The name of the tower reflects a piece of agricultural history. It was, in fact, the home of the urban cowherd. Until the beginning of industrialization, many households in a town also kept livestock. The winegrowers in Oberwesel depended on the dung of the cows until the invention of mineral fertilizer. The Kuhhirtenturm is the third rectangular shell tower on the Michelfeld. Since it stands in a depression in the terrain, two basement levels had to be built up to the height of the weir passage in order to keep it as level as possible. The Kuhhirtenturm is therefore the only one with six floors. The foundations reach down to a depth of six meters. The masonry is two meters thick, measures eight meters in width and about seven meters on the sides. The tower always had a pyramidal roof. Older views show that the cowherd's tower used to be closed to the city side with a boarded wall. The cowherd's apartment was on the fourth floor. He also had to perform the duties of the fire guard. The guardroom therefore had a projecting bay window facing the town with windows on all sides. The fire bell hung in a wide sound opening in the roof. In a dormer above it, the face of a clock could be seen. Inside the high tower there were no stairs, but the cowherd had to climb up ladders to his guardroom. During the urgent renovation of the cowherd's tower in 1983, it was converted into a residential tower. It is used privately and cannot be visited.