COWS ARE COOL: LOVE ‘EM!
48.
This One Was My Bodyguard
By Michelle Evans
It's normally thought that cows are dumb - and may be some of them are (I've only known a few).
But on the summer farm we had a cow that adored me (and I her) ... and my much older brother and I were in the pasture when he was beating the pooey out of me - and she literally came trundling full speed and butted him full force! Knocked him right off his feet and then thunked him a good one with her head while he was down!
And then came over to me and licked my face and hair. (You have to love a cow before you find that huge wet raspy tongue a comfort!)
Yup, I can't help but think if an animal (even a huge lumbering cow) is given love they will return it.
~Michelle Evans, British Columbia, Canada
This One Was My Bodyguard
By Michelle Evans
It's normally thought that cows are dumb - and may be some of them are (I've only known a few).
But on the summer farm we had a cow that adored me (and I her) ... and my much older brother and I were in the pasture when he was beating the pooey out of me - and she literally came trundling full speed and butted him full force! Knocked him right off his feet and then thunked him a good one with her head while he was down!
And then came over to me and licked my face and hair. (You have to love a cow before you find that huge wet raspy tongue a comfort!)
Yup, I can't help but think if an animal (even a huge lumbering cow) is given love they will return it.
~Michelle Evans, British Columbia, Canada
Cows are empathetic and socially sensitive animals. A cattle herd is a community, and its members rely on each other for a range of emotional needs. For example, studies show that cows are less stressed by unfamiliar circumstances when they are with cows they know. They eat less feed when other cows they associate with closely are stressed. And when they are separated from the herd, their behavior becomes restless and their levels of the stress hormone cortisol spike.
~“The Social Behaviour of Cattle”, Marie-France Bouissou et al. (Saskatoon: CABI Publishing, 2001).