How friendly is too friendly?

Recently I saw a facebook post about a lady who had been trampled to the ground by her cow. She stated in the caption that she knew the cow had gotten too friendly and pushy. She had gone to move the cow to another pen and the cow pushed back, got too close, and in a playful way shoved her over. The thousand plus pound cow ended up breaking a couple of the lady’s ribs and leaving her quite bruised up. Now there's nothing wrong with loving up on these beautiful animals and having them as pets! But how friendly is too friendly?

This idea of a too friendly animal is something everyone can relate to. If a dog gets too comfortable in a house it might start sleeping on the couch, jumping up on the kitchen table, take food from their owner, or pulling on the leash when going for a walk. Now that might seem like easy things to fix untill that type of disrespect comes from an animal much larger than any dog.

PC: Mary Earle

With any animal there is a healthy balance of love and respect. For example I LOVE my border collie, but I also am his caretaker so he has to be able to respect me. That means no jumping up on the table, running across the road, or dragging me on walks. That doesn't mean I beat him when he gets too pushy and jumps up on couch, but I do remind him nicely that he’s pushing his boundaries and quickly get him off by asking his to remove himself from the couch. That’s the same thing with cattle. You can love on them all day, but they have to respect personal space, fencing, and have self control.

But really how friendly is too friendly? I once watched a family raise a beef steer. He was a curious one, always looking for trouble. When he was a calf the kids would let him rub his face on them. He would follow them up to the house, and they would even ride him once he got bigger. He was so friendly they could even lay on him while he slept. Yet, once he was a year old he started running through fences and would constantly rub his head on the kids till they fell over even if they tried to push him away. He was a lot bigger and it wasn’t “cute” anymore. He was still so friendly, but he had no respect or boundaries. Finally he became so friendly they were forced to ship him earlier than planned due to the fact at his size his “friendliness” was often dangerous.

Now not all friendly cows are dangerous, just like not all friendly dogs are disrespectful. Each animal is their own individual self and personality. A friendly cow is an animal who loves people, not a bad thing, but in the end there needs to be a clear line of respect. What do you think?

-Jaksen