Cow cuddling becomes popular pastime for those craving companion after a year of pandemic isolation

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Cow cuddling has emerged as a new pandemic pastime with Americans paying up to $75 an hour for a hugging session with the farm animals.

Animal sanctuaries across the country are offering the service and reporting high demand as lonely hearts hit hard by the year of social distancing look for a creature comfort to get them through.

‘You cannot hug your friends; you cannot hug your grandkids. At this point, we still have to be careful,’ Suzanne Vullers, who owns Mountain Horse Farm in Naples, New York, told the Washington Post of the cuddling sessions.

‘But as people, we have that need to be close to others. The cows are safe … and they like that interaction as well.’ 

Vullers is originally from the Netherlands where the practice is already well established and known as ‘koe knuffelen’.

She and her husband offer cow cuddling each year between May and October.

Visitors spend an hour at a time with Bella and Bonnie, who are half-Scottish Highland and half-Angus, several days a week.

According to proponents of the trend, cow cuddling can be quite soothing thanks to the animal’s warm temperature and size, and the oxytocin boost it triggers can even reduce stress.   

Hugging cows, rubbing them, or leaning up against them can be ‘incredibly soothing’ because the cows are big and warm and have a slower heartbeat. 

‘Cow cuddling is believed to promote positivity and reduce stress by boosting oxytocin in humans, the hormone released in social bonding. The calming effects of curling up with a pet or emotional support animal, it seems, are accentuated when cuddling with larger mammals,’ reports the BBC.   

Vullers said that the first few weeks in May are already booked solid as the pandemic has caused a massive increase in demand.

She told the Post that it has become particularly popular with city dwellers looking for an escape.

‘Spending time with large animals like cows, it’s one of the ways that you can do that,’ she said.

Aimee’s Farm Animal Sanctuary in Queen Creek, Arizona, is among the other spots offering up the service.

Renee Behinfar, 43, recently visited and told the Post that she began to cry when the cow lay in her lap.

‘It was really my first real hug of the year,’ said Behinfar of her encounter with Sammy the cow, who had been rescued from a dairy farm.

‘In the end, I really didn’t want to let her go,’ Behinfar added.

Aimee’s Farm Animal Sanctuary has about 100 rescued farm animals, many with disabilities, and is also experiencing remarkable demand this year.

Its sessions, which also cost $75 an hour, are booked out until July.

‘They’re just like happy pills, just to be around,’ owner Aimee Takaha told the Post.

While Takaha has offered the sessions for five years, she said that she has received significantly more calls in the past year and now can receive up to 20 requests a day about the service.

She told the Post that the nine cattle on her farm – including an Angus steer that was rescued from a ditch and Moonicorn, who has one eye and one horn – enjoy strolling over to hug visitors.

Takaha said that visitors often become emotional, especially as the cows lie on their side and put their heads in laps, and that some who take the session have decided to turn vegetarian after meeting with the animals.

Jeannie Whalen, 76, said that she met with the cows when dealing with the grief of losing her husband in May.

‘It brings a smile to my face and just a wonderful sense of awe,’ she said.

The Krishna Cow Sanctuary in Hawaii has been offering the sessions for three years now, even giving guests the chance to book the experience through Airbnb.

Owner James Higgins has 67 cattle living on 40 acres of land on the Big Island, and also charges $75 an hour for sessions.

Higgins, 30, told the Post that his cows love to lie down beside visiting humans.

‘The people seem to love it, and the cows seem to love it,’ he said.

Higgins described it as an ‘extremely soothing effect’ to lie down with the 1,500-to-2,000-pound animals.

‘They’re very big,’ visitor Deirdre Roney said of the cows. ‘There’s an intimidation factor there, but at the same time, … it was a letting-go kind of experience.’

‘It’s just really sweet and peaceful,’ she added of the moment her fear evaporated and she hugged one of the cows.

Higgins, who is of the Hare Krishna faith, a branch of Hinduism, explained that within his religion, cows have been revered for thousands of years.

He said that it motivates him to care for the cows but that he also bonds with his guests over the experience.

‘It’s always an amazing experience,’ he said. ‘I feel like I’m best friends with the people afterwards.’

Cow cuddling is just the latest in animal-related wellness trends.

Several years ago, goat yoga became all the rage, with fitness fans signing up for yoga classes in which goats walked around and might even climb onto participants.