Per your last sentence, I'd have thought vegetarianism would be much higher amongst city dwellers.

I’ve read that vegetarianism is far less common among people who grew up on/around farms. The claimed reason was that people who grew up away from farms are heavily influenced by movies and television that anthropomorphize animals. People who grew up near farms don’t equate animals with humans so much.

I might be ousting myself as a hick but surely 80%+ of people have seen a cow before, r-right...?

I grew up in rural Bavaria. I have vivid memories of the view from my rooms window to the dozens of farms and hundreds of cows directly outside. And of one cow getting loose in the middle of the night, chasing down my mother in our garden and ramming through the terrace door.

I've never considered the possibility of someone never ever having seen a damn cow.

I have many head but "Brisket & Ribeye" go to slaughter in November. I was just outside petting them and making sure they have great quality grass to eat.

The animal barn is a pretty popular feature at state and county fairs.

I suspect a decent number of those who have pet a cow are cattle farmers, so probably most?