I’ve always heard (no pun intended) that cows are very inquisitive, and easily distracted by anything new out of place. Who knows, the beaver may have been either trying to run away from this big rumbling, ungainly group of cows, or inspecting the tall grass for bugs, and the damn cows would not stop following him.
Good explanation. Cows are curious critters. Beaver was likely looking for a new building area and they just followed him.
Here’s a bit of video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxSB7jEVqRQ
Actually, the cattle were provoked by a foreign animal getting that close to the herd. The beaver was walking away from them and they followed to get this “foreigner” out of their territory. There is an element of curiosity by the cattle, also. You can see this same behavior if a dog (single) or an armadillo or some other animal comes into their pasture.
I’ve seen them follow a dog, the same way. Not that big a deal. I’ve also seen them chase after deer.