Meet Your New Therapist: A Cow

You’ve heard of therapy dogs and therapy horses. Even cats and rabbits make excellent companions. But have you ever considered a cow as a therapist?

Curious Bleu is a fifteen-year-old Scottish Highland steer and the star of the Ultimate Cow Experience, where visitors get to communicate with my herd of 15 bovines. Recently, a visitor stood next to Bleu with her arms crossed. Then she put one hand on his shoulder. Then both hands. Then her forehead. She cried into that big, shaggy shoulder for five minutes. 

Bleu never moved a foot. He didn’t stop chewing. He just stood there and let her release her grief over a failed marriage. I’ve watched some version of that happen more times than I can count. Everyone who’s met Bleu knows what I mean.

Autisim

A recent autistic visitor walked up to Bleu, and the two connected immediately. Before long, this young man was making himself at home on Bleu’s broad back.

That wouldn’t surprise Temple Grandin. The famed animal scientist, who is autistic herself, has long taught that autistic people and animals experience the world in similar ways: in pictures and details, noticing what the rest of us miss.

Bovines have a higher body temperature and a slower heart rate than humans. And their body mass is so much greater than ours that leaning against one calms nerves and comforts in a way words don’t.

Not every bovine is cut out to be a therapist.

Let me tell you about Finn. Two thousand pounds of Scottish Highland. He loves pulling the cart. He gives cart rides, and he’s wonderful at it, but he doesn’t want to be hugged. Try it, and he swings his horns at you. Finn has told me what job he wants, and I listen. Other bovines, like Sam and Bingo, love hugs and being ridden.

I can’t force a bovine to be a therapist. I have to let the animal tell me who it is. Cattle are honest about what they want. Walk up tense, and they know. Show anger, and they walk away. Slow down, breathe, and they lean in.

Those same lessons work in a classroom or a business: read body language, respect a “no,” and know when someone needs a shoulder and when they need space.

Carole Speaks to Your Group

I’m taking this message off the farm. I speak to companies, schools, organizations, and associations about the benefits of therapy cows and what a 2,000-pound animal can teach us about calm, trust, and communication. Staff retreat, classroom, conference, or club meeting: I’ll bring the stories, photos, and lessons. To learn more, contact me at carole@cow-coach.com.

Bleu taught me to stand still and be in the now. Finn taught me to respect a “no.”

Neither bovine will be at my talk. Probably.
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Carole Soule, co-owner of Miles Smith Farm in Loudon, N.H., would love to speak to your staff, students, or association about the lessons of a 2,000-pound bovine. Click here to find out more.