The animal strayed onto the busy motorway between junction nine and ten near Stirling this morning.
Motorists reported seeing the stray cow about 7:45am.
The lost animal caused major delays.
Queues of traffic stretched back to the Pirnhall Roundabout.
The situation only started to clear once the cow was herded back into a field shortly after 8am.
Traffic Scotland warned drivers on Twitter: “There’s a cow on the hard shoulder causing udder chaos.
“Traffic is slow in the area.”
The traffic service later posted: “The cow has been mooooved back to the field Queues remain but should hopefully ease.”