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.
I was helping out at a farm when I was in my preteens, and was rushed by a docile cow that loved being scratched behind her ears. I had petted and scratched her, and when I went to leave the paddock, she rushed me and almost impaled me with one of her horns. Since then I only have one working kidney.
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.