So cows know their humans?

In one of those odd little coincidences there is a small filler in the paper this morning about some research which observed that cows spend longer looking at people they do not know. Yesterday I was talking to a former dairy farmer and we were agreeing that his cows knew him.

Of course they do. I have no doubt about this at all. I lived in a dairying district as a child. The cows knew the people who milked them. There were occasional complaints about cow behaviour if someone else had to come in and do the milking. There would also be mention of misbehaviour if the cows objected to the type of music being played while they were being milked. (Cows prefer classical sorts of music. How do I know? Observation. Talking to dairy farmers.) 

We know dogs know the humans who are important to them. Why should it be any different for cows? Cats know. Sheep know. Goats know. I have observed it in all these animals. I have observed it in an alpaca too.

Middle Cat occasionally has to feed the cats belonging to her sons. She will need to do it in a few days time. One cat in particular will actively seek extra attention. He "does not like to be left". We give him human emotions when we say this but to assume they are incapable of emotion is surely wrong? He will settle only after being given attention. Does he "know" Middle Cat? Of course he does.

My late uncle had a dog who would hide under the table after being clipped for the summer. It never happened at any other time. Why? Was it "embarrassment" over appearance? That seems unlikely but trauma over the experience of being clipped is a possibility perhaps? That still suggests an ability to experience an emotion humans know. 

I often talk to dogs. They will be tied up outside the shopping centre. Sometimes they will be very close to where I park my trike. Of course I could ignore them but it would be unwise to do that. If they look at me I will look back. I need to make a judgment about how friendly they are likely to be and how carefully I need to move around them. Do some of them know me? Of course they do. I have occasionally met them when they are out on a walk. On more than one occasion another human in their household has expressed surprise that "their" dog should know me. I explain and sometimes they still look surprised. 

I am not surprised at all. I expect the dog will know me. The idea that animals take no interest in humans apart from being a source of food is ridiculous. Of course they are interested, interested in their own way and for their own purposes. If I spoke to cows on a regular basis I would expect them to know me if I knew them. 

What they "think" about me of course is something else altogether.