I've been charged a few times and it has never been by a calm cow or a pet. I like my cows to be "pets" (pets that I eat -strange term but I'll go with the board definition) but you can't do it by spending 15 minutes a day with them. They have to be trained and it takes time. I spend about an hour a day with my replacement heifers. Last years all learnt to come when they are called, get touched from head to toe, move with a voice command (saying excuse me while I walk around the bale makes them back away as I approach, if they don't back away they get a boot and learn to do so). Saying excuse me while tapping any side of their body is a signal for them to move over - thought I should teach that one for when I get my toe stepped on one day. They also learnt to not touch a feed bucket if I am holding onto it. This years are still in training. Now granted most people don't want to put this much time into it. I like spending time with the cows though and find that having them like this saves me time if there is a problem. Saves me worry when I eartag and weigh the calves to. A cow that likes being touched by you doesn't give a fig if you touch her calf. They are easy to work with and although I always watch just because of their sheer size I don't worry about them like I do the flighty ones, or horses, now they are the dangerous ones. I don't worry that any of my "pets" will turn on me on purpose, they have no reason to.
I don't carry a stick, I have no need for one. My animals respect me and like to see me coming, for more than just the feed. It's about respect but I refuse to get respect from fear because flight and fight go hand in hand. The cow that stays away because she is scared of you will attack when pushed to far. That doesn't mean I don't discipline though - I could do it with a stick but I prefer my boot, it's always with me.
The pets that kill are generally show animals that don't like people because their show carreer wasn't too agreeable to them or the ones that aren't actually "pets" just pushy. Or the person they injure isn't "their" person. I have a cow that lets me do whatever I want to her or her calf but I would hate to be the stranger that tried to touch her baby.
Sorry, know this post was long but I just don't get the number of people on here that say never trust a cow, a calm cow will hurt you. A lot of these are the same ones that get on a big horse and trust it to not kill them. I have pet cows and pet horses and I'll trust the cows over the horses anyday, especially at feeding time.
We have Tim Horton's here. Not that we go often, our closest one will have a 30 minute line-up minimum at nearly ever time of the day. The people here are addicted to their coffee, donus don't do too bad either.