Geralt against the cow protector
The Bovine Defense Force Initiative (also known as Bovine Defense Force, or Chort of White Orchard) is the name given to chorts that appear in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt near the village of White Orchard after killing six cows there. This mechanic was implemented into the game with patch 1.05 in response to an exploit which allowed players to quickly gain crowns by killing cows, looting their hides, meditating for the cows to respawn, and repeating the process an indefinite number of times.
This meant that players could accumulate large amounts of cow hides and sell them for large gain with relatively little effort. However, in patch 1.05, and all game versions since, a level-27 chort was made to recurrently spawn a short distance away from the cow pen in White Orchard village after the player had killed six cows. If the player manages to kill a chort, a new one spawns, and this process continues indefinitely.
Ironically, for higher-level characters who are able to handle the barrage of chorts, this may be a more efficient crown farming method as the base value of a chort hide is more than double that of a cow hide. However, this has since been patched out and only one Chort will appear, and once killed, will no longer respawn.
Hearts of Stone expansion
In the first Witcher 3 expansion, the Bovine Defense Force Initiative was referenced by the addition of two new gwent cards: Cow and Bovine Defense Force. Whenever the zero-strength Cow card is removed from the battlefield, the 8-strength Bovine Defense Force card is summoned to take its place.
The exploit that led to the implementation of this mechanic is also referenced in the quest The Taxman Cometh, in which Geralt of Rivia is asked by taxman Walthemor Mitty whether he engaged in the wholesale trade of rawhide in the White Orchard area.
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