# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![slaphead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@slaphead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaphead)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/21 "2006-02-27T19:59:11Z")
Anywhere cows are turned loose to roam the countryside and feed themselves, or are moved up to unfenced [summer pastures](http://www.seterkultur.no/engelsk/eng02.html) , cowbells have a place (note logo on page). They were certainly pretty common in Norway when I was a kid. I believe the normal practice is to hang them on one of the older ‘boss’ cows that act as a herd leader. Cows don’t normally wander off on their own, so once you’ve found the one with the bell on you have usually found them all. As to why, I believe it’s a mixture of helping people find the cows and warning that they are around so you can get your dogs/children/cow-spooking things under control. And believe me, even if there’s no forest around it’s amazing how many of those damn things can hide themselves in a little wrinkle in the topography or behind a few bushes. One moment it’s a peaceful empty landscape, then with only a a few clanks of cowbell for warning BAM!! cows, stink, shit and unpleasant biting insects everywhere. I really don’t like cattle. ---
**Author:** ![liberty3701](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@liberty3701](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liberty3701)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/22 "2006-02-27T20:33:33Z")
I’ve seen them used on sheep in the Southwest. Usually the “lead” sheep would wear them. ---
**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, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/23 "2006-02-27T20:50:04Z")
> [@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? Like slaphead said, cows are herd animals. Just identify which individual animal is the leader, bell that cow, and almost all of the time the rest of the herd will be with that lead animal. -rainy ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/24 "2006-02-27T21:32:59Z")
> [@liberty3701](#): > > I’ve seen them used on sheep in the Southwest. Usually the “lead” sheep would wear them. Hey, you, no hijacking. This is a cowbell thread. You wanna talk about sheep-bells, you take it someplace else! 🙂 (I kid, I kid) I have a teensy little cowbell souvenir from Switzerland, and if the postcards and tourist kitsh are to be believed, then cows in the Swiss valleys still wear the things. Now I just have to get myself a tiny little cow to go with my bell. ---
**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, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/25 "2006-02-27T22:04:01Z")
> [@rainy](#): > > Just identify which individual animal is the leader… > > -rainy Before anybody asks, its pretty much like human beings, find the most obnoxious jerk in the crowd/herd and there you go. I hate cows too. I’ve heard that is because my experience is with beef cows which aren’t handled much. Dairy cow people claim their animals are much nicer to work with. I’ll reserve my opinion on this statement. -rainy ---
**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, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/26 "2006-02-27T23:37:24Z")
> [@rainy](#): > > Before anybody asks, its pretty much like human beings, find the most obnoxious jerk in the crowd/herd and there you go. > > \ Dairy cow people claim their animals are much nicer to work with. I’ll reserve my opinion on this statement. > > -rainy Yeah, that’s how you pick out the leader in a herd of dairy cattle too. Some people like to call it assertiveness. I call such people “my parents.” Dairy cattle are more tame than beef cattle, but they can still be jerks. Especially if they’re the alpha cow. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/27 "2006-02-27T23:53:11Z")
> [@Miss Purl McKnittington](#): > > Dairy cattle are more tame than beef cattle, but they can still be jerks. Especially if they’re the alpha cow. You have to watch out for them alfalfa cows. That stuff makes them _crazy._ ---
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/28 "2006-02-28T00:28:02Z")
> [@Elendil's Heir](#): > > 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… 😃 Oooh…,I gotta hijack a hijack. ‘What’s that jacket made of?’ ‘Hide’. "Why should I hide?’ ‘No, no…hide…the cows outside’ ‘Well, let him in…I ain’t afraid of no cow’. ---
**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 28, 2006, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/29 "2006-02-28T04:16:04Z")
> [@ltfire](#): > > Oooh…,I gotta hijack a hijack. > ‘What’s that jacket made of?’ > ‘Hide’. > "Why should I hide?’ > ‘No, no…hide…the cows outside’ > ‘Well, let him in…I ain’t afraid of no cow’. Very impressive. Even dopier than mine! ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/30 "2006-02-28T13:56:45Z")
The bells go on the trouble makers, that like to crash the fence and head for the woods. They also make finding a herd that grazes on multple acres easier to find. Most stay in a group so they don’t all need bells, and most will come when called for food or milking. Most will show up at the barn entrance to be milk, because it’s painful to not be milked before the bursting point is reached. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/31 "2006-02-28T14:55:42Z")
> [@Miss Purl McKnittington](#): > > 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 once visited a farm near Kaliningrad where the farmer had a bunch of cows grazing in an unfenced field. They were all chained to the ground several hundred metres apart. I can’t remember what was on the ground end of the chain; it was probably just a heavy weight. Anyway, every day or so the farmer would move each cow to a new location so that it had fresh plants to graze. Guess that’s one alternative to using bells if you don’t have too many cows. Anyway, I went to visit the cows, and they seemed pretty docile. I could pet them and they didn’t seem to care. I wonder, what would have happened if I’d tried to mount them like a horse? Would the average cow not mind, or would I have been bucked off and trampled? ---
