Nobody wants to hit an animal with a vehicle, but there are certain animals you definitely don’t want to hit. A mule deer will bend a bumper, but a cow could literally cost you an arm and a leg — or even your life.
The Nature Conservancy of Wyoming reports there are more than 7,000 wildlife-vehicle collisions in Wyoming every year, with more than 90% involving mule deer and pronghorn, which can cause enough damage to total any vehicle.
Livestock-vehicle incidents aren’t as common, but are considerably more dangerous. The consensus is that if you walk away from a cow-car collision anywhere close to or faster than the average speed limit, you’re extremely lucky.
“It's devastating to your vehicle,” Sweetwater County Sheriff John Grossnickle told Cowboy State Daily. “I think it's easy to underestimate the size of a cow when we're driving down the road at 70 mph. An impact is going to cause devastating damage, no matter what vehicle you’re driving.”
Size, Speed, Survivability
When a vehicle collides with anything at any speed, there’s going to be damage done. Hitting a cow might seem less dangerous than hitting an oncoming vehicle, but that’s a false sense of security.
Grossnickle said most of the livestock-vehicle incidents his deputies respond to happen in “the far reaches” of Sweetwater County on secondary roads in the unincorporated areas where livestock freely roam.
“One thing that’s unique and challenging to Sweetwater County is the wild horses,” he said. “We’ve dealt with a couple of vehicle impacts with wild horses over the years, and if you think a cow is large, a full-grown horse versus a vehicle is no less devastating.”
Size and speed matter, particularly when it comes to the survivability of a livestock-vehicle collision. Grossnickle says people often underestimate the size of cows and horses while simultaneously underestimating their speed.
“In clear, dry conditions, cows don't move terribly fast,” he said. “They may not be as unpredictable in their movements as horses and big-game animals, but they’re also slower to move and avoid your vehicle.”
In inclement weather or during the night, avoiding cows becomes more difficult. You might think it’s easy to avoid hitting a cow, but Grossnickle put the risk into a darker perspective.
“A black cow on an empty road in the cover of darkness? Even the most attentive driver coming around a blind corner, or up or down a hill, would struggle to see that,” he said. “You could try your best, but in our environment, with the existence of free-range livestock and wild animals, collisions are totally unavoidable in certain cases, no matter how much you pay attention.”
Total Losses
The average weight of an adult mule deer is between 95 and 200 pounds. That’s not very heavy, but still enough to total a vehicle if it collides with an adult mule deer at high speed.
Cows weigh a lot more than mule deer, and the average-sized cow stands a lot taller. A cow collision is not only more devastating but can easily be lethal.
“Cows weigh about 1,700 pounds,” said Vinni Hershberger, owner of Vinni’s Body Shop in Douglas. “When a car hits a standing cow, the body lands on the hood, slides up onto the glass, and over the top. That crushes everything.”
Hershberger has only dealt with a handful of cow-vehicle impacts in his 39 years in business, but the few he’s seen left a lasting impression.
“Worse than any other animal hit we’ve dealt with,” he said. “We salvaged most of them, but one was a total loss.”
When Cowboy State Daily called Dallas Terrell, sales manager at Terrell Auto Centers in Cheyenne, he happened to have two vehicles on-site that came from the scene of a cow-vehicle collision on the same highway near Torrington.
“They’re both total losses,” he said.
Deer and pronghorn can cause significant damage to any vehicle, but Terrell said hitting a cow “absolutely disintegrates” them.
“It’s horrific,” he said. “All the airbags will be deployed, and the impact can tear engines off their hinges. And if the cow doesn’t go over the windshield, it’ll come through it. Hitting a cow will completely tear any vehicle apart, or worse, depending on how it goes.”
Terell disclosed that the driver of one of the vehicles was hospitalized after hitting a cow, but there were no fatalities from either incident. That’s rare and fortunate for all involved.
“I know people who hit cows and passed away instantly on impact, and the cow passes almost every time,” he said. “You’re lucky to walk away after hitting a cow.”
Getting Grilled
Many Wyomingites might feel they have a layer of added protection by installing a grille guard on their vehicle. That can protect vehicles and their occupants, but only within a specific weight class.
“Grille guards are designed to reduce damage to exposed equipment, like headlights and condensers, at low to moderate speeds,” Grossnickle said. “But even a grille guard or push bumper won’t prevent serious damage at highway speeds, especially with an animal that weighs over 1,000 pounds.”
Hershberger suggested that hitting a cow with a grille guard could make an impact even more devastating and less survivable.
“We love to see vehicles with cheap little grille guards come in,” he said. “If you hit a deer with the right side of the truck, the grill guard moves back and ruins the left side of the truck. Heavy grill guards don’t do that, so they prevent the most damage. So, imagine what a cow would do with a small, cheap grille guard.”
Terrell shared the same opinion. Grille guards can be incredibly useful, but not against a 1,000-pound cow.
“Grille guards will work at low speeds, but they’re mostly for deer protection,” he said. “It would have no effect if you hit a cow at high speed. The cow would still tear apart the vehicle.”
Cow Cash Crunch
OK — total vehicle loss and a high chance of serious injury or death. That’s all well and good, but how much will a cow collision cost?
Modern vehicles incorporate a lot of complex and expensive technology, spread throughout the entire unit, front to back. When these components are damaged, the costs add up quickly.
“Let’s take a 2025 Chevy pickup,” Hershberger said. “Replacing just the bumper on that pickup is around $2,500. That doesn't include any sensors, core supports, condensers, radiators, radar, LiDAR, or any of the safety alert stuff.”
Hitting a cow might not result in a total loss for your vehicle, but it might as well be. Even if the vehicle is “salvageable,” Hershberger said it’ll be costly.
“If you hit a large animal with one of today's cars, you're looking at anywhere from $10,000 to $30,000 of damage,” he said.
That’s not a nothingburger of a bill, which is even more reason not to make hamburger with your vehicle.”
At Least It’s Not A Moose
Hitting a cow is extremely dangerous, expensive, and life-threatening. Grossnickle’s professional advice is that drivers not underestimate cows and the possibility of running into one when driving through Wyoming.
“The physics of hitting a cow make the outcome a total wild card,” he said. “Whether personal injury occurs or not can be down to the luck of the draw. To mitigate your chances of being injured, wear your seatbelts and get a vehicle equipped with safety features like airbags.”
Still, a 1,700-pound cow isn’t the worst thing to hit in Wyoming.
“Cows not at the top of my list,” Hershberger said. “Horses, elk, and moose will do more damage. But I was going to hit any of those, I’d want to be in a truck — the chance of putting the animal in the cab with you is greatly reduced.”
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
