Attacked by crazy cow in Ed Levine Park
kjinno...@earthlink.net
heading up Monument Peak trail. Just after crossing Monument Peak road
I went through a cattle gate and crossed a stream bed and then saw a
bunch of cows up ahead on the trail. One big, black cow was standing
right in the middle of the trail eyeing me. I don't know if she didn't
like the color of my shirt or what, but the cow suddenly started
charging. I tried to head for the ravine but didn't quite make it. The
damn fool cow rammed me, knocked me down and kept butting me until I
managed to roll down into the ravine and escape. (No injuries - just
minor scratches and bruises. It was pretty funny, actually.) I've done
a lot of hiking in cattle country but never had an experience like
that. Is it common for cows to charge hikers? If it happens again maybe
I'll take off my shirt and try the matador technique.
Wild Monkshood
kjinno...@earthlink.net wrote:
I once had a cow charge me for tipping fees. :) I like to hike trails
that go through cow pastures. I like hiking among cows. I have never had
any aggressive behavior from them, though. My problem is not getting
them to shy away. Even the bulls I have seen are wary. Maybe your
unfriendly cow was on steroids. :)
Wild Monkshood
>
Jeff Wilson
a Coast Range native cow or steer be aggressive. Did have a bull chase
me once though. Perhaps it was an almost steer. Don't need to go to
Pamplona now!
Black Metal Martha
Cattle are colorblind, so it wasn't your shirt color. And you sure it
was a cow? The only time I've ever heard of that is if they're
protecting their calf.
Martha
Roarmeister
You may have encounterd the lead cow who thought you were in her territory
or maybe you just encountered a mad cow! Sometimes it pays for you to
aggressive and show them who's boss.
On one trail, I passed a small herd of cattle basically calling "heyha" to
get them to move out of the way. And I walked right on by. After a few
minutes, I sensed something and turned around and saw a lone Bessie
following me. I stopped, looked at her, she stopped, looked at me, so
after a few seconds I continued my hike. She followed. I repeated the
exercise again and she stopped. Another minute of hiking - same exercise.
Finally, I got tired of her silly behaviour and chased her back to the
herd. She apparently imprinted on me as the leader of her herd and was
blissfully following me. It never even dawned on me that she would be
aggressive - I've been around cattle since I was a kid. Once she rejoined
her group she lost total interest in me.
Pat
:
: On one trail, I passed a small herd of cattle basically calling "heyha" to
: get them to move out of the way. And I walked right on by. After a few
: minutes, I sensed something and turned around and saw a lone Bessie
: following me. I stopped, looked at her, she stopped, looked at me, so
: after a few seconds I continued my hike. She followed. I repeated the
: exercise again and she stopped. Another minute of hiking - same exercise.
: Finally, I got tired of her silly behaviour and chased her back to the
: herd. She apparently imprinted on me as the leader of her herd and was
: blissfully following me. It never even dawned on me that she would be
: aggressive - I've been around cattle since I was a kid. Once she rejoined
: her group she lost total interest in me.
I can think of a few reasons other than "she apparently imprinted on me as
the leader of her herd". That's kind of egotistic, now, isn't it. Cattle
may be dumb, but there is no way the cow thought you were one of her herd.
Like you said, she lost interest in you and that would be strange if she
thought you actually were the "leader of her herd".
Pat
No Spam
O my all the cow psychics are coming out of the woods, o wait, they
probably are.
The cow attacked the poster cuz the cow thought he was a threat.
The second cow followed the other poster because it thought it was
gonna get food.
Thats all you need to know, or think about.
Gary S.
>On Sun, 20 Nov 2005 19:43:08 -0600, "Pat" <P...@newsnight.com> wrote:
>>: On one trail, I passed a small herd of cattle basically calling "heyha" to
>>: get them to move out of the way. And I walked right on by. After a few
>>
>>I can think of a few reasons other than "she apparently imprinted on me as
>>the leader of her herd". That's kind of egotistic, now, isn't it. Cattle
>>may be dumb, but there is no way the cow thought you were one of her herd.
>>Like you said, she lost interest in you and that would be strange if she
>>thought you actually were the "leader of her herd".
>>
>>Pat
>>
>
>O my all the cow psychics are coming out of the woods, o wait, they
>probably are.
>
>The cow attacked the poster cuz the cow thought he was a threat.
>
>The second cow followed the other poster because it thought it was
>gonna get food.
>
>Thats all you need to know, or think about.
Agreed. People should not put more thought into this than the cows do.
