Cattle used for cuddling remedy might favor girls over males

Cattle utilized in human remedy programmes might favor interacting with women and girls than with males, a small research suggests.

Animal-assisted remedy programmes normally contain canine, rabbits or horses, however there’s a current pattern in direction of “cow cuddling” to scale back stress and loneliness.

To study extra concerning the potential results of cattle in animal remedy programmes, Katherine Compitus at New York College and her colleague Sonya Bierbower at the US Navy Academy West Level invited 11 individuals – 5 girls, 5 males and one woman – aged 13 to 79 to work together with two castrated male Holsteins for at the very least 45 minutes every. Compitus had raised the steers, each round 1 12 months outdated, on a small sanctuary farm in Goshen, New York, after they had been orphaned as newborns on a dairy farm.

The pair geared up every volunteer with a brush and a bag of treats, earlier than asking them to work together with the steers – which Compitus says behave like “toy poodles” – of their house pen, whereas respecting the animals’ selection to have interaction with them.

Instantly after spending time with the steers, the contributors crammed out a 24-point questionnaire describing their interactions and the way they sensed the animals felt concerning the expertise.

All however one of many contributors reported spending most of their time within the pen close by to the steers as they watched, petted, talked to and took footage with them. Total, they felt the animals typically initiated non-threatening interactions with them, proven by smelling and licking them, making vocalisations or “moos”, and accepting meals from them.

The ladies and woman reported extra incidences of the steers licking, accepting meals and responding to efforts to coach them. Whereas the lads additionally described largely constructive interactions, they thought the steers typically acted aggressively.

That mentioned, the ladies and woman reported kissing the steers twice as a lot as the lads did, which can have influenced the outcomes. Additionally they spent considerably extra time taking part in with the animals and taking pictures with them, and reported barely extra constructive interactions with the steers total.

“Did the men interact with the cows? Absolutely they did, and they reported enjoying it,” says Compitus. “It’s just that, for some reason, the women seem to enjoy it more – and the cows enjoyed it more too.”

Whereas additional analysis is required, Compitus wonders if the animals sensed character variations between the sexes. “Did the cows pick up that the women were just more nurturing and then elicit more attention from the women?” says Compitus. “That’s something that we have to look at further.”