LOL! You're a wise man. They are big bluffers, though, honestly. All you have to do is stomp your foot at them and they will turn around to run the other way. They're definitely smart enough to know that 'two-leggers' are at the top of the totem pole. I have one cow who I absolutely do not take any chances with, if she has just had a baby. When she's got a calf at her side she will not back down. I can only enter a pasture, in that case, if I'm on the Gator. She has even horned the Gator a couple of times. She's nuts. Only reason I keep her around is because she gives us really nice calves every year. There have been two occasions where I got knocked. The first was from a big steer who was going after my Goldendoodle. ****** dog was tormenting him, then ran to hide behind me. I was doing something else at the time, and not paying attention to what was going on. He was already running toward her, and all he saw was her. His horn got me from my belly button up to my neck. Lucky for me, he realized what the situation was at the last second, and checked himself. I had a big bruise, but nothing else. The second time was Norbhu. I had been recovering from foot surgery, and had just graduated to a walking cast. I needed some outside time after being cooped up in the house for weeks. I wrapped a trash bag over my cast and went out to visit the animals, treat bucket in hand. As I limped into the corral, Norbhu excitedly ran to greet me. I didn't put the bucket down fast enough for him, so he pushed me up against the wall of the barn with his big head, and held me there while using his horn to try to tip the bucket off my arm. All I could think to do was to lift my arm up, bucket and all, and ram it down hard on top of his head. That did the trick, but my arm was messed up. I called my husband and said, "Honey I need to go to the ER. I think Norbhu just broke my arm." Luckily it wasn't broken-just a big contusion. Sure was entertaining, though, to explain to the nurses and doctor that I had gotten pinned against the barn by my yak.Yeah, she had mentioned that they were for coyote control. Hence why I waited outside of the fence for Caroline to show up when she was going to show me her yaks. Anytime you need to calculate if you would need to beat that critter to the gate, its a good idea to just avoid contact with said critter, at least until there's somebody else there who can at least dial 911 if you don't make it to the gate.
