The Intelligence of Cows

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As someone who raised cows and steer as part of 4-H and actually paid for a considerable chunk of my college tuition with cows, I can tell you 100% authority they are not very smart. I’d put them at about the same intelligence-level as goldfish, in fact. Just about every domestic animal I can think of is probably smarter on average than a cow. Dogs - even dumb dogs - are Einstein compared to an average cow or steer.

Another 4-H'er here who showed cattle (among other animals). I completely agree with you. Just because an animal has some intelligence, knows it's own territory, can learn a routine and be trained/figure some stuff out doesn't make it 'smart'. Even chickens can be trained to a certain extent and they are THE dumbest farm animal ever.

Animals should also be treated humanely no matter their intellegence level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I dunno. They are 10-15 times as big as me but when I walk up to my brother's cows in his feedlot and wave a handful of grass at them they sook and jump back (a dozen or so since they tend to crowd together). Then ever so slowly, if I stand still, they draw closer until one sticks its head out and checks out the grass, at which point the others figure out there's a treat. There are tricks for setting things up to load them into trailers or direct them into pens because they think a dark space is a wall.

What you're describing reflects the way they see, and also their reaction to unfamiliar things. That doesn't mean they aren't intelligent or emotionally complex. Plenty of humans react poorly in unfamiliar situations and/or when their sensory input is not a good match for the situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As someone who raised cows and steer as part of 4-H and actually paid for a considerable chunk of my college tuition with cows, I can tell you 100% authority they are not very smart. I’d put them at about the same intelligence-level as goldfish, in fact. Just about every domestic animal I can think of is probably smarter on average than a cow. Dogs - even dumb dogs - are Einstein compared to an average cow or steer.

Another 4-H'er here who showed cattle (among other animals). I completely agree with you. Just because an animal has some intelligence, knows it's own territory, can learn a routine and be trained/figure some stuff out doesn't make it 'smart'. Even chickens can be trained to a certain extent and they are THE dumbest farm animal ever.

Animals should also be treated humanely no matter their intellegence level.

Including insects?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As someone who raised cows and steer as part of 4-H and actually paid for a considerable chunk of my college tuition with cows, I can tell you 100% authority they are not very smart. I’d put them at about the same intelligence-level as goldfish, in fact. Just about every domestic animal I can think of is probably smarter on average than a cow. Dogs - even dumb dogs - are Einstein compared to an average cow or steer.

Another 4-H'er here who showed cattle (among other animals). I completely agree with you. Just because an animal has some intelligence, knows it's own territory, can learn a routine and be trained/figure some stuff out doesn't make it 'smart'. Even chickens can be trained to a certain extent and they are THE dumbest farm animal ever.

Animals should also be treated humanely no matter their intellegence level.

Including insects?

"Teaching a child not to step on a caterpillar is as valuable to the child as it is to the caterpillar.”- Bradley Miller.

[Anonymous]

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[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All animals are intelligent. We just don’t take the time to understand them. As a society we abuse so many intelligent sentient beings it’s a disgrace.

This is not accurate.

Farmer here. Cows and horses are extremely intelligent. Goats as well.

Sheep and chickens are stupid. I mean, really, really stupid.

Former farmer here.
Cows, horses, goats, and pigs are intelligent. I don't know about sheep, but chickens and turkeys are nearly as dumb as rocks.

It's time for "WKRP in Cincinnati" Thanksgiving show. "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had no idea cows were so smart!

Haven't spend a lot of time around them and then recently I ended up in a mountain village full of cows and the cows pretty much manage their own lives. They come and go on their own from their homes to wherever they want to graze. They know where they and the other cows all live, they can tell time and when they should head home, they actively communicate with each other about their plans for the day, they express frustation if another cow isn't doing what they are supposed to do, they have leaders and followers...it is a whole society. We just never see cows here living this kind of independent life!

Can cows reason? I have always wondered if they know that they should lie down when there is a thunder storm because it is safer than standing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As someone who raised cows and steer as part of 4-H and actually paid for a considerable chunk of my college tuition with cows, I can tell you 100% authority they are not very smart. I’d put them at about the same intelligence-level as goldfish, in fact. Just about every domestic animal I can think of is probably smarter on average than a cow. Dogs - even dumb dogs - are Einstein compared to an average cow or steer.

Another 4-H'er here who showed cattle (among other animals). I completely agree with you. Just because an animal has some intelligence, knows it's own territory, can learn a routine and be trained/figure some stuff out doesn't make it 'smart'. Even chickens can be trained to a certain extent and they are THE dumbest farm animal ever.

