When my dog was young - he saw his first cows as we were walking down my driveway. You could see the fear & excitement he was showing. Before I could catch him, he was under the fence and headed toward the cows. They turned, looked and saw nothing but a nuisance approaching. He ran amongst them and they simply stood there mooing. They are accustomed to dogs because my neighbor uses border collies to herd/move them.
Before you knew it - all the excitement was over. I saw my cute, little black cocker spaniel coming back and he was completely covered from nose to tail in slimy, green cow poo. There was a valuable lesson learned that day. He has never again gone near any cows. As we walk down the driveway now - he will notice them, but stays his ground and does not approach.
I've seen coyotes case cows, in the spring when the calves & mothers are turned out to pasture. Since the mother/calf combos usually band up into a fairly large grouping it will take four or more coyotes to even make them move. There is safety in standing their ground and facing the coyotes as a group and the mothers seem to realize that. The neighbor will occasionally loose a calf during calving season - the coyotes will enter the pens and take the newborn.
When you live out here - you do what you can if the coyotes are a problem but one must remember that coyotes are a part of the natural way of things.
