Cow

Cow

• Temperate
• Cold
• Warm

Adult

Baby

Adult

Baby

Adult

Baby

Health points	10HP
Behavior	Passive
Mob type	Animal
Hitbox size	In Java Edition: Adult: Height: 1.4 blocks Width: 0.9 blocks Baby: Height: 0.7 blocks Width: 0.45 blocks In Bedrock Edition: Adult: Height: 1.3 blocks Width: 0.9 blocks Baby: Height: 0.65 blocks Width: 0.45 blocks
Speed	0.2
Spawn	Grass blocks with at least two blocks of space above in most Overworld biomes. After shearing a mooshroom.
Usable items	Bucket Wheat Lead

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    "title": "Cow",
    "rows": [
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            "label": "(link to Health article, displayed as Health points)"
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            "label": "(link to Hitbox article, displayed as Hitbox size)"
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            "label": "(link to Attribute#movementSpeed article, displayed as Speed)"
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            "label": "(link to Mob spawning article, displayed as Spawn)"
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    "invimages": [
        "Cow Spawn Egg"
    ],
    "images": [
        "Cow.png",
        "Baby Cow.png",
        "Cold Cow.png",
        "Baby Cold Cow BE1.png",
        "Warm Cow.png",
        "Baby Warm Cow BE1.png"
    ]
}

A cow is a passive mob found in most grassy biomes and are a source of leather, beef and milk. They have three variants based on the temperature of the biome they spawn in. Warm cows spawn in warmer biomes, such as deserts and savannas, while cold cows spawn in colder biomes such as taigas and windswept hills. The temperate cows still spawn in green biomes like the plains, forest, and birch forest.

Spawning

Cows spawn naturally in the Overworld in most grassy biomes except for snowy plains, meadows, mangrove swamps, and pale gardens. They spawn in small herds, with a set spawn rate for each biome.

Cows also require a well-lit grass block to spawn on and at least two blocks of space above it.

In Java Edition, herds of four cows spawn on grass blocks at a light level of 9 or higher. Individual cows rarely may spawn after world generation.

In Bedrock Edition, herds of 2–3 cows spawn on grass blocks at a light level of 7 or higher. Individuals regularly spawn on grass after world generation.

Cows sometimes spawn inside animal pens, stables, and butcher house backyards in villages upon world generation.

Using shears on a mooshroom converts it into a cow.

Variants

Cows have 3 variants; temperate, cold, and warm. The variant is determined by the biome the cow spawns in.

Temperate cows spawn in the following biomes:

• Plains
• Sunflower Plains
• Forest
• Flower Forest
• Birch Forest
• Old Growth Birch Forest
• Dark Forest
• Swamp

Warm cows spawn in the following biomes:

• Savanna
• Savanna Plateau
• Windswept Savanna
• Jungle
• Bamboo Jungle
• Sparse Jungle
• Badlands
• Eroded Badlands
• Wooded Badlands

Warm cows also spawn in any of the following biomes when spawned with a spawn egg or commands:

• Warm Ocean
• Lukewarm Ocean
• Deep Lukewarm Ocean
• Mangrove Swamp
• Desert
• The Nether
  • Nether Wastes
  • Crimson Forest
  • Warped Forest
  • Soul Sand Valley
  • Basalt Deltas

Cold cows spawn in the following biomes:

• Taiga
• Snowy Taiga
• Old Growth Pine Taiga
• Old Growth Spruce Taiga
• Windswept Hills
• Windswept Gravelly Hills
• Windswept Forest

Cold cows also spawn in any of the following biomes when spawned with a spawn egg or commands:

• Snowy Plains
• Ice Spikes
• Frozen Peaks
• Jagged Peaks
• Stony Peaks
• Snowy Slopes
• Frozen Ocean
• Deep Frozen Ocean
• Cold Ocean
• Deep Cold Ocean
• Grove
• Deep Dark
• Frozen River
• Snowy Beach
• The End
  • The End
  • End Highlands‌
  • End Midlands‌
  • Small End Islands‌
  • End Barrens‌

If a cow is spawned via spawn egg or command in any biome not listed, a temperate cow is spawned.

Drops

Breeding

1–7XP experience orbs upon a successful breeding.

On death

An adult cow drops:

Item		Roll Chance	Quantity (Roll Chance)
			Default	Looting I	Looting II	Looting III
	Raw Beef	100%	1–3	1–4	1–5	1–6
	Leather	100%	0–2	0–3	0–4	0–5

• 1–3XP experience orbs are dropped when killed by a player or tamed wolf.

