# Can cow think **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 14, 2011, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-cow-think/592727 "2011-08-14T22:40:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![elninost0rm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ed655f/32.png) [@elninost0rm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elninost0rm)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-cow-think/592727/21 "2011-08-15T14:39:04Z")
Win U/P combo ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-cow-think/592727/22 "2011-08-15T14:43:20Z")
> [@sandra\_nz](#): > > Maybe because we have a higher level of awareness of the consequences of our behaviours? The problem I have is people who claim that because we _can_ think about something, we therefore _must_ think a certain way about it. Invariably, that “certain way” is whatever the person in question thinks is right. I mean, if a pack of sufficiently large and hungry carnivores happen upon a cow in a field, chances are they’ll take down that cow and start dismantling it and eating it while it’s still alive. I personally think we should do better than that if we’re to use cows for food, but I don’t think we’re charged with some inherent obligation to do so. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-cow-think/592727/23 "2011-08-15T14:50:20Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > Cows show fear, affection and other emotions. They can experience and avoid pain. So yes, cows can think. > > That being the case, how ought we to behave toward thinking beings? With no unnecessary cruelty. If they are destined to be food, then keep them as healthy and well-cared-for as possible until they can be humanely killed, cut up and devoured. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-cow-think/592727/24 "2011-08-15T14:56:06Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Well, not sponges, and probably not most coelenterates. If the Lord wishes a sponge to think, it thinks! 😉 CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-cow-think/592727/25 "2011-08-15T16:27:16Z")
> [@](#): > > Though I think they just don’t give a crap. On the contrary, giving a crap is one of the few things they’re extremely good at. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-cow-think/592727/26 "2011-08-15T16:38:38Z")
Daily cow thoughts… \*hm… brown… don’t eat… … green…(moo!)… eat… chew … burp, chew some more… …must not get tipped over… \* ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-cow-think/592727/27 "2011-08-15T16:48:03Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > The problem I have is people who claim that because we _can_ think about something, we therefore _must_ think a certain way about it. Invariably, that “certain way” is whatever the person in question thinks is right. Not too big on the Golden Rule and “certain unalienable Rights,” are you? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-cow-think/592727/28 "2011-08-15T17:16:52Z")
Okay, I’ve worked on a dairy farm and I have some actual experiences with bovine intelligence. It’s there but it’s real low. Let’s say you have a herd of cows that you milk twice a day and let outside in between milkings. You don’t want letting the cows in for milking to be a free-for-all; you want them trained to go to the same milking stall every time they come inside. It can be done. You can train a cow to go to a particular milking stall. But it takes a lot of work. You can teach a cow a trick. So cows have intelligence. Not a lot. Not as much as a dog or a pig. Or even a horse or a cat. Cows are about as smart as a chicken. But they’re smarter than turkeys. Nothing is as dumb as a turkey. Corn is smarter than turkeys. ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-cow-think/592727/29 "2011-08-15T19:40:15Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Well, not sponges, and probably not most coelenterates. > [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > If the Lord wishes a sponge to think, it thinks! And love thy _anemone_ as thyself. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-cow-think/592727/30 "2011-08-15T19:50:20Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > Not too big on the Golden Rule and “certain unalienable Rights,” are you? overstocked on “Jump to Conclusions” mats, are we? ---
**Author:** ![TonKa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9f8e36/32.png) [@TonKa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonKa)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-cow-think/592727/31 "2011-08-15T21:06:23Z")
> [@](#): > > Corn is smarter than turkeys But sunflowers are smarter than corn, they enjoy the sunshine from morning till gloom. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-cow-think/592727/32 "2011-08-15T21:15:51Z")
Cow think, “grass, grass, grass, chew chew, chew, fly, fly, swish, swish, grass, grass, chew, fly, swish, damn fly, swish, grass, grass, chew, chew…” ---
**Author:** ![Bosstrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Bosstrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstrain)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-cow-think/592727/33 "2011-08-15T21:46:54Z")
Cows are probably looking at us and wondering the same thing, then they get bored and go back to hunting for that elusive, alien, space shuttle control that they dropped a few thousand years ago so they can finally go back to their homeworld. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-cow-think/592727/34 "2011-08-16T00:22:49Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > overstocked on “Jump to Conclusions” mats, are we? I don’t see how that’s a jump at all. If I am following the exchange correctly, you just expressed the thought that: [ul] [li]even though humans (you) have a higher awareness of the consequences of your behaviors[/li] [li]you don’t think humans (you) should be held to a higher standard of behaving nicely[/li] [li]toward those who can feel suffering[/li][/ul] That’s pretty much the thought pattern that allows people to harm others, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-cow-think/592727/35 "2011-08-16T00:37:34Z")
I think, at least in this thread, we were working within the context of animals using other animals for food. If I’m to eat a cow, I don’t feel I have any _inherent obligation_ to take that cow any more painlessly than any other omnivorous/carnivorous mammal on this planet. However, I already said that I _personally_ felt we should do so. So, if you were trying to score points, I guess I’ll give them to you so you’ll go away. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-cow-think/592727/36 "2011-08-16T01:07:43Z")
> [@TonKa](#): > > English is not my native tongue (I am from Holland) and I guess my English is far better then your Dutch. > > Thanks for the warm welcome 😉 Just a joke, and I meant the welcome. The only Dutch I know is… well… none. 😉 Joe ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-cow-think/592727/37 "2011-08-16T02:47:20Z")
You think they’re dumb. Just beware! [[Singer / Songwriter Dana Lyons performs "Cows With Guns" - YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4dAhlaI_aM)]([Singer / Songwriter Dana Lyons performs "Cows With Guns" - YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4dAhlaI_aM)) ---
**Author:** ![TonKa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9f8e36/32.png) [@TonKa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonKa)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-cow-think/592727/38 "2011-08-16T06:12:39Z")
> [@](#): > > Just a joke, and I meant the welcome. The only Dutch I know is… well… none. 😉 No problem. Here is your first lesson in Dutch: “Het spijt me” meaning “I am sorrry”. Have a good one! ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-cow-think/592727/39 "2011-08-16T06:36:50Z")
> [@Bytegeist](#): > > And love thy _anemone_ as thyself. There is a _coral_lary to this point, but I only happened on it by a fluke, 😉 ---
**Author:** ![h4ckys4ck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@h4ckys4ck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h4ckys4ck)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-cow-think/592727/40 "2011-08-16T07:30:36Z")
Mmmmmmmn, tinned cow think. Damn I’m hungry. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-cow-think/592727.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-cow-think/592727.md?page=3)