I admit I am not a cow behavior expert, but usually cows following you around are curious. Cows, especially relaxed cows in a herd, tend to investigate new stuff from a distance because new could be interesting, or it could be a threat. Horses do similar things. The cows my beef class worked with tended to follow us along the fenceline, too, fwiw, but they were angus heifers that were pretty acclimated to humans and also saw us as a potential source of food. So probably both alert and curious. If you got too close they might scatter or step back a bit, though. But if you’re a safe distance away they might just be curious and keeping an eye in case ‘interesting new thing’ becomes ‘threat’. Hope this answered your question! ^^