diff --git a/pkgs/tools/misc/cowsay/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/misc/cowsay/default.nix
index 87457e0a63d..62ae9994fff 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/misc/cowsay/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/misc/cowsay/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ lib, stdenv, perl, fetchFromGitHub, fetchpatch, nix-update-script, testers, cowsay }:
+{ lib, stdenv, perl, fetchFromGitHub, fetchpatch, makeWrapper, nix-update-script, testers, cowsay }:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   pname = "cowsay";
@@ -22,8 +22,14 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     })
   ];
 
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ makeWrapper ];
   buildInputs = [ perl ];
 
+  postInstall = ''
+    wrapProgram $out/bin/cowsay \
+      --suffix COWPATH : $out/share/cowsay/cows
+  '';
+
   makeFlags = [
     "prefix=${placeholder "out"}"
   ];