Author Topic: aggressive cows  (Read 3601 times)

jimbob

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Re: aggressive cows
« Reply #15 on: 22:41:21, 03/07/18 »
Tresspass  is a civil offence. The farmer  in question could sue you if you went on another route to bypass the cattle but clearly that would cost him a lot of cash, time and effort. Precedence has shown that of the 4 defences available one is that of necessity,where you take emergency action to avoid perceived danger. Your report to the ROW Officer should be logged and can be used as evidence were it to happen to you in future.  if you feel strongly about it you should also inform the police and the farmer in question. That could also be used in evidence.

By the way the other three defences are dealing with an emergency, being there with provable permission of the landowner and/or tenant and lastly through lawful authority I. E. A policeman on duty.

Too little, too late, too bad......

fit old bird

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Re: aggressive cows
« Reply #16 on: 00:04:11, 04/07/18 »
I've never come across aggressive cows, plenty of curious ones who follow me. I give them a wide berth, but if they come too close I turn and face them and talk loudly to them, and wave my map. They stop dead in their tracks for a few seconds, who is this crazy person, I walk on, then repeat the manoeuvre several times more until I reach the exit. I don't run away from them because they will chase me.


If I don't like the look of them before I enter the field I find a different route. I don't have to walk into their field, they were there first. I love cows, often stop and talk to them if they are near a gate I am passing. Love their big wet noses.


ilona

happyhiker

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Re: aggressive cows
« Reply #17 on: 09:38:40, 04/07/18 »
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Lowlander

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Re: aggressive cows
« Reply #18 on: 11:07:35, 04/07/18 »
Ive never come across an aggreseive cow or bull in a field Ive walked through in over 61 years of long distance, country, fell and mountain walking.
I believe most problems arrise through the actions and nervousness of some walkers and how they manage when accompanied by a dog.
I ignore the beasts and never ever eyeball them, give them and their young wide berth and in general let them know thast i am not a threat and not interested in them.
Of course at times you have to be assertive when they are herded together at a stile or gate or young bullocks run alongside and behind you, but showing them in those circumstances that you in charge with a confident shout not directed at anyone of them in particular, gets them moving to allow you to pass.
People who end up getting stamped and trampled upon, even experienced farmers, have in my opinion made a bad mistake, either ending up in the wrong position or having beaheved as to be seen as a threat to the animal or its young.
That's my thoughts anyway.




Maybe you have been gifted with knowledge only the 'real' hikers know.
Or you have just been lucky for 61 years.
 O0

pauldawes

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Re: aggressive cows
« Reply #19 on: 11:32:05, 04/07/18 »



Maybe you have been gifted with knowledge only the 'real' hikers know.
Or you have just been lucky for 61 years.
 O0

My nephew and one of his lads have done a lot of farm work over the years.

Aggressive cows do exist! Or as the nephews lad puts it "Never trust any large farm animal, unless you know them really well".

gunwharfman

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Re: aggressive cows
« Reply #20 on: 11:32:35, 04/07/18 »
I agree Slogger with most of what you wrote. Unfortunately, some of us have also been unlucky. The cow that biffed me for example.  She was on the edge of a wide farmers tractor track happily munching grass by a large boulder. I quietly and calmly kept to the opposite side of the track and walked calmly towards her to get past. She lifted her head once, saw me, then carried on munching. Both of us were happy. I then realised that she had a calf and he was lurking behind the boulder sheltering in the shade. The calf was startled, panicked and ran away. Mum's mood then changed in an instant. She bellowed furiously and charged at me. Bang, straight into my chest! Luckily she knocked me down a grass bank and didn't follow it through. I landed on my back like a turtle ninja, I just rolled over, jumped up and scarpered! I looked back and she was quietly munching grass again. It was over in seconds!

