ORFC 2026 8 – 9 Jan
Cows have incredibly intimate relationships with land, which raises questions about whether they can communicate with plants, soil, fungi and microbes. Perhaps cows can receive instruction from the land about what it needs? If so, they are amazing translators that we can learn from. In this session, we build from the observation that cows are designing our landscapes through their choices about which grasses, weeds or bushes to eat. If we viewed cattle as collaborators in regenerating land we might take their sensory and cognitive abilities more seriously. Furthermore, we can also wonder whether cattle are helping the land to express itself.