How fast are cows?

Near as I can tell the only entry that applies to cows in the rules is herd animals. For the most part it works however, for speed herd animals are as fast as horses. This doesn't seem to make sense for domesticated cows at least. How fast would most gms put them at?

Awesome - my love for this question knows no bounds. I guess I have to figure out how to do a "Post Of The Month" feature.

Some info here:

http://www.crazyforcows.com/fow/how-fast-do-cows-run.shtml

with various other sources talking about a sprint speed of up to 20 MPH. The race link above comes out to about 12'/sec., so that's a combat movement rate  of 120'/round at what I'm guessing was a brisk-ish jog - so anywhere between 40' and 60' a round would be my guess? Cattle drives, however, Old West style, were going about 10-15 miles per day; and a couple places say they went slow so that the cattle wouldn't lose too much weight on the journey (and hence sell for less). That tracks back to a 60' exploration rate of movement, or 20' per round combat, for a lazier pace.

That tracks between medium and heavy horses either unloaded or with a "virtual load" to reduce effort, which seems OK, and it may be variable depending on the age or breed of the cow perhaps. It's not so much that cows can't run as they...don't, because we don't need them to, and we evidently never bothered to find out. Aside from whatever we've bred into them, or however much we've forced their weight up, they ought to move like buffalo or other large bovines. So the answer might actually be to encumber a large herd animal, which the numbers above seem to do.

 

 

I think in retrospect that I simply erred in listing the movement rate for herd animals as 240'. I was thinking of antelopes and gazelles, but cattle, goats, moose, and sheep don't move nearly so fast. 

I would put cattle at 120' when wild, 60' when harnessed or herded.

I think 240' would be right for most four legged animals for short distances. Moose, bulls, and sheep have all been clocked at 35 mph. For that matter so have bears. Cows are slow though in comparison. But another thing is animals are much more surefooted over rough ground. A human could beat a cow on track but across rough ground I doubt it. Part of the reason cows are slow is that they have been bred to produce so much milk. Wild cattle would certainly have been faster. Most farm animals walk within human range 3-6 mph but need more breaks than fit humans. 

We should not forget that the wilderness in ACKS is considerably more dangerous. So maybe the cows in the Empire are just naturally faster? :D

I am no expert on historical live stock but I know that modern animals are significantly larger and more productive due to intense breeding. Maybe milk cows were. Less productive but more environmentally adaptable (faster).  Makes even more sense in a world with dragons and other apex monster predators. 

Heavy horse are not slow either. Clydstales can run 30 mph. 

How come no one has asked the important question: are the PCs drovers or rustlers?

 

[quote="Zombiehands"]

Heavy horse are not slow either. Clydstales can run 30 mph. 

[/quote]

 

Could they do that with barding and a heavily-armoured rider, though?

[quote="Kiero"]

Heavy horse are not slow either. Clydstales can run 30 mph. 

 


-Zombiehands

 

 

Could they do that with barding and a heavily-armoured rider, though?

[/quote] According to John Kistler's Animals in the Military, a knight's cavalry charge was made at around 20 mph. Jousting is a bit quicker (around 25 mph), since there's not a need to hold formation. Not quite the 30mph of an unladen Cyldesdale (or Frisian), but still quite respectable.

In ACKS terms, that's a movement rate of about 97 yards per round, so that suggests that the heavy horse's movement rate of 120 yards per round is more than fair.

(The real issue is that PEOPLE are too fast. Olympic sprinters in sneakers on straightaways can barely move 120 yards per round. Oh well... ACKS 2nd edition.)

 

[quote="Alex"]

In ACKS terms, that's a movement rate of about 97 yards per round, so that suggests that the heavy horse's movement rate of 120 yards per round is more than fair.

(The real issue is that PEOPLE are too fast. Olympic sprinters in sneakers on straightaways can barely move 120 yards per round. Oh well... ACKS 2nd edition.)

 

[/quote] Perhaps ACKSworld is at less than 1 gravity, allowing for faster humanoid movement and giants that don't collapse under their own mass due to the square-cube law?

 

<ducks and bounces...err, runs>

That must be it!

Well, given that ancient man was far faster than modern man, and would have to be even faster to survive in the Auran empire setting, it makes sense to me.

It's true. Ancient man was a bad ass!