Cows are everywhere here, and not everywhere like they are in Wisconsin or any other dairy country. These are not farm cows, these are street cows. They hang out in the streets, get in your way, and eat your garbage.
Here at JSS, the cows aren't all that urban. Ganiyari is a rural village, and the JSS campus is mostly just grass and trees and dirt. Because the building and concrete density is low, the space is fairly cow friendly. This lets us see cows in a fairly natural habitat. However, cows have been domesticated for millenia, and no longer suited to any kind of "natural habitat."
The cows here mostly just wander around... they're pretty dumb. They walk around slowly and apparently randomly and sometimes poop. In the canteen, there is a big pot where peels and scraps are dumped. There is usually one cow standing by with a blank stare on its face waiting for some food to be dumped in. Sometimes if a cow is eating from the bucket, it won't even flinch when you dump some rice on its head. On at least one occasion, a cow wandered a few feet over to the fire and started eating dal from the pot before it got chased off.
No one ever hurts the cows, but they are always being chased around, and they look funny when they are being chased. To me, it looks like they have a look of blank and uncomprehending panic, especially when the guard dog is chasing them. The guard dog is always on a chain, and when he sees a cow, he will start chasing it, dragging its human behind it. The cow doesn't go much faster than the dog, and it runs like a middle aged fat woman not used to running.
People chase the cows too, when they wander into the farm, or into people's personal space. It takes a lot of work to chase a cow away, and you can hit them pretty hard without them seeming to care. They do respond to hands being raised, but they are big and slow to turn around, especially if they wanted to go where you are encouraging them not to.
Sometimes, a huge mass of cows is led down the road. This is the cows of a village being led to or from their grazing grounds, and its quite something to be walking the opposite direction through the herd. The first time I was in one, I was with Dolly, and she jumped up onto a wall, even though they are all dumb, passive animals, and were getting out of our way.
Here at JSS, the cows aren't all that urban. Ganiyari is a rural village, and the JSS campus is mostly just grass and trees and dirt. Because the building and concrete density is low, the space is fairly cow friendly. This lets us see cows in a fairly natural habitat. However, cows have been domesticated for millenia, and no longer suited to any kind of "natural habitat."
The cows here mostly just wander around... they're pretty dumb. They walk around slowly and apparently randomly and sometimes poop. In the canteen, there is a big pot where peels and scraps are dumped. There is usually one cow standing by with a blank stare on its face waiting for some food to be dumped in. Sometimes if a cow is eating from the bucket, it won't even flinch when you dump some rice on its head. On at least one occasion, a cow wandered a few feet over to the fire and started eating dal from the pot before it got chased off.
No one ever hurts the cows, but they are always being chased around, and they look funny when they are being chased. To me, it looks like they have a look of blank and uncomprehending panic, especially when the guard dog is chasing them. The guard dog is always on a chain, and when he sees a cow, he will start chasing it, dragging its human behind it. The cow doesn't go much faster than the dog, and it runs like a middle aged fat woman not used to running.
People chase the cows too, when they wander into the farm, or into people's personal space. It takes a lot of work to chase a cow away, and you can hit them pretty hard without them seeming to care. They do respond to hands being raised, but they are big and slow to turn around, especially if they wanted to go where you are encouraging them not to.
Sometimes, a huge mass of cows is led down the road. This is the cows of a village being led to or from their grazing grounds, and its quite something to be walking the opposite direction through the herd. The first time I was in one, I was with Dolly, and she jumped up onto a wall, even though they are all dumb, passive animals, and were getting out of our way.
