It is often said that when cows lie down in a field, rain is on the way. This piece of folklore is based on the idea that the cows can sense dampness in the air, so they lie down to make sure they have a dry space to stay. As much as this saying is well known, it is also rarely accurate. Cows will lie down when they are tired, not just when they think it might rain, so they are probably not the best weather forecasters!
Animal behavior has long been a favorite weather indicator, and a whole herd of superstitions crowd around cows. It’s said, for example, that a cow fed its own hairs will forget its previous home, or that a cow with a piece of its tail lopped off will never run away [source: Farmer’s Almanac].
Cows have a long history as weather predictors, too. One superstition claims that a cow lies down when rain is coming. Given that cows lie down for a variety of reasons, including cud chewing, it’s tempting to dismiss this claim as “udderly” ridiculous, but further rumination suggests that it might have a leg to stand on after all. The reason? A possible, albeit tenuous, link between crouching cows and wet weather: body heat.
It turns out that cows tend to stand more often when their bodies overheat, so an upright Guernsey could arguably mean hotter weather while a seated shorthorn implies cooling weather or a storm a’ brewin’. Still, we wouldn’t bet the farm on it, as this maxim is likely a case of over-milking a coincidence.
Picture Credit : Google