Also you could just have killed the beefalo. It takes like 10 hits with the spear. You should always have a spear, log suit, and football helm in your inventory, preferably in slots 1 through 3 so you can just hit 1 2 3 on the keyboard in an emergency. Also in single combat with a mob, often you can bait him into swinging at you (and missing as you run a way), then hit him 1-3 times with your spear. Theoretically you can avoid getting hit at all if you time it right. This works for beefalo, hounds, spiders and many others but not all.