I go to an area, right about at the middle of the inevitable group of animals, and I start pushing them, gingerly, into a pit. I imagine once I finally get some shears and a hoe on this world I'll really be in business. Then, once a majority of them are in the pit, I hop in and hack 'em up. While I may not necessarily save that much time doing this, I do spend significantly less energy just shoving these guys around and then standing in place hitting them.
This method actually started after Hardcore Hoofsies,
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whenever I wanted to try and get early leather. I would stand as far from the pit as I can, swing, and then back up quickly to avoid getting bucked.