Ya Herd : The Social Ordering of Cows
‘Sic semper tyrannis’ is a Latin phrase
meaning "Thus always to tyrants” —
It suggests that bad outcomes should or eventually
will befall tyrants or angry, evil cows.
The original actor/model, John Wilkes Booth
performed Brutus in a celebrated
production of Julius Caesar in 1864;
he would later claim that he shouted
"Sic semper tyrannis! The South is avenged!”
on stage at Ford’s Theatre, whilst brandishing
a bloody dagger, after assassinating
Abraham Lincoln on Good Friday, 1865.
There's been a major development with The Cows
and Jill is just gonna show me what's happened —
"I can see that --
Jill, The Farmer's Wife :
Yeah I know, look at that --
It's Lichen -- Lichen's died!
"What, just - just like that overnight..?!"
At 14 years old, Lichen was a pretty old cow,
but most cattle are slaughtered well before
the end of their natural life, so Lichen's
death is a shock --
The Vet believes Lichen died from a combination
of old age and a type of bacteria called clostridia.
This comes from spores that exist in the soil
on almost all farms; it can kill a cow
in as little as 12 hours.
“I mean it must be sort of mixed emotions for you,
because you detested that — she detested you —
because, I mean, she chased you, yet…
Jill, The Farmer's Wife :
I'd hide behind that gate -- she really disliked me
and I disliked her, and she was the only cow
in the whole herd that I've really
felt threatened by, yeah -- yeah.... and
you sort of feel a bit guilty having said....
Yeah, I felt this way because she was --
she lived a long life here on the farm.
Four days have passed since we took
the secrets come running out
In a stable herd like this we would expect
that Cows will spend most of their time with
their calves and other closely related females,
but has removing the two dominant cows
changed this behaviour?
Violet was a really interesting cow --
Yes, and she she seems to be
an incredible networker --
The Cows tend to associate with
their calves and their next on the list
tends to be Violet -- so she must have
spent a lot of time walking around,
just, you know getting to know
all of the other cows,
just interacting --
No, She's A Busybody.
Yeah, absolutely yeah.
The amount of time Violet dedicated
to socialising is impressive --
The Data revealed that in four days,
she spent 51 hours networking :
Double the average time of the other cows,
and she might have A Motive --
We wonder whether that's
How You Become a Dominant Cow --
is just to kind of keep your network up....?
Does that match up with
Violets temperament,
how you know her....?
Jill, The Farmer's Wife :
Well, no this has actually surprised me, yeah --
Yes, I didn't imagine that she she
would be quite such an "It"-Girl.
"It looks like Violet has taken advantage
of Poppin and Privet's removal
and made a bid for The Top --
So, we see that Violet's grooming is a key part
of building her social network.
Cows recognise each other partly by
smell, and also by markings.
It’s thought that they can identify up to 70
other cows — That's a lot of friends.
“Rose, yes, now she's interesting cow, because, you know —
if you've noticed that, that's what The Data says as well,
right? She does seem to be on her own a bit…
….and she comes into contact with very few cows.”
Jill, The Farmer's Wife :
That's her, there — They're turning away from her …
Oh My God they don't know her …!
“Today, nobody likes Rose, do they?”
This -- wow...."
“It’s not that they don't like her, but she isn't the cow
that can seems to get up and want to
be synchronised with others
and if you're not active, you're not gonna
build-up your relationships, are you?
You know, that you won't go up —
I mean if you want to be Violet,
you have to be out there —
It works like any friendship, you've got
evidence from the collars, shows
that each individual is different.
That cows have a defined social structure and
constantly organise themselves in The Herd —
this is why farmers have found it
easy to control them.
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