Why are cattle tongues so long & rough?

If you have ever been licked by a cow or calf, you would have noticed their tongues are extremely rough. If you haven’t, imagine a really coarse piece of sandpaper with a lot of force behind it!

A cow’s tongue is covered in papillae - tiny, spike-like structures that not only help them grip onto grass, but are also used to massage a newborn calf. The rough tongue helps stimulate the calf’s circulation and encourages it to get up on its feet. 

A cow’s tongue is extremely muscular and long and can weigh up to 2kg. On average, they measure about 30 inches but some cattle can have tongues almost a meter long! You’ll find out exactly how long their tongues are when you think you’ve put them far enough away from tempting young trees. That's when their tongues appear to stretch an extra 30cm to reach the tender young branches.

The reason cows have such strong and long tongues is because of the way they eat grass. Ruminants like cattle, sheep and goats have no teeth in the front of the upper jaw. They do have teeth in the back of their mouths, but the front is just a hard, toothless pad that resembles gum.

Despite ruminants all having these same physical characteristics, each species eats in a different way. Sheep have a split upper lip which allows them to eat very short grass, close to the ground. Goats have an amazingly mobile upper lip which is best seen watching a goat eat prickly gorse.  A goat's upper lip is not split as they are browsers, not grazers, so don’t eat low to the ground. Both sheep and goats bite their selected feed between their lower front teeth and the hard upper pad, just like we bite food between our upper and lower teeth.

Cattle can eat this way but they’re big animals who need a lot of feed and they can’t easily get enough feed eating that way. Instead, they’ve evolved to wrap their tongues around the grass and tear it off. This gets them a lot more grass than biting.  They sweep their tongues around a clump of grass, grip, and rip it out. This is why cattle should always be on long pasture. They can’t eat efficiently if the grass is short. Of course, this way of eating gives their tongues a good workout for hours each day which is why when you’ve been licked by a cow you know about it!

Cows don’t just lick their calves, they love to lick each other (and humans) and this mutual grooming keeps their coats clean and also has social benefits. Cattle form friendships just like humans and one way of expressing their friendship is by grooming each other. Studies have shown that in big herds, the most dominant cows will get groomed first, while the cows lower in the pecking order will be last. The amount of time cattle spend mutually grooming depends on other factors, including the time spent grazing and resting. Well fed cows will lick each other more when they aren’t competing for feed or space. 

When a cow licks her calf she often leaves patterns in the coat, this is why the patches of hair we humans have that will not lie down are called cowlicks.

While most cattle have pink tongues, Belted Galloways have black tongues.

Cattle tongue is also a delicacy for many people. It used to be a very popular sandwich meat and was sold along with ham and brawn at supermarkets. The meat is high in cholesterol and fat but there are also a lot of B vitamins, zinc, iron, cholines and protein. 

So, the cow's tongue is an impressive organ that serves numerous purposes, from helping them to eat grass to providing care for their young, social bonding, and even being a food source. Its coarse, muscular structure makes it an ideal tool for the way cattle eat and interact with their surroundings. Just don’t let them lick your face…

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