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?
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: