About half a dozen of brown cows stand idly and eat grass on campus of Xiamen University in Xiamen, East China's Fujian Province on Thursday. Photo: Screenshot of Pear Video

 A university in East China was suspected of using environmentally friendly "weeding machines"- cows - to deal with the overgrown grass on campus. 

Half a dozen cows on Thursday appeared on the suburban campus of Xiamen University in Fujian Province, prompting many students to take snapchats and videos. 

Photos that went viral on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo showed several brown cows standing idly along a street and eating grass. "The school must have adopted this silent and eco-friendly weeder since the electrical ones would interrupt our study," a student joked on Weibo.

A member of the school security staff told Pear Video that the cows belong to a nearby villager, and that the "silent weeders" had entered campus from a breach in the school fence. 

The fence was repaired and they will no longer come on to campus, the staff member said. 

However, students seem to be fine with their presence. I have seen dogs in classes with students and swans swimming on the school's lake, cow "weeders" would not surprise me, a student said in the Pear Video. 

Geese head for a building on campus of Xiamen University in Xiamen, East China's Fujian Province. Photo: Screenshot of Xiamen University's Sina Weibo account

In March, the university entered Weibo's most searched list when a flock of geese struggled to enter the school's library. 

Photos of the geese went viral again thanks to the cows, which amused Net users. Many also expressed a bit of jealousy at the school's natural environment and the harmony that humans enjoyed with the animals. 

Global Times