Many of Mrs BWW and my walk experiences would have been very poorer without a friendly interaction with farm livestock, at the same time the threat of aggressive animals has risen ever since the 1960's. The growth of the single suckler herds and the steady increase of imported breeds has not interacted well with growth of leisure walking. Even in the photos shown there are some interesting anomalies, if you google the breed type with an aggression tag. I always thought that the Charolais was mild tempered,
This not so little one was happy to pose for pictures on our walk near Meldon Quary.
even comparable with the English beef breeds on which the outdated protocols are based on.
It is clear from a recent article in the British Farmer that much of the thinking in animal safety is tangled with the access issue. I think BusyG has put an interesting slant on this debate, one which the occupiers of the countryside really should take a more serious.
Our seeing meat on the hoof reinforces the alternative that no meat on the plate means no domestic livestock in the countryside.
Farmers should be proud to allow visitors to walk among'st there animals, thus take reasonable trouble to do risk assessments that shows awareness of a knowledge of the individuals within there flocks and herds.