# Are cowbells actually used for cows? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 27, 2006, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315 "2006-02-27T14:59:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/1 "2006-02-27T14:59:38Z")
Aside from their ubiquitous role in rock ‘n’ roll music (favorite: Honkey Tonk Women; funniest: “more cowbell” skit), I am assuming they called “cowbells” because they are hung around cows’ necks. Have you ever seen cows in a field? They are not the most active creatures on the planet. And not exactly the stealth fighter of the animal world. The only way you would need to find a cow by listening for its bell is if it is jogging around someplace within earshot yet hidden from view. Doesn’t seem a likely scenario to me. What is the historical use of cowbells on cows, and are they still used? ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/2 "2006-02-27T15:07:44Z")
I don’t know about the history of cowbells, but if you read James Herriot, they certainly were needed! Farmers had huge tracts of land (snerk) and let their cows roam all over the place. There are many scenes of Herriot going out in the freezing cold weather and hunting down one cow or another. And, I’ve seen plenty of bells on cows. ---
**Author:** ![Cowgirl\_Jules](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@Cowgirl\_Jules](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cowgirl_Jules)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/3 "2006-02-27T15:11:39Z")
Yes. I’ve seen a lot of them on cattle that are grazed up in the Sierras on public land (with grazing leases from the Bureau of Land Management.) All of the adult cows have one, and you can hike around and listen to them. Since the deer are used to the sounds, I’ve always been tempted to wear one myself when I’m hunting (but I haven’t.) It makes it a lot easier to find the cattle when it’s roundup time. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/4 "2006-02-27T15:12:19Z")
Yes, they are [still used](http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?PGGUID=30E078F1-7B6A-11D5-A192-00B0D0204AE5&ccd=IFF003). From the Ontario Normal Farm Practices Protection Board: > [@](#): > > **1998-03 Pickering v. Mancini** > **Issue:** Noise > The applicants complained that the neighbour’s cowbells in a cow-calf operation were creating excessive noise. > **Status:** The Board ruled that the use of cowbells is a normal farm practice. However the Board ordered that the number of bells used should not exceed one bell per 15 cows. The Board also ordered that the livestock be kept inside a closed paddock at night where they had access to feed and water to help reduce nighttime noise. > **Decision:** In favour of farmer **Appealed:** No ---
**Author:** ![rainy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@rainy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rainy)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/5 "2006-02-27T15:15:54Z")
Remember, barbed wire and enclosed pastures haven’t quite seen 200 years yet. -rainy ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/6 "2006-02-27T15:26:50Z")
From **Walloon’s** quote: > [@](#): > > However the Board ordered that the number of bells used should not exceed one bell per 15 cows. What good do cowbells do if you can only bell one in fifteen? How do you ever find the other fourteen? Are they under strict orders to go with belled chaperones? ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/7 "2006-02-27T15:28:36Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > From **Walloon’s** quote:What good do cowbells do if you can only bell one in fifteen? How do you ever find the other fourteen? Are they under strict orders to go with belled chaperones? Herd that. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![ticker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@ticker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ticker)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/8 "2006-02-27T15:48:01Z")
Cowbells (and sheepbells) are still very much used in Switzerland. ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/9 "2006-02-27T15:53:27Z")
You know, what this thread needs… [/got nothin’] ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/10 "2006-02-27T15:58:49Z")
One of my grandfathers’ used cowbells on a _few_ of his dairy cows. I don’t know why just a few nor why any of my other cow-raising relatives didn’t use them. I do know that some cows can be a little nasty and perhaps having a bell on it would reduce the chances of being caught by surprise while out working the ditches. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/11 "2006-02-27T17:04:13Z")
It was the strangest thing - when I was in Switzerland, on this sky-bucket arrangement that took us up on a mountain, we’d go over ridges and hear in the valleys the _weirdest noise_. Finally we figured out that it was coming from the herds of cows in the valleys - hundreds and hundreds of cowbells! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/12 "2006-02-27T17:04:38Z")
My favorite dopey joke from when I was in third grade or so: What do you call a group of cows? A herd. Herd of what? Herd of cows. _Sure_ I’ve heard of cows! Oh, I kill me… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/13 "2006-02-27T17:10:51Z")
Nobody caught my huge tracts of land joke? I’m disappointed. Now someone is going to come along saying of course they got it, and i’m silly for pointing it out. ---
**Author:** ![Fish\_Cheer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fish_cheer/32/17179_2.png) [@Fish\_Cheer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish_Cheer)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/14 "2006-02-27T17:19:26Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Nobody caught my huge tracts of land joke? I’m disappointed. I didn’t. But then again, I often don’t. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/15 "2006-02-27T17:44:35Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Nobody caught my huge tracts of land joke? I’m disappointed. > Now someone is going to come along saying of course they got it, and i’m silly for pointing it out. That would be me. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/16 "2006-02-27T17:47:04Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > That would be me. 😛 I can always count on you, **silenus** , to tell me when I’m being silly. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/17 "2006-02-27T17:50:29Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Have you ever seen cows in a field? They are not the most active creatures on the planet. And not exactly the stealth fighter of the animal world. The only way you would need to find a cow by listening for its bell is if it is jogging around someplace within earshot yet hidden from view. Doesn’t seem a likely scenario to me. Some cows spook pretty easily and can get going at a pretty good clip when they want to. They might look placid and docile, but they are a creature on the edge. They’re not quite as dangers as, say, a hippo, but they can be damned mean and easily provoked. I’m waiting to experience something scarier than having a ton of beef running after you as you scramble to get under or over or possible _through_ a fence. And if dogs or wolves or coyotes (seriously!) are chasing your cattle, then the cowbells will tell you that something’s wrong. Or if one wonders off from the herd, then it’s easier to track them down. Or if you live someplace with lots of fog or there’s a freak blizzard, then you’ll be able to hear them. The cowbell that’s used in music, though, is probably going to manufactured specifically for that purpose and not stolen off a cow’s neck. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/18 "2006-02-27T17:56:53Z")
[“More cowbell!”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/More_Cowbell) ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/19 "2006-02-27T19:49:36Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > I can always count on you, **silenus** , to tell me when I’m being silly. 🙂 Enter **Biffy** , dressed in a suit of armor and carrying a rubber chicken… ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/20 "2006-02-27T19:55:57Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > [“More cowbell!”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/More_Cowbell) I was beginning to wonder if someone was going to complete that sentence. I was not disappointed. 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315.md?page=2)