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Whatsapp A dairy cow pauses between mouthfuls of silage.

While to human eyes they look placid and perhaps even dull, cattle have a complex social hierarchy and are excellent spatial learners. Ann Jones takes a look at some of the most recent research on cow cognition, and discovers that not only are bovines control freaks, they’re discerning music lovers as well.

Cows have excellent spatial learning and spatial cognition.

Cows are drawn towards lovely music. More than merely a fact, this is a sub-genre of YouTube video; all manner of musicians can be seen sitting in paddocks, serenading cows.

The anecdotal data is astonishing. Not only do cows seem attracted to music, they stick around, listen and seem to be quite absorbed.

Dr Rebecca Doyle from the Animal Welfare Science Centre and the University of Melbourne says that this sort of curiosity is innate in cattle.

‘There’s this conflict, because they’re naturally curious, but they’re also fearful of the unknown,’ she says.

‘So when it’s in their control, a novel situation can be a really enjoyable and a really positive experience.

‘But conversely, when they’re in a situation where it’s being forced upon them and it’s new and novel it can be really fearful and stressful for them too. It’s really about how much control they have over the situation.’

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Who knew cows liked to be in control?

As a ‘prey species’, cows’ sense of control over a situation is a biological necessity. Take for example their ‘flight zone’—what we might call personal space.

This is the minimum distance at which the cow is comfortable with a nearby threat, be it a cattle dog, a lion or a human on a motorbike.

A cow kept on a large grazing station in Australia, which doesn’t see humans all that much, might have a flight zone of some 20 or 30 metres. Conversely, the flight zone of a dairy cow milked three times a day will be very close.

That’s why cattle farmers and dairy farmers have different herding styles: when you ask a cow to move from one end of the paddock to the other, you do it by entering her flight zone. Her movements will be all about re-establishing her boundaries.

It is amazingly difficult to sneak up on a cow, both because they’re often on the lookout and because their eyes are set into the side of their heads, giving them a much wider range of vision than humans.

‘They can actually see well past their shoulders,’ says Doyle.

‘As a result, their blind spot is a lot smaller and the more you can see, the less likely you are to have someone sneak up behind you. That’s why they’ve evolved to have their eyes on the sides of their heads.’

Of course, they also have the safety of the herd to fall back on and feel safe in.

How many cows does it take to make a herd?

Scientists have been researching the minimum number of companions cows need to get the psychological benefits of being in a herd. They found that eight is the lower limit. Below that, and cows start to show increased vigilance.

So does that mean that, in a manner, cows can count?

If they can, they’re not telling us with rhythmic hoof tapping, making morse code symbols to be seen from the air or performing syncopated snorts. In fact, cow communication can be surprisingly subtle.

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Whatsapp Cows pass time by ruminating, which means they tend not to demonstrate the stereotypic behaviours other animals do when put in an enclosure.

What does a cow do to pass the time?

They ruminate. That is, they partially regurgitate a bit of food and give it another chew to aid the digestive process.

According to Doyle, this ability to amuse themselves with an essentially internal activity is one of the potential reasons cows are less likely to demonstrate stereotypic behaviours (the repetitive sucking, rocking or pacing movements animals demonstrate when bored in an enclosure).

So even though we’ve had a long relationship with cattle—indeed, we humans essentially created the species through domestication and selective breeding—they are a little cryptic. Nevertheless, our understanding of their cognition is growing.

‘Cows have excellent spatial learning and spatial cognition,’ says Doyle.

‘But the different ways that they’re raised can also affect their learning and cognition too. Some really interesting studies that have just been done from the University of British Colombia in Vancouver, Canada, have shown that the way that you actually raise calves can have an influence on how readily they can learn tasks.

‘For example, if they’re housed in pairs or with other groups of calves they actually have improved learning and cognition compared to if they’ve been housed individually.’

Which brings us to the question of farming practices and animal welfare. As our understanding of animal cognition grows, does our relationship with them—and our responsibility to them—change?

The domestication of cattle has been an 8,000 year process according to the book Cow Talk. At first, cattle were wild and free but were at risk of disease, hunger and predators. In return for their milk, meat and leather, we give them consistent food and protection.

Domestication isn’t just the taming of wild animals, it’s the long-term process of breeding to select the animals that most suit our needs. For thousands of years, farmers have been meddling with evolution to produce cows that suit their conditions.

But as the drive for production becomes ever greater, there is an increased risk that the welfare of individual animals will be impinged.

So after all this time together, what is the social contract we have with cattle?

Research continues.

Bovine brains, curious cows and herd politics Listen to this episode of Off Track to learn how cows relate to each other, the internal herd structure and what they might think of us.

Listen to a new outdoor adventure every week with Off Track.



