When the Cows Come Home
“… until the cows come home.”
It's probably a phrase that you've heard used before. Not often, but I'm sure you've heard it.
The phrase is usually used to mean “a long time,” or to refer to being out really late. (For example, if you're going to party until the cows come home, you're probably going to have a crazy late night.) But do you actually know where the phrase comes from?
Back when cows were sent out to pasture each day away from the farm, they usually would not return to be milked until the wee hours of the morning. Hence the phrase.
I personally just thought it was an antiquated phrase — cows don't really “come home” anymore, right?
Well actually they do!
In the small village of Viscri, Romania, I got to witness “when the cows come home” for myself. We had jut finished a delicious home-cooked meal when our hosts shoo'd us outside and told us we would want to see this daily tradition.
In Viscri, the cows (and goats and horses and sometimes sheep) are brought home each evening around 8 p.m. for milking.
The shepherds herd the animals from the fields to the main street in Viscri, and then the animals take themselves home. Literally. They mosey down the street, stopping for a bite of grass here and there, and eventually turn in at their farms.
The animals have done it so many times (and are so ready to be milked) that no real “herding” need to be done at all.
It's entertaining to watch, and a perfect illustration of present-day village life in Romania.
Did you know the cows actually still “come home” like this in some parts of the world?
Amanda Williams is the award-winning blogger behind A Dangerous Business Travel Blog. She has traveled to more than 60 countries on 6 continents from her home base in Ohio, specializing in experiential and thoughtful travel through the US, Europe, and rest of the world. Amanda only shares tips based on her personal experiences and places she's actually traveled!
[…] You can still find quirky places like Merry Cemetery that nobody knows about. Villages still feel like villages. And the cows still come home at night. […]
This is adorable, I’d love to visit a place where the cows come home.
Well, get yourself to Viscri! Guaranteed to see them come home there. 😉
So fun – definitely not something I’ve seen anywhere I’ve lived!
Me neither! So it was definitely interesting to see.
Great phrase! I’ve heard it, but I must confess, I didn’t know the meaning of it! Cows are so smart! It’s incredible!
Well now you know where the phrase comes from!
Love this! It actually reminds me of the goats and goatherders I ran into in the mountains above Mittenwald Germany. You can’t buy this kind of cultural experience!
No, you definitely can’t put a price on something like this. 🙂
Its the first time I am hearing the phrase. And again the post reminds me of India, here also the situation is quite similar. In Hinduism, Cows are worshipped as it is believed that all Gods and Goddesses reside in a Cow. Beautiful post.
Well you learned a new phrase today then, Arti! 🙂
We have a lot of cows roaming the streets of small cities of Indonesia too, but this is unique because the setting is very sub-urban, while our small cities are still village like with a lot of fields and open space. Nice to know cows aren’t afraid of the the sub-urban life too 😀
Think of all the cows roaming around in larger cities in India! I don’t think they’re afraid of or phased by very much. 😉
With those bovines ranging so freely, I imagine you had to look out for their “products” everywhere you walked. 🙂
This is such a cool thing to see. One thing I’m curious about, in terms of the etymology of your title phrase: you say that in the olden days, the cattle would stagger home in the wee hours of the morning. But nowadays they come home much earlier, at 8 pm or so. That’s pretty geriatric of them. 😀 Relatedly, I was wondering — when you were there it was the summertime, with lots of daylight hours. Do the cows still come home at 8 pm in the wintertime, when it would be nearly pitch-black in such a rural area?
Finally: Do some of the cows not make it back with the others, and end up doing a walk of shame the next morning?
Yes, you did have to be careful where you stepped! 😉
Nowadays, cows are milked more often, I think. They come “home” in the evening to be milked, then are milked again in the morning before going out to pasture. I have no idea if the timing is still the same in the winter! Actually, they probably don’t go out to pasture in the winter – there wouldn’t be any grass for them to eat!
And as for the cow “walk of shame” (haha), I think the herders make sure no one is left behind.
In the winter, the cows are kept on the farm all day long and fed with hay. Only in the summer they are sent out to pasture each day on the green fields away from the farm and come back in the evening.
Cows seem to be smarter than many people… at least the people I know, that never make it home that easy.
Hahaha. So true.
Such a detailed story with a photo coverage 😉
I also have good memories from my grandmother’s village. One might be surprised how intelligent cows are (I am not talking about Chick-Fil-A’s cows). And to add my 2 cents, every herd of cows (local group in a village or farm) has a cow-leader (usually one of the oldest cows) which leads the herd when the cows move long distance to pasture or home or between pastures.
A cow leader? I didn’t know that!
I love this story and the pictures of the cows coming home. I don’t know why, but it makes me think of my dog.
Lol does your dog resemble or act like a cow? 😉 Glad you liked the post! It was a fun evening.
I so needed this… it made me laugh so hard. This reminded me of India and all the cows I saw all over the country. I had no clue about the phrase and have heard it a few times, but now it make sense. Crazy that they just come back on their own. Cows are so much fun to watch when they are roaming freely.
Aww, glad I could make you laugh, Jaime! And yes, it IS crazy that they just mosey on home on their own… love it!
I did not know they ever came home by themselves. Must have been interesting to witness!
Yes it was definitely something different to see! Instead of TV, we watched cows. Haha.
It’s a bit of a funny and fascinating scene at the same time watching those cows go home. If it was late night, you woulda thought they were out drinking at the pasture bar!
Funny and fascinating – my thoughts exactly!
I’m from Romania and I still remember summers at my grandma’s house waiting for the cows to come home…hanging on the fence, playing with the other kids. It was a carefree time, far, far away from any cars or modern noises… The best part was having their still warm milk to wash dinner down with.
Those sound like some lovely memories. 🙂