City boy checking in.
So, this one time out on a hike in a semi-rural area, the trail opened out on a grassy riverbank kind of place, and there were a dozen or so cows between me and the path onwards.
Now, I mostly grasp which end of a cow the grass goes in, but that’s about my limit; I have no real idea how they operate IRL.
I ended up carefully edging my way past them and gave them as much space as I possibly could, and got extremely stared at by all of them, who probably thought I was nuts.
Just out of curiosity - how careful did I need to be? Can you just like walk through the middle of them, or would that be asking for trouble?
Yes. They might follow you, but that’s mostly out of curiosity and the fact that you’re tall enough to be their leader. Sometimes they might even run at you, but that’s mostly just to catch up and/or get closer - They’re not charging at you. Stop, turn around, and T-pose, and they’ll stop as well, waiting to see what you’re up to.
Cows alone are pretty chill and playful. Think of them like huge dogs, but without the instinct for hunting. If there are young ones with them you wanna give them some extra space for obvious reasons.
Source: Grew up on a cattle farm.
Cows are big, strong and heavy, and docile dogs can also kill. Any kind of caution around things large or feisty enough to kill you is healthy.
Glad to hear t-pose is the way to go. I’m beginning to think it’s the solution to the world’s problems.
Paraglider pilot here, so I landed among the cow my fair share of times.
Cows are curious but shy, if you walk slowly they might come to have a look, if they get too close, something like clapping your hands is enough to have them running away. However, if the farmer didn’t took the veals the yet, they can be pretty agressive to protect their kids, in that case forgot what I said about “clapping your hand” and stay away from the herd. Note also that bull are less shy than cow.
“The veals”
I think they’re called calf’s until they leave the abattoir.
bull are less shy
That’s right; I have to hype myself up to get in the right mindset though.
From my understanding, you are pretty safe as long as you don’t provoke them (walking through the middle of them might be considered provoking) or near their calves. This article from the UK states “Where recorded, 91% of HSE reported fatalities on the public were caused by cows with calves”. Basically, mothers with a child are going to be very protective.
Cows are a domesticated creature, so they are generally docile, but I would exercise caution because if need be they will use their mass and strength against you. I’ve heard of stories of farmers running from cows and narrowly escaping under a fence. Most of these did involve a farmer trying to separate a calve from it’s mother. I’ve also heard stories of cows jumping fences.
And as far as memes go:
Country boy here - cows are pretty harmless most of the time if you leave them alone, they might wander over to have a look, but they’re usually pretty docile. If you don’t want them near you, clapping your hands or making yourself big with your arms and shouting usually makes them go away. I will say that you should absolutely not approach them if there are calves nearby and bulls in general are typically more aggressive, but if you keep a safe distance you should be fine
Cows, yes. Bulls, no.
Cows’ll usually retreat from people. Or if they’re curious, they’ll approach but not too close.
Just don’t walk behind them, or they might try to kick you.
Bulls are territorial. Stay the fuck away from 'em.
Just don’t walk behind them, or they might try to kick you.
This is really good advice for basically every animal with hooves. They mostly have a blind spot directly behind, like horses:
If you walk up behind them inside that blind spot and then move out to either side and suddenly appear in their vision, they’ll react defensively, usually by trying to kick you with their hind legs.
Basically if you can’t see the animal’s eyes then assume it can’t see you, and stay out of kicking range.
was kicked in the head like this once. Flew a meter into the wall
I was too. I surbibed with tribial blain dablage.
Nah, I got kicked in the ribs. Hurts like a motherfucker.
+1 on this. Hiker+Trail-Runner here. So I sometimes encounter cows on high mountain passes where taking a detour can mean hours of delay. But after getting kicked like that once, I am very careful around herds, esp. when they have young ones / horns (as they often do grassing on mountains) / bulls in the mix.
What they say for horses is that if you’re going to walk behind one, stay just behind it. That way if it does decide to kick you, the legs won’t be able to build up momentum and will be mostly vertical before hitting you. Under no circumstance walk 1-2m behind it, you can die if it hits you in the head.
Apply at your own risk to cows.
