Cow Appreciation Day is a holiday that’s observed annually on the second Tuesday in July and encourages everyone to show cows the appreciation and respect they deserve. Why? Well, the number one reason people should appreciate cows is that they provide a variety of products that are important to modern society.

These include milk and other dairy products such as cheese, butter, and yogurt; meat such as roasts, steaks, and ground beef; and leather for making shoes, bags, and jackets. Cows are also an important component of many natural fertilizers and biomedical products. Even though most people don’t give a second thought to cows and what they provide to humans, perhaps they should on this holiday.

The History of Cow Appreciation Day

It’s believed that cows were first domesticated approximately 10,000 years ago. This is when ancient humans took wild aurochs (large bovine animals that were almost twice as big as modern cows and were particularly hostile) and domesticated them.

This was likely done by capturing the runts of the herds and then breeding them to get smaller bovine animals. This happened at least twice in history — once in Europe and once on the Indian subcontinent. From those humble beginnings, cows were spread all over the world.

Now that we know how cows were first domesticated, let’s turn our attention to the origin of this holiday. According to our research, Cow Appreciation Day was created in 2004 to reflect on Chick-fil-A’s “Eat More Chikin” campaign. This campaign was originally launched as a humorous campaign in 1995.

The idea behind this campaign was that cows wanted people to eat more chicken and less beef. Although this holiday isn’t as popular as some other beef-related holidays, its profile has increased significantly over the past few years.

Some Quick Facts About Cows

Since the main purpose of this holiday is for people to learn more about cows, we thought we’d take a few moments and list some of the very cool facts that we’ve learned about these animals. Although we still encourage people to do their own research on cows, we do think that the following facts will provide most people with a good starting point for them.

• There are over a billion cows in the world. India has the largest population of cows, with over 300 million of them.
• Brazil has over 219 million cows, China has 100 million cows, and the U.S. has approximately 92 million cows.
• The heart of a cow beats up to 100 beats per minute.
• The average cow can produce up to 7 gallons of milk a day.
• Cows have been used as draft animals for thousands of years.
• Cows have been featured in cave art since 8,000 BCE.

Observing Cow Appreciation Day

During this holiday, we encourage everyone to learn more about cows and the many products that are created from them. It’s also a day for people who are against eating beef to use the day to eat chicken instead. Like we always say, there’s really no right or wrong way to observe this holiday.

All people can do is follow their hearts and decide how they want to celebrate it. And once they do that, they can encourage other people to do the same on the internet by using the hashtag #CowAppreciationDay.