What is this and why did I do it?

• A short post on scan sampling some cows at a ranch in the Dominican Republic
• Much of the content I’ve consumed about life in the wild either romanticizes frolicking herbivores or paints a grim picture of survival. I wanted to have more proximate interactions with mammals that would help me recalibrate. The results of my observation were mundane, so I don’t expect this to be very interesting to read
• I had originally intended to spend 10 hours on this, but it didn’t happen because the field site was pretty far away and I needed a buddy to go. I’m pretty much ok with this
• I ended up focusing on movement but wish I had also recorded sounds (e.g. slurps when drinking water, sound of grass being ripped out of the ground) and where they direct their attention

These were beef cattle, so the calves were not separated from their mothers. The condition of the pasture was quite good. It seemed like the cows rotated grounds frequently and none of the plots were overgrown.

Here are behavioral transcripts from ~3 o’clock in the afternoon. Each cow had an ID tag near its ear, and I will refer to them with this number.

Four cows within view. 103 is closest to me and I can’t see the tags of the others. 103 is white with bumpy skin. (I had climbed under the barbed wire into their pasture and sat at the edge to record these observations)

103 looks at me and moves away with its rear now facing me.

I can hear them ripping grass out out of the ground from very far away (~300 ft?). The pasture is completely quiet except for the grass ripping

Their tails swat very high

103 moves near 91. 91 is dark brown. They are neck and neck now. 103 takes 3 steps forward.

91 swats mosquitoes.

103 swats. 103 takes 2 steps forward. 103 and 91 move forward 7 steps together.

103 is an impatient cow! Moves another 7 steps away.

(At this point there are no cows on my side of the pasture that I can observe well so I climb out from under the wire and move outside the fence on the other side. I’m looking at new cows now, all white in color. There are some others—15, 17, 65—that drift in and out of my line of sight.)

75 is closest to me. 10 to the right and further right, 73 behind 10.

10 scratches neck on right then left with mouth

73 pees. It was big! It lasted ~5 seconds?

75 scratches leg and makes eye contact with me. Turns around 30 degrees but didn’t step away. 75 struggles to pull grass out and makes multiple attempts until it succeeds.

75 makes prolonged eye contact with me for ~50 second, then scratches right leg with mouth

10 takes 3 steps forward, scratches leg and swats flied.

75 poops. When it does, its anus expands dramatically (maybe as big as a grapefruit?) and goes turgid.

10 moves forward 4 steps.

15 moves forward 5 steps.

73 takes 1 step forward. 1 more step.

75 walks forward 2 steps but now is facing slightly away from me.

73 takes a few steps.

Loud reggaeton in the distance but the cows seem unperturbed. Music continues to play muted.

75 moves another 4 steps and is not out of my line of vision.

73 takes a small dump, then walks a few steps forward.

How often do they poop?

77 and 75—got a closer look. They’re eating long grasses. 77 is a black cow with a white spot on forehead.

65 (new cow) drinks from water trough, small poop while it’s walking toward me. We make eye contact for 50 seconds. 65 breaks eye contact. Another 20 seconds of eye contact. Takes two steps closer to me (at this point it is very close to the barbed wire I am standing behind) and continues to direct its attention fully towards me while trough water drips from its mouth. I take two steps closer to 65 and it continues to stare. Finally, it looks down and bends its neck to eat some small ferns and a ground bush on the other side of the barbed wire.

Looks like it was sussing me out to check if it was ok to get close to barbed wire and eat.

10 is huffing.

65 starts walking away and licks left back. Its tongue is so rough I can hear it scratching its skin.

75 takes several steps towards the water trough and drinks water. 75 puts its front hooves on the trough edge, stands up and looks around. Steps down and walks alongside fence.

17 licks another brown and white cow (can’t see tag) on the back. I’m told this is for salt. 17 nuzzles this cow, which turns around. They head butt, and the receiving cow steps back and 17 continues to lick its side.