Cuddling cows can give you that animal magic

Cow-cuddling, apparently, is the new goat yoga – and if that sentence sails straight over your head, perhaps it’s a sign you haven’t completely lost what’s left of your mind during lockdown after all.

Ironically, the whole reason for the growth in popularity of cuddling cattle in the first place is due to Covid – because our friends in America see it as a way of alleviating stress and loneliness.

Nobody has yet discovered what the cows think.

Of course, this is not an invitation to stray into a farmer’s field and start bear-hugging their bovine beasts; because you might get a kick out of it – and not the happy one you were hoping for.

Anyway, it’s unlikely to be a habit that catches on in this country, because, of course, Tony Holohan still maintains we shouldn’t be hugging anyone or anything at all. And even if we could, we’d be better occupied by starting smaller rather than trying to grapple with several hundredweight of prime beef.

Apparently, the Dutch have long been advocates of cow hugging – or koe knuffelen, as they call it – because they believe it helps reduce stress and increase happiness levels by boosting oxytocin, a bonding hormone, in humans.

Oxytocin is a chemical, released naturally from the brain into the blood of humans and other mammals during social and sexual behaviours.

It is produced by women during labour to help them bond with their baby and stimulate the production of breast milk.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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