Killing a baby cow yields no items nor experience.

Milking

An adult cow can be milked by using a bucket on it, yielding a milk bucket.

Behavior

A baby cow, compared to a regular cow.

A cow moos and huffs occasionally while wandering aimlessly, but tends to stay in well lit and grassy places. They avoid water unless following a player and always avoid rails and falls that cause damage. If harmed, the cow flees for a few seconds.

Cows follow players holding wheat within a six block radius.

Breeding

Adult cows breed when given wheat, creating a baby cow and granting the player 1–7 experience orbs. The parent cows have a cooldown of five minutes before they can breed again. When two different variants of cows are bred together, the variant of the baby is randomly selected from one of the parents' variants.

Baby cows take 20 minutes to grow up. Their growth can be accelerated using wheat; each use reduces the remaining growth duration by 10%. The baby cow that results from breeding attempts to go to the nearest available block to its parent, even if no path to such can be found. It goes to another adult cow if it is separated from its parent by more than 24 blocks. Baby cows prefer to follow adult cows instead of players holding wheat.

Sounds

Java Edition:
Cows use the Friendly Creatures sound category for entity-dependent sound events.

[hide]Sounds
Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	​Cow moos	Friendly Creatures	Randomly	entity.cow.ambient	subtitles.entity.cow.ambient​	0.4	0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7)	16
	​Cow dies	Friendly Creatures	When a cow dies	entity.cow.death	subtitles.entity.cow.death​	0.4	0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7)	16
	​Cow hurts	Friendly Creatures	When a cow is damaged	entity.cow.hurt	subtitles.entity.cow.hurt​	0.4	0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7)	16
	​Cow gets milked	Players	When a cow is milked	entity.cow.milk	subtitles.entity.cow.milk​	1.0	1.0	16
	​Footsteps	Friendly Creatures	While a cow is walking	entity.cow.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.15	1.0	16

Bedrock Edition:

[hide]Sounds
Sound	Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
	Friendly Creatures	Randomly	mob.cow.say	1.0	0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7)
	Friendly Creatures	When a cow dies	mob.cow.hurt	1.0	0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7)
	Friendly Creatures	When a cow is damaged	mob.cow.hurt	1.0	0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7)
	Friendly Creatures	When a cow is milked	mob.cow.milk	1.0	1.0
	Friendly Creatures	While a cow is walking	mob.cow.step	0.65	0.9-1.1

Historical sounds

Sound	From	to	Pitch
Idle	Alpha v1.0.8	Alpha v1.0.9	?
Hurt	Alpha v1.0.8	Alpha v1.0.9	?
Idle	Alpha v1.0.9	1.2.5	?
Hurt/Die	Alpha v1.0.9	1.4.2	?

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	[hide]Translation key
Cow	cow	entity.minecraft.cow

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	[hide]Translation key
Cow	cow	11	entity.cow.name

Entity data

Cows have entity data associated with them that contain various properties.

Java Edition:

• [NBT Compound / JSON Object] Entity data
  • Additional fields for mobs that can breed see Template:Nbt inherit/breedable/template[show]
  • Tags common to all entities see Template:Nbt inherit/entity/template[show]
  • Tags common to all mobs see Template:Nbt inherit/mob/template[show]
  • [String] variant: The variant of the cow.

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Achievements

[hide]
Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
PS4	Other
		Cow Tipper	Harvest some leather.	Pick up leather from the ground or via fishing.	15	Bronze
		It Spreads	Kill a mob next to a catalyst	—	10	Bronze
		Overkill	Deal nine hearts of damage in a single hit.	Damage can be dealt to any mob, even those that do not have nine hearts of health overall.	30	Bronze
		Over-Overkill	Deal 50 hearts of damage in a single hit using the Mace	—	20	Silver
		Repopulation	Breed two cows with wheat.	Breed two cows or two mooshrooms.	15	Bronze