It was also the moment I discovered the limitations of carbon fibre hiking sticks. In those couple of seconds before impact I managed to raise one stick and in the split second before impact, I whacked the cow across the face! I panicked, it was instinctive! It didn't work at all, I was tumbled down the bank anyway, my carbon fibre stick had just snapped in two!

pauldawes

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Re: aggressive cows
« Reply #21 on: 11:42:02, 04/07/18 »
I agree Slogger with most of what you wrote. Unfortunately, some of us have also been unlucky. The cow that biffed me for example.  She was on the edge of a wide farmers tractor track happily munching grass by a large boulder. I quietly and calmly kept to the opposite side of the track and walked calmly towards her to get past. She lifted her head once, saw me, then carried on munching. Both of us were happy. I then realised that she had a calf and he was lurking behind the boulder sheltering in the shade. The calf was startled, panicked and ran away. Mum's mood then changed in an instant. She bellowed furiously and charged at me. Bang, straight into my chest! Luckily she knocked me down a grass bank and didn't follow it through. I landed on my back like a turtle ninja, I just rolled over, jumped up and scarpered! I looked back and she was quietly munching grass again. It was over in seconds!

It was also the moment I discovered the limitations of carbon fibre hiking sticks. In those couple of seconds before impact I managed to raise one stick and in the split second before impact, I whacked the cow across the face! I panicked, it was instinctive! It didn't work at all, I was tumbled down the bank anyway, my carbon fibre stick had just snapped in two!

Yes, apart from innate aggression...which is fairly rare...they are large animals that can cause serious "damage" without ill intent.

My next door neighbour worked on farms in his youth...and one of his favourite stories regards milking time at farm when he and the farmer were milking different cows. Being wise he'd picked a really sedate one...which was lucky because one of farm collies ran barking into cow shed...the one being milked by farmer gave farmer an enormous kick.

To quote Roy: "It wasn't flying through the air that did the damage...it was the sudden stop when he hit shed wall".

ninthace

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Re: aggressive cows
« Reply #22 on: 15:07:31, 04/07/18 »
I had trouble on my last trip abroad. We had to retrace our steps across a field and 2 bullocks decided we had come back to play. They kept doing mock charges. Even when I told them off and faced them down they kept coming back because they liked making Mrs Ninthace twitter. Later the same day we met a group of cows on a ledge path that would not shift; I had to literally shove them out of the way, again to lots of “ I don’t like this” from the distaff side. Another day up the mountain we met a cow that would not give way, lots of head down and stamping, which is never a good sign. l stamped back and “crushed” a lot and eventually her nerve broke.
You have to show them who is boss. Generally, if you approach confidently and loudly they will back down. If the cows have calves, use the same approach but give them plenty of time to react and be far less aggressive in your approach. Avoid the herd space if possible but if you are in a confined area, get as far as to one side as you can so they can filter back past and advance slowly so they have room and time to manoeuvre.
So far this technique has worked for me, even when faced with a large herd that had strayed onto the track of a disused railway. We gently drove them ahead of us for some distance as they did not want to come back past us. Eventually they were blocked by a gate across the track.  The stand to one side and cush plus gentle stick and arm waving worked and once a few got the idea, the rest followed.
Solvitur Ambulando

NeilC

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Re: aggressive cows
« Reply #23 on: 19:42:35, 04/07/18 »
Given how big they are and that they kill the odd person here and there, I'm slightly cautious with them but 99% of the time they're fine. I understand the last place you want to be is near a fence or wall when they're coming at you. The people that do die tend to get crushed to death against something. But they can be aggressive if you have a dog and if they are calving.  

 
As for trespass - I wouldn't give it a second thought. The worst that would happen is the landowner would berate you, you'd apologise and leave. That's it. If you've not damaged anything nor been aggressive yourself then there really is nothing they can do on a practical basis. A civil case with no damages, bought for walking across a field, isn't even worth winning.  

