 | 1.36 | Patch 13 | Added 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
The cow as it appears in the PC Gamer Demo.
A cow begging at the player holding a piece of wheat.








