My grandfather almost got killed by a bull in his younger days, but his dog distracted it long enough for him to get away.

I have no experience with cows personally, since my grandparents on both sides gave up raising cows while I was still pretty young. I do remember my grandpa showing me you can keep mosquitos out of the water trough by putting a drop or two of oil in it. He did keep pigs and chickens until I was a lot older. You don't want to mess with pigs, either. Hell, even the chickens chased me, come to think of it.

As for using sticks:

Was trying to find a wallet my daughter lost on a horse trail up in the hills last year. Only way to do this was trek the trails on foot. In prime mountain lion country, all by myself. It had not been that long since a bicyclist fixing his bike had been jumped. Okay, that was near San Diego, but still...

I was well aware that big cats excel in sneaking up from behind you *, so I got a long and sturdy stick--more of a staff, really--and held it so it jutted out behind me. Anything jumping me from that direction would have to get past that. Not that they couldn't--but at least I would have some warning so I would have time to wet myself properly. Purely psychological, the armament equivalent of a placebo, but it worked better than my logical mind convincing me how immensely rare lion attacks on humans were.

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*A trick used in tiger country is a mask or hat with a face painted on it, on the back of the head to give the impression that the wearer is looking backwards. This actually seems to work.