Extremely safe - just be careful about where your feet are if you’re next to them. More people than you’d think have lost or seriously injured a foot because a cow or, especially, a draft horse, can’t see where they’re stepping.
If you get a chance and it’s just cows then go up and say hi, they’re wonderful animals and unbelievaby chill. I’d honestly be more comfortable petting a strange cow then a strange cat… if they shy away or noticeably get irritated when you approach be smart and give them space, but you’re probably just going to get licked and mooed at.
Texan with a Ranch and cows here. They’re VERY curious and goofy and stupid, and scared. Occasionally you’ll have a lone bull in the herd try to intimidate, but they’re scared too. The only thing to watch out for is look down where you walk so you don’t step in poo!
I grew up visiting my friend’s family’s cattle ranch all the time. The mean ones up there were cows, not bulls. There were a couple that you didn’t want to get caught in the open with. I was chased up a tree a few times. Some cows just want to see the world burn.
Lmao, interesting. I was just there this week and repaired something close to the fence. All of them, about ~50, came over to watch. I wonder if it’s a breed thing? And you’re sure they came at you to be mean, and not come see what you were doing?
Oh yes. Cow body language is very different when they’re curious and when they intend to cause you harm. These ones wanted us wiped from the face of the earth, or at least wiped from their line of sight.
Edit: I should point out that these were free range beef cattle in the foothills, so they’re a lot less friendly than your average dairy cow. They would only see people a few times per year, and they never liked what they got when people came around, so they likely had pretty negative associations with humans.
Ohhh OK, these are beef cows as well. I don’t know at what point they’re free range, they have 100s of acres, but they see humans all the time.
These lived on 1800 acres of wild land. They normally only saw people when we were driving past to get to the ranch house, or when me and my buddy were hiking. Twice a year they were rounded up, branded, counted, and either sold off or let go.
They were rounded up old Western style, by cowboys on horseback, and driven into the pens by the ranch house. It was actually an amazing experience getting to be a part of that as a teenager and young man.
My friend and I would go exploring all over those hills in the summer time, and that’s when the murder cows caught us in the open a few times. Most of the cows didn’t care, but there were a few that we knew by site to run from if we happened upon them. So we’d skedaddle over near a tree or back to the truck if it was close and hope the cow would just wander off and do cow things. It usually just gave us angry looks and bluffs, but a few times it charged us and drove us up the tree. One time we were tree’ed, and were able to scare it off by firing our guns into the air. Good times.
Cows kills more people each year than sharks.
I mean when did you ever here of a cow killing a shark.
I never had a problem with walking around cows as a kid and I did it pretty often. Visitors would get spooked occasionally because cows love to follow you and see what you’re up to, but I never got chased or anything. That was beef cattle country though so these cows were mainly cows (female) and steers (castrated males). I’ve heard that some bulls could be territorial however so your mileage may vary if one is around - the couple I’ve walked around were fine but your chances of issues are higher with them.
As the UK’s deadliest animal, cows attack between three and four thousand people every year.
An expert has revealed this figure may continue to rise. Between 2018 and 2022, more than 30 people were killed by cows, according to the UK Government’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/killer-cows-named-uks-most-30956262
Deadliest other animal. There were 602 homicides in England and Wales in 2022/23.
To be fair though, there are way more cows than crocodiles, snakes, sharks or deadly spiders in the UK.
In addition to the other comments here: Don’t run near cows. Quite often, they will start running with you, which is very impressive and dangerous at the same time. Cows generally are faster than you for the first few hundred meters at least.
a big factor here is dogs. if you have your pet with you on a lead, and there are calves(baby cows) in the field, sometimes a normally docile cow herd will be very protective of their offspring. generally if there is no dog, cows realise you are not a threat.
This reminded me of a time I went up and petted a cow and it turned and gave me the most wide-eyed horrified stare I’ve ever seen. I felt bad.
If there was a calf or bull around I wouldn’t walk through.
You can yell at them and they might disperse. If they don’t then you’d be able to walk through them.
Cows just don’t like to be startled, that’s about it.
Where would you come across a bull though? I’ve never seen one in a field with cows.
(also keep an eye out for where you’re stepping)
