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Comment by __john | Hacker News Reader

I don't mean to be a pessimist but I believe the cows will get the collars hung on whatever they can and either tear them off, or if they're not strong enough; be stuck until they are found or die.

Edit, I suppose it could work on a dairy where a human works with the animal every day. I would be curious to know how often these things break.

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Cows are pretty smart and self-aware animals (e.g. they are ashamed if they are seen by their peers during milk extraction). I'm not sure that they'll take an aggressive stance against the collars if it's not used abusively. On the contrary, they might be more content if they are both being able to roam outside and be warned of the limits without being irritated so much.

AFAIK, cows are not aggressive animals unless they're physically attacked or threatened.

> they are ashamed if they are seen by their peers during milk extraction

Do you have a link discussing this? I find it hilarious and fascinating and I'd like to learn more. Thanks!

We raise beef cows but all of our moms are shy nursers. Especially early on in a baby's life. We make sure the baby is alive and thriving and then stay away. I've seen mom's toss off a nursing calf just because she saw you looking at her so many times now that we try hard to avoid being seen at all in the first few days.

I think OP was talking about the collars getting caught on something accidentally. I’ve certainly seen sheep get their heads stuck even without a collar.

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