Murphy

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Re: aggressive cows
« Reply #24 on: 22:21:14, 04/07/18 »
Not wishing to repeat my comments about cows previously reported on this forum, Im an experienced walker and I have been seriously injured by cattle and i mean seriiysly ..Advice on being confident, never had a problem etc etc is all well and good ....but I most certainly have had issues on more than one occasion with and without dogs. Im also well aware of fatalities involving walkers and cattle.  The motto is always always be cautious as you never know.

pdstsp

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Re: aggressive cows
« Reply #25 on: 08:57:46, 05/07/18 »
Caution has to be the best advice.  Four years ago I spent a couple of weeks in hospital recovering from a cycling accident.  One of the people I shared a ward with was a farmer who had been attacked by his own herd - he had very serious brain and other injuries - the memory of the state he was in always haunts me when I cross paths with cows.

gunwharfman

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Re: aggressive cows
« Reply #26 on: 10:57:16, 05/07/18 »
Working on the principle that knowledge helps, I remember my very first Pennine Way walk. Can't remember the year it was but I met a farmer en route feeding his chickens. As I approached I could see that is face and neck  was black and blue. We started chatting, being polite I didn't mention his face, I assumed he'd been in a punch up in a pub. He told me however, that he had been a cattle farmer for over 50 years. About 14 days previously he had been in his cattle sheds when, as he claimed, for no reason at all, one of his cows just went for him and pushed him to the ground. The cow then proceeded to rage and stamp all over him to the point of unconsciousness. His farmhand heard the noise and rescued him. The farmer then spent some days in hospital, by now his wife had joined us and she told she and their two children were told by a doctor to be prepared for the possibility of his death. Needless to say he fought back and lived. He then showed me the extensive bruises that still remained but were healing all over his torso and legs, by now an amazing variety of colours! He had a couple of broken ribs as well, plus bones broken in one of his hands.

barewirewalker

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Re: aggressive cows
« Reply #27 on: 19:34:02, 05/07/18 »
Clearly taking an alternative route is the most sensible option. Why does the countryside occupiers' lobby not advocate this, it would solve a safety assessment issue that covers those walkers nervous about livestock, those who recognise truly aggressive animals and be a reasonable cover for the stockman, who may not be too sure of the temperament of is calving dams. The landowner lobby does not want to admit that there any further  reasons that the range of access should be increased.


Field margins are the way to provide additional safe routes. All a farmer has to do is to post a map with field access points to the alternative field margins, and give some warning of the nature of those animals in the field. This shows that he has done a safety assessment. He should be doing anyway in compliance with his insurance policy.


The agricultural industry has not admitted that the increase of single suckler herds over the last 40 years must have increased the risk in potential dam aggression or apparent aggression.


The core issue is the unwillingness of the occupiers lobby in recognising how their occupation affect the wider community.
BWW
Their Land is in Our Country.

Slogger

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Re: aggressive cows
« Reply #28 on: 19:49:12, 05/07/18 »
Like I said Ive never personally had any issues with cows, but certainly err on the side of caution, yes.
I think those experienced walkers that have had bad experiences have been very unlucky, it can happen certainly. I am always confisdent however I do enter cattle fields scanning for possible problems and thinking about quick escape routes.
Unlucky you can be and there's no accounting for those instances, like when my consultant told me to get a bike to help with fitness rasther than keep loading my knees too much. Brand new bike, £1,000 out my pocket. Not been on a bike for 30+ years. Third ride a circular of 30 miles. On way back going round a roundabout at the end of a dual carraigeway, one car approaching. i'm just a few metres from the start of the seperate cycle path. The car approaching the roundabout slowed but never actually stopped instead just as I'm about to pass its front, it accelerates, knocking me and my bike flying. To his credit the driver addmitted responsibilty. I sold the bike a few weeks later. All the reading of the Cycle Craft book, the wearing of high viz jacket, concentrating on roundabout procedure and correct positioning had come to nothing - yes, you can do all the right things but just be unlucky!

Andies

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Re: aggressive cows
« Reply #29 on: 12:47:15, 06/07/18 »
To be honest up to a few years ago I wouldn't have really given walking through a field of cows much thought beyond common sense, but more recent stories have made me much more conscious now. My own observations suggest that cattle seem rather more sensitive to walkers than they were. Could that be something to do with the breeds and breeding thereof, or are there just more cattle about now?

As I previously referred to on this forum we had a close encounter of the cattle kind on the Pennine Way last year on Blenkinsopp Common, which from other comments suggests there is a recurring problem at this location. We retreated and found another way which did involve a small amount of non access land, this route had gates and stiles which suggested others may have been encouraged that way in any event, albeit there was no signage to that effect.

 

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