Happy trails,
Gary (net.yogi.bear)
--
At the 51st percentile of ursine intelligence
Gary D. Schwartz, Needham, MA, USA
Please reply to: garyDOTschwartzATpoboxDOTcom
Gregory L. Hansen
I was once wandering around in a small park in California and came across
some cattle. Then the bulls all lined up in front of me. I turned and
walked away. Dang, they were big.
--
"Tell me, Dr. Einstein, at what time does Boston arrive at this train?"
No Spam
>On Mon, 21 Nov 2005 06:44:07 GMT, No Spam <nos...@no.spam.com> wrote:
>
>>On Sun, 20 Nov 2005 19:43:08 -0600, "Pat" <P...@newsnight.com> wrote:
>
>>>: On one trail, I passed a small herd of cattle basically calling "heyha" to
>>>: get them to move out of the way. And I walked right on by. After a few
>>>
>>>I can think of a few reasons other than "she apparently imprinted on me as
>>>the leader of her herd". That's kind of egotistic, now, isn't it. Cattle
>>>may be dumb, but there is no way the cow thought you were one of her herd.
>>>Like you said, she lost interest in you and that would be strange if she
>>>thought you actually were the "leader of her herd".
>>>
>>>Pat
>>>
>>
>>O my all the cow psychics are coming out of the woods, o wait, they
>>probably are.
>>
>>The cow attacked the poster cuz the cow thought he was a threat.
>>
>>The second cow followed the other poster because it thought it was
>>gonna get food.
>>
>>Thats all you need to know, or think about.
>
>Agreed. People should not put more thought into this than the cows do.
>Happy trails,
>Gary (net.yogi.bear)
Good, lets moo-ve along.
kjinno...@earthlink.net
Black Metal Martha wrote:
>
> Cattle are colorblind, so it wasn't your shirt color. And you sure it
> was a cow? The only time I've ever heard of that is if they're
> protecting their calf.
>
> Martha
They aren't entirely colorblind. Cows have dichromatic vision - not
trichromatic like ours - so they have some color perception. FYI,
http://www.grandin.com/references/new.corral.html
I assume it was a cow because it had no horns - if it had I'd be full
of holes.
Ken
Sohn
<kjinno...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:1132617778....@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
Cattle are dehorned when they are calves, you may have had an encounter with
either a steer or bull. I'm guessing the black cow may be an angus (breed
of cattle), some angus are a little aggressive.
Ron
happywh...@spokanehiker.net.org
Gary S.
> I'm guessing the black cow may be an angus (breed
>of cattle), some angus are a little aggressive.
>Ron
>
But tasty.
Sohn
"Gary S." <Idontwantspam@net> wrote in message
news:1js4o1l0f4clut6ue...@4ax.com...
> On Mon, 21 Nov 2005 19:24:19 -0500, "Sohn" <so...@usol.com> wrote:
>
>> I'm guessing the black cow may be an angus (breed
>>of cattle), some angus are a little aggressive.
>>Ron
>>
> But tasty.
Yes indeed! My friend raises Angus, from his farm to the butcher. Then to
my kitchen, simply delicious.
Ron
sljo...@cocc.edu
charge is maybe you (knowing or not knowing) were in between him and
his baby. Mama and papa cows get very upset when they can't see their
babies let alone an unfamiliar "dangerous human" is cutting them off
from their baby. Or maybe it was your shirt... what color was it?
Certain colors have been proved by scientists to stimulate certain
attitudes and behaviors in animals and humans. I'm glad you're okay!
Stacie Jay
Black Metal Martha
Ummmm.....steak......
Martha
wipes drool from mouth
Pat
<sljo...@cocc.edu> wrote in message
news:1132689589....@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
: That's very interesting. The only reason I can think for a cow to
Stacie, a cow is female. The male is called a bull, not a "papa cow".
Pat in TX where we know what cows look like.
:
kjinno...@earthlink.net
bull, not a cow. That makes sense because this animal seemed to have a
little too much testosterone for a cow. I wasn't anywhere near it or
any calves or other cows - they were all way up the trail from me when
this one started charging. Based on my subsequent research
(http://www.grandin.com/references/new.corral.html), my hypothesis is
that it was not so much the color of my shirt, but the high contrast
(plaid, dark brown stripes on white) that set it off. Maybe sometime
I'll try experimenting to test my hypothesis. But next time I will have
my pepper spray - a little shot of that stuff up those flaring nostrils
will let it know who's boss!
Ken
Jeff Wilson
the size of the cows and built like, well . . a bull. Probably not a
bull because its really rare for a California rancher to let the bulls
run with the herd. Almost all use artificial insemination or controlled
impregnation. I grew up the California coastal dairy areas of Marin
and Sonoma. I never saw a bull with the grazing herds out in the hills.