Advancements

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)
	A Throwaway Joke	Throw a Trident at something. Note: Throwing away your only weapon is not a good idea.	Hit a mob with a thrown trident.
	Adventure	Adventure, exploration and combat	Kill any mob, or be killed by any living entity.
	Arbalistic	Kill five unique mobs with one crossbow shot	Armor Stand also counts for this advancement. This is a hidden advancement, meaning that it can be viewed by the player only after completing it, regardless of if its child advancement(s), if any, have been completed.
	It Spreads	Kill a mob near a Sculk Catalyst	Kill one of these 73 mobs near a sculk catalyst:[show] Mobs that drop no experience as well as the ender dragon are ignored for this advancement.
	Over-Overkill	Deal 50 hearts of damage in a single hit using the Mace	–
	Take Aim	Shoot something with an Arrow	Using a bow or a crossbow, shoot a mob with an arrow, tipped arrow, or spectral arrow.
	The Parrots and the Bats	Breed two animals together	Breed a pair of any of these 26 mobs:[hide] A mule must be the result of breeding a horse and a donkey for this advancement as they are not breedable together. Other breedable mobs are ignored for this advancement.
	Two by Two	Breed all the animals!	Breed a pair of each of these 25 mobs:[hide] A trader llama does not count as a llama, and a mule must be the result of breeding a horse and a donkey for this advancement as they are not breedable together. Other breedable mobs can be bred, but are ignored for this advancement.

History

[hide]Java Edition Alpha
v1.0.8							Added cows.
							They drop leather when killed.
v1.0.9							The "idle" and "hurt" sounds for cows have been changed.
v1.0.14							The model of cows has been updated to have horns and a 3D udder, and their texture to have them look primarily brown instead of black
[hide]Java Edition Beta
1.3							The position of cows' horns has been changed.
1.8			Pre-release				Cows now run away when attacked.
							Added raw beef which drops from cows and if killed on fire, they drop steak.
[hide]Java Edition
1.0.0			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 2				Cows can now be bred using wheat.
			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 3				Added baby cows.
							The position of cows' horns has been changed, again.
							The model of cows' udder has been changed from to .
			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 6				The texture of cows' back has been changed from to .
1.2.1			12w07a				The cow AI has been updated.
							Cows can no longer be bred with mooshrooms.
1.4.2			12w38a				The "idle" and "hurt" sounds for cows have been changed, again.
1.8			14w02a				Baby cow growth can now be accelerated using wheat.
1.9			15w39a				Cows are now slightly taller (1.4 blocks tall rather than 1.3, with babies 0.7 blocks tall rather than 0.65).
			15w50a				Added a sound for when the player milks a cow.
1.10			16w20a				Cows no longer spawn in ice plains.
1.12			17w06a				The texture of cows has been changed. Shifted the cow's udder to be aligned correctly.
1.14			18w43a				The texture of cows has been changed.
1.15			19w37a				Cows now have a 5% chance to spawn as babies.
			19w39a				The model of baby cows has been changed.
1.16			pre1				Cows can now be milked in Creative mode.
1.21.5			25w02a				Cows can now spawn in wooded badlands. Technically, they are also allowed to spawn in badlands and eroded badlands, but cannot spawn there naturally as these biomes do not generate grass blocks.
			25w05a				Added cold and warm cows and their baby variants.
							The texture of cows has been changed, most notably its nose now extrudes from its model.
							The original cow variant is now considered temperate.
			25w06a				Cows spawned outside of their natural biomes, such as by using spawn eggs or as part of a pack on the border of a biome, may now also be spawned as variants depending on the biome.
			25w10a				The new models have been tweaked so the horn placement and leg positioning now match the model on Bedrock Edition.
							The textures of temperate cow legs no longer have harsh borders due to a mirroring issue.
							The heads of baby cows are now positioned correctly.
[hide]Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.3.0							Added cows and their baby forms.
v0.6.0							Cows can now drop leather.
							Baby cows now spawn naturally; each cow has a 25% chance to spawn as a baby.
v0.7.0							Cow spawn eggs have been added to the Creative inventory.
v0.8.0			build 1				Cows are now attracted to wheat and can now be bred.
							The cow AI has been improved: cows now avoid falls, fire, water, cacti and lava.
v0.9.2							The health of cows has been reduced from 20HP × 10 to 10HP
v0.12.1			build 1				The sounds cows make have been updated.
v0.14.0			build 1				Baby zombies can now mount cows.
							Cows no longer spawn in snowy tundra biomes and its variants.
v0.15.0			build 1				Baby husks can now mount cows.
?							The chance of baby cows spawning instead of adults has been reduced to 5%.
[hide]Bedrock Edition
1.10.0			beta 1.10.0.3				The texture of cows has been changed.
1.11.0			beta 1.11.0.1				Cows now spawn in animal pens in villages.
1.18.30			Preview 1.18.20.28				Cows no longer spawn in snowy taigas.
			Release				Reverted the previous change to cow spawning.
1.21.70 Experiment Drop 1 2025			Preview 1.21.70.20				Added cold and warm cows and their baby variants.
							The texture of cows has been changed, most notably its nose now extrudes from its model.
							The original cow variant is now considered temperate.
1.21.70			Preview 1.21.70.23				All features behind the "Drop 1 2025" experimental toggle have now been fully implemented.
[hide]Legacy Console Edition
Xbox 360	Xbox One	PS3	PS4	PS Vita	Wii U	Switch
TU1	CU1	1.00	1.00	1.00	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added cows.
TU5							Cows now run away when attacked.
TU7							Added baby cows.
							Cows can now be bred with wheat.
TU12							Cows can no longer breed with mooshrooms.
TU14		1.04					Baby cows can now be spawned by using a cow spawn egg on a cow, done by pressing .
TU31	CU19	1.22	1.22	1.22	Patch 3		Baby cow growth can now be accelerated using wheat.
							The sounds cows make have been updated.
TU43	CU33	1.36	1.36	1.36	Patch 13		The sounds baby cows make have been updated.
							Added a sound for when the player milks a cow.
TU56	CU47	1.55	1.55	1.55	Patch 26	1.0.6	Cows can now be milked in Creative mode.
[hide]New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0							Added cows and their baby forms.

