# When do the cows come home? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 24, 2016, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-the-cows-come-home/746961 "2016-02-24T08:06:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![iljitsch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/77aa72/32.png) [@iljitsch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iljitsch)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-the-cows-come-home/746961/1 "2016-02-24T08:06:40Z")
The title says it all. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-the-cows-come-home/746961/2 "2016-02-24T08:26:29Z")
In the evening. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-the-cows-come-home/746961/3 "2016-02-24T08:33:03Z")
Never. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-the-cows-come-home/746961/4 "2016-02-24T08:33:46Z")
Or, at the end of the summer, if we’re talking about beef cattle that are currently grazing on upland pastures. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-the-cows-come-home/746961/5 "2016-02-24T08:37:18Z")
But whether it’s in the evening (for dairy cattle) or at the end of the season (for beef cattle), the point is that cows come home at a fairly languid pace. They wander gradually towards the place they’d like to get to, pausing frequently to ruminate, and often having the air of someone who has forgotten where he is going, or why. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-the-cows-come-home/746961/6 "2016-02-24T09:59:14Z")
Milking time. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-the-cows-come-home/746961/7 "2016-02-24T10:10:31Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > Or, at the end of the summer, if we’re talking about beef cattle that are currently grazing on upland pastures. Then they are usually brought home, no, rather than come home on their own accord like cows at milking time? All jokes aside, I’m fairly confident the saying is just an elaborate way of saying “We could argue about this all day.” Feel free to now post the fable about the farmer with the runaway cows arguing with his farm hand about the best way to search for them. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-the-cows-come-home/746961/8 "2016-02-24T10:17:37Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > But whether it’s in the evening (for dairy cattle) or at the end of the season (for beef cattle), the point is that cows come home at a fairly languid pace. They wander gradually towards the place they’d like to get to, pausing frequently to ruminate, and often having the air of someone who has forgotten where he is going, or why. And here in California, when they chow down on a marijuana patch, they are so languid that they just … float away. Ranchers have been known to employ blimps to retrieve them, or milk 'em if they’re below 10,000 feet. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-the-cows-come-home/746961/9 "2016-02-24T10:30:34Z")
Not till they’re good and ready. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-the-cows-come-home/746961/10 "2016-02-24T10:30:41Z")
Cows and to some extent horses and sheep, tend to be creatures of habit. They walk around grazing. After awhile they learn where the best grass in the pasture is along with sources of water, shade, salt licks, and dirt so they can roll in dust. At the end of the day they go back to the corral, barn, or wherever else they know they will be safe, get milked, or get extra feed. That’s when you do a count to find if any are missing which could be anything from being injured to giving birth to sometimes they just get curious and wander off. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-the-cows-come-home/746961/11 "2016-02-24T16:28:01Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > After awhile they learn where the best grass in the pasture is along with sources of water, shade, salt licks, and dirt so they can roll in dust. Cows roll around on the ground to cover themselves like a pig would? I didn’t think a cow was physically capable of that. I thought their large bodies and skinny legs precluded such things. ---
**Author:** ![Gretchion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8edcca/32.png) [@Gretchion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gretchion)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-the-cows-come-home/746961/12 "2016-02-24T16:42:15Z")
Well I don’t know about the cows, but according to Admiral Kirk the horse comes home just before the barn door is fixed. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-the-cows-come-home/746961/13 "2016-02-24T16:53:57Z")
I thought they didn’t. Cowboys drove cows to slaughter, or to a train station to slaughter, and they never came home. The cowboys eventually came home without them. The trip driving the cows to slaughter was arduous. Even if they did come home, it would take months, but they don’t ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_X2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90db22/32.png) [@Karen\_X2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_X2)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-the-cows-come-home/746961/14 "2016-02-24T16:54:44Z")
You’re not from around here, are you? ---
**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:** [February 24, 2016, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-the-cows-come-home/746961/15 "2016-02-24T17:04:25Z")
Well after the chickens do. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-the-cows-come-home/746961/16 "2016-02-24T17:21:02Z")
Not in a month of Sundays. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-the-cows-come-home/746961/17 "2016-02-24T17:30:11Z")
Ironically enough, for jumpers, it depends on the porkchop plot. [Porkchop plot - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porkchop_plot) Anyone care to do the return math? [http://courses.ncssm.edu/math/NCSSM%20Student%20Materials/InvestigationsTrimester%203/Moon.pdf](http://courses.ncssm.edu/math/NCSSM%20Student%20Materials/InvestigationsTrimester%203/Moon.pdf) ETA: Is farmer **Stranger** around? ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-the-cows-come-home/746961/18 "2016-02-24T17:54:15Z")
We could argue till the cows come home and still not reach an agreement. Or something along those lines. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-the-cows-come-home/746961/19 "2016-02-24T18:05:44Z")
Some speculation from [Wiktionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/until_the_cows_come_home): > [@](#): > > Possibly from the fact that cows may be expected to return for milking in the morning; thus, for example, a party that goes on “until the cows come home” is a very long one. > Alternatively, assuming a Scottish origin, from the fact that cows in the highlands are put out on the common grazing until the end of summer, when they will find their way back home to be let in for feeding. Grass on the hill (common) is plentiful, so cows may stay out for months before scarcity of food brings them home in the autumn. ---
**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 24, 2016, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-the-cows-come-home/746961/20 "2016-02-24T18:11:06Z")
In my experience staying with several relatives that were dairy farmers, the cows had at best a mild interest in returning to the barn for milking. (Which was twice a day then. Modern factory dairies do it thrice a day.) Maybe a couple cows would wander nearer to the barn, but the overwhelming majority didn’t. They did seem to like the extra feed they got: a scoop of ground wheat in the trough while milking and some alfalfa in the corral on the exit side of the barn. But apparently not enough to make them go “Wow, milking time! I better get close to the barn to get some yummy stuff.” So the kids had to bring the cows in. Fairly easy if boring. The cows rarely tried to avoid being herded in. They were quite used to it. A generation back, before the area was fenced in, the cows would wander over a large area of rangeland. Rounding them up was done on horseback. Again, a sign they had little interest in returning to the milking barn. The expression basically means “not quite never”. Not an absolute “never” but way past “don’t hold your breath”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-the-cows-come-home/746961.md?page=2)