Cows, like people, have preferences, and those preferences impact behavior, especially when it comes to grazing. In fact, better understanding cow’s grazing preferences can help the general health of the ecosystem the cows inhabit. As cows disturb the vegetation upon which they graze, they fertilize and create space for new growth. However, grazing too much in one location can degrade soil and water quality. To mitigate this, ranchers often change the landscape by adding water or fences to prompt cows to graze in different places. Such tactics, though, can be expensive, ineffective, and destructive.
Forming a herd based on personality type, though, might be the solution. During a two-year study of a herd in California, researchers discovered that cows showed consistent preferences for how they grazed that fell into two distinct groups.
The “homebodies,” as the researchers called them, liked to stay with the rest of their herd while the “nomads” liked to wander off by themselves. These nomads, the researchers suggest, are far more suited to variable landscapes as they will naturally graze over a wider section of the land.
Put a homebody in such an environment and they will likely just stay in the area with the easiest access to water, and by extension be more likely to damage that region’s ecosystem. Put a nomad in an area with ready access to water, though, and they may constantly try to roam far from those regions. The goal for researchers is that one day ranchers may be able to pick their herds based on the landscape they face, choosing the personalities that compliment them.
