Predicting the weather is difficult for people to do, but apparently cows are pretty good at it. Although cows are not considered intelligent animals, their ability to predict the weather has been a belief for many years. In the old days, farmers spent a lot of time with their cows and started to "communicate" with them. One example is when a cow did not produce milk, the farmer took it as a sign that rain was coming. The farmers did not, however, take any other variables into account.
According to Donna Daniels, cows like to be near one another. When the weather is nice, cows feel confident being alone and will spread out. However, when a storm is coming, cows will herd together. The closer the cows are, the more severe the storm. Also, Daniels states that if a cow is restless in the stall, they are trying to tell humans to beware of weather changes.
The Farmers' Almanac does not believe that cows accurately predict the weather. "Cows lying down in a field more often means they’re chewing their cud, rather than preparing for raindrops." The Almanac also mentions other myths about cows including the idea that cows produce better milk when listening to jazz music. These claims have not been proven to be true. Even if cows and weather have a positive correlation, there is no proof that one directly affects the other.
According to Donna Daniels, cows like to be near one another. When the weather is nice, cows feel confident being alone and will spread out. However, when a storm is coming, cows will herd together. The closer the cows are, the more severe the storm. Also, Daniels states that if a cow is restless in the stall, they are trying to tell humans to beware of weather changes.
The Farmers' Almanac does not believe that cows accurately predict the weather. "Cows lying down in a field more often means they’re chewing their cud, rather than preparing for raindrops." The Almanac also mentions other myths about cows including the idea that cows produce better milk when listening to jazz music. These claims have not been proven to be true. Even if cows and weather have a positive correlation, there is no proof that one directly affects the other.
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I thought that this post was really cool. I live in a farm town and I when I was little, I thought the same thing, if they sat down, rain was approaching. Of course now reading your post it makes sense, why can they predict weather approaching. Sitting down won't help them in anyway either when the rain does come. So I am glad to read about this. Good post!
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