Jeff
Sohn
"Jeff Wilson" <rader...@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:MrTgf.23321$q%.23175@newssvr12.news.prodigy.com...
> If it was an Angus bull, you would have noticed that it was about twice
> the size of the cows and built like, well . . a bull. Probably not a bull
> because its really rare for a California rancher to let the bulls run with
> the herd. Almost all use artificial insemination or controlled
> impregnation. I grew up the California coastal dairy areas of Marin and
> Sonoma. I never saw a bull with the grazing herds out in the hills.
>
> Jeff
>
I've been off the farm for too many years so take everything I write with a
grain of salt. If it wasn't a bull, it could have been a steer. A Bull
becomes a steer when it's nuts are cut as a calf. Steers are grown till
they are about 2 years old and sent to slaughter. A 2 year steer is about
the same size a mature cow. Here in the mid-west (Michigan), Rocky Mountain
Oysters are considered by some farmers a delicacy. Rocky Mountain Oysters
are deep-fried bull and pig testicles. I know, TOO MUCH information.
EEEW!!!
Ron
Roarmeister
>
>"Jeff Wilson" <rader...@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
>news:MrTgf.23321$q%.23175@newssvr12.news.prodigy.com...
>> If it was an Angus bull, you would have noticed that it was about twice
>> the size of the cows and built like, well . . a bull. Probably not a bull
>> because its really rare for a California rancher to let the bulls run with
>> the herd. Almost all use artificial insemination or controlled
>> impregnation. I grew up the California coastal dairy areas of Marin and
>> Sonoma. I never saw a bull with the grazing herds out in the hills.
>>
>> Jeff
>>
>
>
>I've been off the farm for too many years so take everything I write with a
>grain of salt. If it wasn't a bull, it could have been a steer. A Bull
>becomes a steer when it's nuts are cut as a calf. Steers are grown till
>they are about 2 years old and sent to slaughter. A 2 year steer is about
>the same size a mature cow. Here in the mid-west (Michigan), Rocky Mountain
>Oysters are considered by some farmers a delicacy. Rocky Mountain Oysters
>are deep-fried bull and pig testicles. I know, TOO MUCH information.
>EEEW!!!
Prairie oysters where I come from... :-)
--
Somebody at the Wikpedia page got a little carried away with his definition
:-) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle
The word "cattle" did not originate as a name for bovine animals. It
derives from the Latin caput, head, and thus originally meant "unit of
livestock" or "one head". The word is closely related to "chattel" (a unit
of property) and to "capital" in the sense of "property."
Older English sources like King James Version of the Bible refer to
livestock in general as cattle, or sometimes the archaic kine (which comes
from the same English stem as cow). Additionally other species of the genus
Bos are often called cattle or wild cattle. This article refers to the
common modern meaning of "cattle", the European domestic bovine.
Young cattle are called calves. A young male is called a bull-calf; a young
female before she has calved is called a heifer (pronounced "heffer"). Male
cattle bred for meat are castrated unless needed for breeding. The
castrated male is then called a bullock or steer, unless kept for draft
purposes, in which case it is called an ox (plural oxen), not to be
confused with the related wild musk ox. If castrated as an adult, it is
called a stag. An intact male is called a bull. An adult female over two
years of age (approximately) is called a cow. The adjective applying to
cattle is bovine.
There is no singular equivalent in modern English to cattle other than the
various gender and age-specific terms (though "catron" is occasionally seen
as a half-serious proposal). Strictly speaking, the singular noun for the
domestic bovine is ox: a bull is a male ox and a cow is a female ox. That
this was once the standard name for domestic bovines is shown in placenames
such as Oxford. But "ox" is no longer used in this general sense, being
restricted to the sense given above. Today "cow" is probably the closest to
being gender-neutral, although it is usually understood to mean female
(females of other animals, such as whales or elephants, are also called
cows.) To refer to a specific number of these animals without specifying
their gender, it must be stated as (for example) "ten head of cattle."
Some Australian, Canadian, New Zealand and Scottish farmers use the term
"cattlebeast". "Neat" (horned oxen, from which "neatsfoot oil" comes from),
"beef" (young ox) and "beefing" (young animal fit for slaughtering) are
obsolete terms. Cattle raised for human consumption are called beef cattle.
Within the beef cattle industry in parts of the United States, the older
term beef (plural beeves) is still used to refer to an animal of either
gender. Cows of certain breeds that are kept for the milk they give are
called dairy cows. Herds are counted as, for example, "one hundred head".
The term cattle itself is not a plural, but a mass noun. Thus one may refer
to some cattle, but not three cattle. The word cow can also be used
derogatively, when describing a female member of the human species whom one
expresses a dislike for.
Pat
Pat in TX