Would cows really survive?

[Verevoof]

I have often thought about this. Would cows actually survive a nuclear holocaust? Would cows survive even if people just disappeared?

My answer is no. Domesticated animals, especially livestock, depend way too much on people. We have breed out their natural survival instincts. Plus, in the event of people dying out, they would still be confined to the farm, the pens, the indoors. If the nuclear bombs didn't kill them, starvation surely would.

I can see other domestic animals surviving the initial attacks, like (most) dogs and cats, because they still have their predatory instincts, but I just don't see domesticated livestock surviving a long period of time without humans. I suppose it would be possible that a stock of cows would survive, and that within the right amount of days they would be found by human survivors, but it seems unlikely. And if there is a surviving stock of cows, how could they be possible to breed, with all the radiation exposure and mutations and other sicknesses.

I mean it is possible for the sake of the game, but these cows would have to have a Luck of 50+. In real life, I think the odds are too much against domestic livestock for them to survive without people, let alone a nuclear holocaust of Fallout proportions.

Any thoughts?

 

[Alvarez]

Not every cow will be in the pen, i guess. Mind that huge herds in Texas, some cows might survive or become omnivorous, like pigs. That would be a very handy mutation.

Apropos for mutations, the two-headed-cow is a clishee, of course.
Them how does a two-headed creature survive in the wasteland? Wouldn't there be a permanent competition for food or choice of direction?
Look at the idling animation of a centaur, even the dog-head tries permanently to snap at the human one.

 

[Verevoof]

That brings up another factor. Yes, the two heads are "for teh lulz," but in real life, animals born with two heads have to be cared for closely by people and often die young.

There is usually a dominate head, or a head that is just "dead," or there is competition between the two. But usually the case is there is a dominate and submissive head.

 

[UnidentifiedFlyingTard]

Science!

 

[Sigma-LS]

The only penned cattle I can think of are those in Dairies and Feedlots. The way most ranching is done down here in Texas is by moving cattle from field to field after they eat a certain amount of the vegetation. That's so they don't just stay in one place and reduce it to dirt. And I don't think they'd particularly starve in that condition as they are pros at ruining fences. There wasn't a single year where some cattle didn't make a hole in one of our fences on one of our farms and get out.

The big problem I see is that usually bulls are turned into steers and can't reproduce and cow-calf operations are usually much smaller than ranching operations. So breeding population will be much lower than actual. While one Bull can service 30 Heifers or more, you still gotta have a viable bull. The calves could grow into that in a cow-calf operation and would most likely be the best explanation. The little guys growing up w/ the radiation would also explain the more extreme genetic mutations like two heads

And don't let people tell you cows are domesticated like a dog or a sheep. All we did was take a dumb mean 6 ft tall animal and turned it into a FAT mean dumb 5 ft tall animal. They can be trained like anything else but they sure as hell are not naturally gentle.

 

[Kahgan]

Highland cattle would survive. Definitely.

 

[fallout_fan]

Im prettyn sure the Bovines could survive on their own. I doubt a small wooden fence could stop a animal that ways what 900-1200 LBs. I mean thats alot of weight. The wooden fences would snap like tooth picks and I doubt metal fences would last long. The Cows and bulls would get more aggressive with starvation and break out. The calfs would follow and so would the other animals. That is if they survive the nuclear blast. Now I know most of the Nuclear warheads would be pointed at major cities ( New York, DC, LA, and so on) and some of them would target the actual Launching facilities possibly if hitting them was a viable option. Which I doubt because the first to launch would know the other side would launch as well. Theres no sense in wasting nukes on empty silos. But since most farms are out in Rural areas far from population centers, I would say its a good chance. I would say %60. Thats better then 0%, but not quite as good as 90-100%.

 

[Verevoof]

The fact that they are confined to pens or farms or whatever is just a part of the issue. The main thing here is that we have domesticated cows and other livestock and over years and years of selective breeding we have breed out their survival instincts.

 

[fallout_fan]

I also doubt the survival instincts of the cows would be entirely bred out. Seeing as cows and other live stocks normal routines aren't entirely deviating from what they would do in the wild. The only difference is that they would have more space, other wise they will still have to forage for food.

 

[Kahgan]

Not all cows are domesticated to such a degree that they wouldn't survive in the wild. Dairy cows would die for sure, but some cattle are purposely kept "wild", just look up the Scottish highland cattle for instance.
You can see the same tendencies with sheep, the regular dumb domesticated sheep that are normally kept now would have problems in the wild. But some of the old races will be almost impossible to catch if you let them out in the wild, which is why the farmers let them out on small islands at the coast instead of sending them into the mountains.

 

[Crni Vuk]

there is this show called "life after humans" or something where they explained that pretty much all domesticated cows would die. They need milking several times a day and lots of food they dont even get in the wilderness. Thus they are not able to survive long without humans.

The few cows that would eventualy survive would very fast start to become wild cows again though.

 

[Mactab]

The Fallout Bible explains that all of the critters you see in the wasteland (Barhmin, rats, scorpions) are the result of FEV experiments, not radiation from the bombs.

 

[Ausir]

That's what Avellone said in the first issues of the Fallout Bible, but he later changed his mind in subsequent issues and went with the radiation theory instead.