**Author:** ![rainy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@rainy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rainy)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/32 "2006-02-28T14:57:32Z")
bucked off and trampled and gored if they had horns ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/33 "2006-02-28T14:59:09Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > I once visited a farm near Kaliningrad where the farmer had a bunch of cows grazing in an unfenced field. They were all chained to the ground several hundred metres apart. I can’t remember what was on the ground end of the chain; it was probably just a heavy weight. Anyway, every day or so the farmer would move each cow to a new location so that it had fresh plants to graze. Guess that’s one alternative to using bells if you don’t have too many cows. Oh, and in case anyone is interested, [photos of said cows chained in the field (plus one of me being chummy with one)](http://www.dfki.uni-kl.de/~miller/photos/Kaliningrad_2004-08/Svetlogorsk/) are available online. ---
**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 28, 2006, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/34 "2006-02-28T16:26:00Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Oh, and in case anyone is interested, [photos of said cows chained in the field (plus one of me being chummy with one)](http://www.dfki.uni-kl.de/~miller/photos/Kaliningrad_2004-08/Svetlogorsk/) are available online. Nice photos! I’ve always liked Holsteins - the Mona Lisas of cows. ---
**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 28, 2006, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/35 "2006-02-28T20:31:34Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Anyway, I went to visit the cows, and they seemed pretty docile. I could pet them and they didn’t seem to care. I wonder, what would have happened if I’d tried to mount them like a horse? Would the average cow not mind, or would I have been bucked off and trampled? Hmm, cows really aren’t load-bearing animals – at least not people-weight. You see the occasional postcard of a guy on cowback or bullback, but those animals were trained to carry humans around. The average animal (even a horse, donkey, whatever) doesn’t automatically know how to cart a person around on its back. I don’t know that a cow would buck you off, per se, but I don’t think it would hold still long enough for you to get on its back. The moment you put your full bodyweight on its shoulders or its back, it would be moving around, trying to get you off. Once you were down on the ground, or stopped trying to climb on it and standing next to it, the cow would turn on you and she’d be _pissed_. If you were lucky, you’d only get bruised ribs and be mildly stepped on or kicked, but if you were unlucky, you could end up with a punctured lung and some broken bones and/or a concussion. Or dead. Cows usually follow the same routine as bulls: knock you about until you’re distracted, then try to get under you with their heads/horns and try to toss you in the air, repeatedly. If someone’s with you and is feeling brave, then hitting the cow/bull in the head/nose with something big and heavy sometimes distracts them enough to let the attackee get away. Cows are still animals; they aren’t big pets. Even the dairy cows that my family has that can be handled and petted and hugged can be right bitches if something sets them off. They’re less likely to kick you or headbutt you, but that doesn’t mean they won’t. A cow that I raised from a calf (her name was Violet) was truly evil, and tried to kill my father on multiple occasions. He finally had to sell her, and when he took her to the stockyard, she escaped. It took nearly an hour and four cowboys to get back to the pen. Even then, she went down fighting and tried to crush Dad as he held to door to the stocktrailer open. At any rate, the cows you were around were probably that docile because somebody had to go out and stake them out every day, so they were handled a lot. The weight doesn’t absolutely prevent them from running if they’re determined enough, but it will slow them down, since it’s not easy running with a weight attached to you. I hate to build this up to big dramatic proportions, but I’d hate it even more to see someone get hurt because they saw a field of cows and decided to “play” with them. I hear about people getting injured like that all the time, and if they’d just get it through their heads that cows only _look_ sweet and gentle . . . well, it’d be for the better. ---
**Author:** ![slaphead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@slaphead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaphead)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/36 "2006-03-01T16:28:27Z")
I thought the real issue with riding cattle is that they have really really bony protruding spines and are uncomfortable to ride, as well as being very slow. Getting a cow tame enough to ride around on isn’t any more of a problem than taming a horse - I remember sitting on several as a very small child. I agree with them being a lot spookier than horses though. I think the herd instinct is a lot stronger than with horses and if one gets a bit scared they all go nuts. In the UK people get killed regularly when trying to cross fields full of cattle. This never seems to happen with horses, but that may very well be because you tend not to get 20+ horses in a single field… ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/37 "2006-03-01T20:13:47Z")
> [@slaphead](#): > > I thought the real issue with riding cattle is that they have really really bony protruding spines and are uncomfortable to ride Wouldn’t the use of a saddle mitigate this? ---
**Author:** ![slaphead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@slaphead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaphead)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/38 "2006-03-01T20:38:01Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Wouldn’t the use of a saddle mitigate this? Yep, but it would have to have a lot more padding and a higher clearance around the spine. No idea if that would be a significant difference for a saddle maker. ---
**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:** [March 1, 2006, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/39 "2006-03-01T21:33:41Z")
Mongo _LIKE_ riding a bull! ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315/40 "2006-03-02T19:37:01Z")
> [@slaphead](#): > > Yep, but it would have to have a lot more padding and a higher clearance around the spine. No idea if that would be a significant difference for a saddle maker. Hmm… do they even make saddles for any animals besides equids? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cowbells-actually-used-for-cows/346315.md?page=1)