Sheepish Behaviour

There is something about livestock and bikes...

When we ride by a field of sheep or cattle we ALWAYS evoke a reaction.
Twenty-five cars and thirteen transport trucks can whizz and rumble by and not a cow or sheep or bull flinches...but ride by on a bike...

The reactions are distinctly different depending on the animal.

Cows are extremely curious of bikes. As we ride by, heads come up, cudd chewing stops and more often than not, the herd begins to amble over towards the fence. Today, we had the most rambunctious heard yet. (Well...aside from the big black bull on the gravel road that is!). We stopped for a drink across from a field of cattle. This was enough to get their attention. They started to approach. Due to our past history with livestock, we began to pedal. The cows began to run. Within seconds, the entire heard was thundering alongside the fence (THEIR side of the fence luckily!) racing to keep up with us. I was just hoping and praying that they saw the fence running perpendicular to the road, the one that seperated the cows from the sheep. They did, and we kept on riding, leaving about 100 head of cattle lined up along a fence, waiting for the next biker to ride by.

Then there are the sheep. They consistantly take a more 'sheepish' approach to oncoming cyclists. Heads come up, cudd chewing stops and panic ensues. They run like stink in the opposite direction. I am confident that more than half of them don't even know what they're running from. But the first one takes off like a shot and it's instantly like a field of wooly dominos. This is what I imagine is going through their heads...
Who's running? He's running? She's running? I'm runnnnnnnninggggg! Ahhhhhhhh! Why am I running? Gotta run faster, faster? Where am I running toooo? I'm running, I'm running.
Since they're freaking out anyways, Rob and I have taken to 'hooting' and 'yipping' as we ride by, just to see how fast they really can run. But I think I am going to stop that hooting and yipping...

today, two poor sheep jumped right into a creek in their panic to get away from us.

Rob said it was okay...they were wearing Merino....yuck yuck yuck.

My theory is that the livestock are accustomed to cars and trucks, large rolling creatures on four wheels- they must see them as their own entity, seperate from people. They also recognize people, two legged walking beings. But combine a person with wheels and LOOK OUT!

Rob's theory is that the bikes wheels must give off some kind of frequency that humans can't detect, but that sensitive sheep and cow ears pick up. Sure, Rob always has the fancy, technical, scientific sounding explaination...

Either way, it's an amusing phenomenon...as long as they stay on their side of the fence.