You could just blow the whistle to scare them off the tracks.

Sheep don’t bounce well. Or so I’m told.

Well, those aren’t cows. Those are sheep.

@bico-kun  

 
And a little graphic for a kids show. I mean just look at this (gridmark warning) -

@Spiritus Arcane  
That’s okay, the cowcatcher has hearts painted on it. That shows the ponies are smashing through the herd of sheep with only the best of intentions.

@Phantom Rider  
Oh my god it makes so much sense now.

It’s probably for removing non-speaking monsters.

Those filthy sheep!

The name is called “Cowcatcher.” Obviously, it only pushes cows off!

“You coulda just aaaaaasked”

That’d be quite rude, now wouldn’t it?

Kids show.

The term ‘cowcatcher’ is a misnomer. Yes, it is designed to clear debris from the tracks they may otherwise possibly detail the train. However, it is not intended to ‘safely’ remove livestock. The force of impact of a full locomotive, even moving at the slower speeds typical of old steam trains, would have pretty much destroyed anything alive that was in front of it. While yes, it would have moved any livestock off the track, it would have also left a pretty horrific scene behind. The ‘cowcatcher’ was mostly intended to remove things such as fallen trees, rocks, or bushes that may have blown over or grew up between the tracks. Even in the days of steam engines, it took far too long for most trains to come to a stop for the engineers to stop the train, get out, and remove debris themselves. Modern trains do not include full ‘cowcatchers’ because they have specialized engines and rail cars that periodically go down tracks to clear such debris. Instead they simply have a low, rounded front intended to help push smaller objects away from the train’s wheels.

OP, have you ever seen photos of what’s left of livestock that gets pushed out the way by a cowcatcher? Maybe the engineers just don’t want to have to scrub and repaint the locomotive and the first two or three cars.

I love how smug the sheep look xD

The sheep were agents under the command of Secret Agent Sweetie Drops.

Um, sheep are sapient, so that’d be like deliberately running over someone with a car. Granted, they’re being rude as heck by blocking your way, but that doesn’t make it right to rum them over.

And they still essentially suffer serious injury as the train barrels through

the black is means bad luck..  
its not about racism

Look, it’s a massive rail strike against the trains for their rude behavior against the sheep! They think they can push em around well no more! They’ll stop the trains!

Do you want to start another international incident? And why did you think they were on the tracks in the first place? Totally a peaceful protest against the installation of cowcatchers.

@soundtea  
Well it works on jerks who won’t get off the tracks too.

Stop applying real life logic and rules to a fantasy setting.

Remember that the animals are apparently sapient.