Data history

[hide]Java Edition
1.11			16w32a				The entity ID has been changed from Cow to cow.
1.13			17w47a				Numeric IDs for entities were presumably deprecated in this version.​

Issues

Issues relating to "Cow" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Trivia

• Cows in the PC Gamer Minecraft Demo are branded with a 'PCG' logo on their side.
• Markus Persson stated in a Tumblr post that all "breedable" peaceful mobs displayed traits of both genders and could breed with any other individual of their species. This applies to cows as they have horns and give milk (although there are some cattle breeds wherein females exhibit horns).

Gallery

Screenshots

• 

  A dying temperate cow.

• 

  A temperate cow being tempted by the player who is holding wheat.

• 

  A temperate cow attempting to follow the player through a fence.

• 

  A temperate cow that has been pushed from a water source into a cave.

• 

  The original black-and-white cow.

• 

  Cow pens inside a building.

• 

  A naturally spawned warm cow in a jungle.

Mojang screenshots

• 

  A house for cows.

• 

  Lots of cows.

• 

  Lots more cows.

• 

  A cow named Bessie in the Nether.

• 

  A cow named Bessie in the End.

• 

  Six cows, including a warm cow and a cold cow, surrounded by firefly bushes.

• 

  Three cows following Ari.

• 

  Two cold cows with a baby.

• 

  A warm cow with its baby.

• 

  Cows and firefly bushes.

• 

  Cow variants.

Textures

• 

  Cold cow.

• 

  Temperate cow.

• 

  Warm cow.

• 

  Programmer Art.

• 

  PC Gamer demo.

In other media

• 

  A cow in promotional artwork for the Horse Update.

• 

  Artwork of a cow.

• 

  A cow in promotional artwork for the first Caves & Cliffs update.

• 

  A cow and several other animals watching Noor in the Minecraft Live 2023 reveal trailer.

• 

  Several cows in a cherry grove from the same trailer.

• 

  LEGO Minecraft cow.

• 

  LEGO Minecraft baby cow.

• 

  A cow plush made by JINX.

• 

  Action figure of a baby cow, lamb, and piglet.

• 

  An officially licensed cow hoodie.

• 

  Animal Tower, a T-Shirt design by JINX.

• 

  The cow as it appears in the PC Gamer Demo.

• 

  A cow from the PC Gamer Demo, with an exclusive texture.

• 

  The Moon Cow, a joke variant featured in Java Edition 23w13a_or_b.

• 

  A cow as it appears in the City texture pack.

• 

  A cow as it appears in the Greek Mythology mash-up pack.

• 

  The "Infernal Cow," featured in the Halloween Edition mash-up pack and Minecraft Mini-Series.

• 

  A cow as it appears in the Plastic texture pack.

• 

  A cow as it appears in the Natural texture pack.

• 

  The Cow Potato from 24w14potato.

• 

  Cow Man, a skin featured in the third Legacy Console skin pack.

• 

  Party Cow, a skin featured in the 1st Birthday skin pack.

• 

  A cow holding a map.

• 

  A crying cow. as seen in another post relating towards the model updating.

• 

  Cow figure of Flippin' Figs

• 

  A cow as seen in A Minecraft Movie

• 

  Cold animal variants in real life snow.

External links

• Cattle article on Wikipedia
• Mob Menagerie: Cow – Minecraft.net on October 13, 2023