THE CATTLE OF THE FIELD
Is there anything that adds more to the beauty of a scene in the country than the grazing cows that give life to the fields, now cropping the grass, now resting under the shade of the trees, now wading in cool streams, now lying in midday rest? They are so mild and gentle, and look at us so quietly out of their big, kindly eyes that we cannot help keeping a soft spot for them in our hearts.
Making Friends with a Guernsey Calf
They wear horns, but they do not use them, and we can walk through a herd of these large animals as safely as through a grove of trees; that is, if they are all cows, if there is not a bull among them. The bull, the male form of the cattle tribe, is a creature we must watch. If he happens to be cross and bad-tempered, as is often the case, he is not safe to trust. It is certainly not wise to wear a red coat or hat in a field where a bull is kept, for he seems to look on this color as a challenge to battle. To have to run from a bull is no fun, at least not if he gets close enough to help you over a fence with his horns.
But we seldom see a savage cow. These are quiet, dull animals, that have no thought of anything but to crop the grass and flick off the flies from their skin with their waving tails. They do not have to take care of themselves. Their masters and mistresses take care of them, so they have nothing to do or think of but to grow fat and yield milk.
There are wild cattle in various parts of the earth, and these have to take care of themselves, but the cattle of our fields have been kept tame so long that it is hard to tell from what wild species they came. We know that they were kept by the people of Egypt and China thousands of years ago, and that the Egyptians had certain bulls which they worshiped as gods. The bull and the cow are sacred animals in India and are never killed for food by the Hindu people.
In modern times the cow has been kept chiefly for the milk she gives. She is also kept as a food animal, but is not made to work, like the bull and the ox. The animal that is killed for food is a large, well-fed beast, with straight back and well developed body. As for the bull, its savage nature is made use of in the bull-fights of Spain and it is also used in the "bull-races" of the South of France.
Cows, as well as bulls and oxen, have two horns on their head. In some breeds these are very long and powerful, but there are others that have no horns and in fighting use their heads to butt with. In this way they can give a powerful blow. With his head, his horns and his hoofs an angry bull is an animal that it is best to keep away from.
Cattle are of many colors and it is this which gives beauty to many of them. Among them we find such colors as black, white, yellow, brown, fawn, reddish brown, black-spotted and other hues, this variety of colors giving new beauty to a herd of grazing cows. It is a pretty sight to see them strolling up the leafy lane in the evening to the milking shed, with a boy and a dog to keep them moving.