Animals should also be treated humanely no matter their intellegence level.

Including insects?

"Teaching a child not to step on a caterpillar is as valuable to the child as it is to the caterpillar.”- Bradley Miller.

Does that include ants?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All animals are intelligent. We just don’t take the time to understand them. As a society we abuse so many intelligent sentient beings it’s a disgrace.

This is not accurate.

Farmer here. Cows and horses are extremely intelligent. Goats as well.

Sheep and chickens are stupid. I mean, really, really stupid.

Guineas are insanely stupid! My neighbor had to use hardware cloth to fence his in, because they kept getting their heads bitten off by a mink! He saw it happen. "Hey, what happened to Polly?! Let me stick out my head and see! AAAK!"

Cows, horses, and goats are brilliant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I dunno. They are 10-15 times as big as me but when I walk up to my brother's cows in his feedlot and wave a handful of grass at them they sook and jump back (a dozen or so since they tend to crowd together). Then ever so slowly, if I stand still, they draw closer until one sticks its head out and checks out the grass, at which point the others figure out there's a treat. There are tricks for setting things up to load them into trailers or direct them into pens because they think a dark space is a wall.

What you're describing reflects the way they see, and also their reaction to unfamiliar things. That doesn't mean they aren't intelligent or emotionally complex. Plenty of humans react poorly in unfamiliar situations and/or when their sensory input is not a good match for the situation.

I think that what people see as stupidity in animals is often just an animal showing the difference in perception between animals and people.

[Anonymous]

Here is director Werner Herzog expounding on the extreme stupidity of chickens:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhMo4WlBmGM

Quotes from this short, but perfect clip surface unbidden from my subconscious probably... once a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had no idea cows were so smart!

Haven't spend a lot of time around them and then recently I ended up in a mountain village full of cows and the cows pretty much manage their own lives. They come and go on their own from their homes to wherever they want to graze. They know where they and the other cows all live, they can tell time and when they should head home, they actively communicate with each other about their plans for the day, they express frustation if another cow isn't doing what they are supposed to do, they have leaders and followers...it is a whole society. We just never see cows here living this kind of independent life!

Can cows reason? I have always wondered if they know that they should lie down when there is a thunder storm because it is safer than standing

Farmer here. No, they don’t do this. They love to stand under trees and get electrocuted. My uncle once lost 9 to a single bolt of lightning.

Cows and horses rarely survive lightning strikes because it goes up one leg, through the heart and out another. Humans often live because it doesn’t hit any organs too important if it travels up one of our legs and down the other.

[Anonymous]

Former FFA person as well, and I found my show cattle to be fairly trainable. I got my feeder steer from not halter broke to a Championship in 30 days. A grown horse often takes much longer than that. I did involve the tractor to teach him to lead, though, which you can’t do with a horse because they have more delicate neck structures.

Pigs and horses are the smartest, but cattle aren’t chicken- or sheep-stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All animals are intelligent. We just don’t take the time to understand them. As a society we abuse so many intelligent sentient beings it’s a disgrace.

This is not accurate.

Farmer here. Cows and horses are extremely intelligent. Goats as well.

Sheep and chickens are stupid. I mean, really, really stupid.

NP. And my god, the turkeys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had no idea cows were so smart!

Haven't spend a lot of time around them and then recently I ended up in a mountain village full of cows and the cows pretty much manage their own lives. They come and go on their own from their homes to wherever they want to graze. They know where they and the other cows all live, they can tell time and when they should head home, they actively communicate with each other about their plans for the day, they express frustation if another cow isn't doing what they are supposed to do, they have leaders and followers...it is a whole society. We just never see cows here living this kind of independent life!

All of the animals you eat are intelligent. All of them. There have been lots of studies that animals of all sorts have more intelligence than we thought. And, ofc, they all experience fear, panic, pain, anxiety. Follow The Gentle Barn, Arthur's Acres, and lots of other SM farm sanctuaries . . . you will see it first hand. Poplar SPrings in MD is a great place to visit. These animals know their names and exhibit social behaviors.

It's why many people choose to be vegan or to make more informed choices where their food comes from. The way most people eat in this country, and the amount of meat from what amounts to torturous conditions, is obscene. (And I'm not vegan but eat very little animal products from humanely sourced places).

Shrimp are intelligent? Clams? Anchovies?

We have a different definition of intelligence.