In the most recent Reader’s Digest, which I have recycled so I will be paraphrasing, a columnist wrote that if one were to lie down in a cow pasture, the cows will come over to have a look.
She said (again, paraphrasing), “If they aren’t close, yell to get their attention and then drop to the ground. Pretty soon they’ll come trotting over, make a tight circle around you and stare at the crazy two-legged beast. It’s surreal.”
As the cows around here tend to have large horns, it’s not something I wish to try. And yet, I am curious if it is true.
I doubt that there is a guarantee, but it is probable. Cows are curious of stuff invading their territory. They certainly take an interest in people entering their fields to repair fences or broken machinery.
(They are also generally pretty docile. Simply yelling and waving one’s arms are often enough to shoo them away. (This may not work for a solitary bull whose interest is more territorial and proprietary, but a herd (or mixed herd) of cows, steers, heifers, or some combination are rarely a threat.))
In most cows’ experience, a human making noise has brought food for the cows. Perhaps a noisy human without food would seem peculiar. Unless they are smarter than I give them credit for being, that would be as far as it goes.
IME cattle are curious, but only on their own terms; if they’re hungry and it’s not food they’ll have no interest until later. Then, if it’s not too threating, they will come up to look or sniff at something new or different. It was always hard with a new cattle dog, at their first meeting, my cows would circle it being nosey, it would bark eventually and they’d scatter like rabbits. Then the cows would “obey” the new dog
Amusing personal anecdote regarding curious cows.
One morning during calving, I did the 0400 check of the calving mob. I could see a cow had calved, no calf about though. I cast about looking and found the calf in a hollow sleeping. I let the new mum through the break fence and she headed off to her calf. Meanwhile I looked to see if the cowshed lights were on, meaning my brother was ready for me to send the milking mob on their way. No lights so I wandered back to the new calf, it’s mum was grazing a short distance away. After 4 weeks of less then 5 hours of sleep/night at a max of 2.5 hours per time, I was knackered, the calf was nice and warm and I ended up curled around it asleep. I then thought the world had ended, the cow had come up to me, put her nose in my ear and SNIFFFFF I was up and away with my heart about to pop. My yell and scurrying caused the cow to vapourise in the other direction Then I saw the lights were on, so carryed on my chores; it took a bit for the adrenalin rush to wear off
Note that my cows weren’t tame, as in being able to walk up to them and pet (or tip ) them. If I’d get closer than a few metres to them, they would head off. Also they lived on a grass diet, grazing outdoors all year.
Cows are very curious creatures. There is often a small herd of young steers in the paddock next to my property, and the first few times I’m out there with the dogs, the steers all rush up to the fence for a look.
A couple of years ago I had one of my horses agisted in very big paddock, probably ten acres or so. Off in the distance there was herd of about twenty poddy calves. I caught my horse and was brushing him and looked up and the calves, instead of being way off in the distance were twenty or so metres away.
Next time I looked up they were in a ring around me and my horse, only a bit more than arm’s distance away. One of the braver ones let me pat him on the nose before they all took off again.
I’ve been working in paddocks with cattle and you can usually depend on them to come up for a look, so chances are good that if you were laying down in their paddock they’d want to see what you were doing.
I read the same thing and wondered the same thing. I am not at all comfortable with the thought of so many large creatures walking around me as I lay in their field. I can’t imagine being stepped on by such a big animal would be pleasant!
Actually, the reason cows will gather around you if you’re lying down in a field is that some of them are arguing for, and others refuting, the fact of your lying there being adequate evidence to prove/disprove the Rural Legend about human tipping!
Actually, given the modern preference for artificial insemination of dairy herds, you’re not likely to see bullshit in a cow pasture.
One day, when I was a kid visitng my uncle’s dairy farm, my German Shephard and I walked over to a herd of cows in the pasture. The dog started a little stampede, but after a short time the herd turned around and sent my dog running away with her tail between her legs. When my uncle heard about it he was pissed off because he believed that milk production for that afternoon would show a decline.
I should add that I had to run as well, since my dog ran towards me.
When I stopped to take this a few weeks ago, the cows didn’t notice me at first, then they did, then they seemed startled and some stood up. None walked away and within a minute or two they were all interested in the strange person with a camera. If you look at the pictures that follow that one in the album you’ll see what I mean.
You can tell from the wear pattern of the field that they spend some time in that corner every day and it’s the one that faces the road and the yard. They must find it interesting!
I could see the enjoyment of laying down around them, if not for the smell and urine-soaked mud, but that’s just me I’m sure.
I grew up in the country and one of the things we did for fun was lay out in a field and see if buzzards would come. They most certainly did. Since it was a goat pasture, I can neither confirm nor deny a cows reaction to it.
There was a beautiful brahma bull in a field I would ride my horse by. I would stop and talk at him every time I went by. He ultimately came up to the fence to me, but never let me touch him. He must have been a pretty nice bull. Apparently he had suffered some sort of injury and walked with a noticeable limp.
I’ve been surrounded by curious cows in a field before. As soon as I started moving, they scattered.
My friend lets me stay in her cabin next to a cow pasture in the summers. We feed the cows fruit scraps and kitchen scraps (with the owners permission). The cows seem to have ‘buddies’ or ‘best friends’ that they tend to hang around with. Everyone needs someone to lick their face, I guess.
According to Gary Larson, it’s part of the cover story the cows assiduously maintain to mask their plans for world domination. (I’ll let someone else link to the relevant cartoons.)
In my hang gliding days, it was not uncommon to land in a pasture occupied by cattle. I never saw any spook, but it was pretty well known that if you turned your back on your glider, they’d be over there licking and eventually chewing on the sail. Setting an assembled glider safely over the fence was a two person job, so the first pilot to land had to keep shooing the cattle away waiting for a buddy to land.
I was up and away with my heart about to pop. My yell and scurrying caused the cow to vapourise in the other direction 
