It’s a common belief that cows are unable to walk down stairs. Many people think that you can get a cow up stairs but getting it back down isn’t going to happen without getting pretty creative. But is there actually any truth to this?
To put it simply: it is very difficult for cows to walk down stairs. Although at first the notion may seem ridiculous, cows’ inability to complete this seemingly simple feat actually makes quite a bit of sense. Cows struggle with walking down stairs because the incline and structure of stairs are not found in nature and are tailored for human leg proportions. The average slope of a staircase is 35 degrees, so we humans can walk down it without a second thought. Cows, on the other hand, have a much different weight distribution and bone structure than we do, so it is difficult for them to move in the same manner.
When you think about it, anything as massive as a cow would have difficulty going downhill at a slope of 35 degrees. With the average cow weighing anywhere from 1,600 to 2,400 pounds (based on gender and breed), the animal’s fear of walking down stairs seems pretty rational. Cows’ necks are also far less mobile than ours, so when tilted that far forward it becomes difficult to see straight ahead—something that they instinctively want to avoid.
While cows won’t walk down stairs on their own, it has been proven that cows will walk down stairs if you force them to. So, yes, cows can walk down stairs. They just avoid the situation as much as possible, as they are not evolutionarily prepared for such steep slopes and foreign leg movements.