With yet more deaths caused by cattle in recent weeks, we’ve once again been discussing a whole range of approaches to the problem - everything from carrying a horse whip to refusing to enter a field that has cattle in.
I’ve only been walking for pleasure in the countryside for a few years, but during that time my attitude towards cattle has changed quite significantly - from treating the animals with a touch of caution, to avoiding them altogether if at all possible.
This is one of the closest PRoWs to where we live - and we have never used it during the months that it has cattle in. We prefer to wait for winter!
However, I have wondered if there are factors that might influence our attitudes and approaches that we don’t ever seem to mention. Four have occurred to me, but I’m sure there are many more factors that others can think of…
1. Footfall. By which I mean the frequency the path across the field that contains cattle is used by walkers. The most frightening experience my wife and I have suffered happened when we crossed a small field on a PRoW that’s obviously almost never used. There were a couple of dozen cows about 20m away from the stile where we would exit the field. The shape of the field meant we couldn’t see the cows as we approached the stile, but they seemed not to be interested in us. I climbed the stile after my wife and, just as I did, there was a loud bellow and a cow thundered past. We’d never experienced a close call like that before and that single incident made us completely rethink our attitude towards cattle. I believe those cows were not used to having people walk across their field.
On other occasions, cattle will be encountered while we’re walking on well-walked paths and I like to think that cattle in fields crossed by popular paths are unlikely to pay any attention to walkers.
2. Size of the group of walkers. I often come across a herd of cattle when walking solo – I talk to them and sometimes try to persuade them to move, but I never have any success.
Last year, my wife and I were walking in the Peak District when we got to a stile where, on the other side, a pair of cows in a narrow space refused to move. A few moments later, a large group of young walkers arrived at the stile chatting and making a fair amount of noise… and the cows ran away.
So it seems to me that a walking group is less likely to have problems with cattle than is the lone walker or pair of walkers.
3. Breeds of cattle. I know almost nothing about breeds of cattle. However, I do believe that some breeds are a lot more docile than others. For example, Highland Cattle look impressively scary, but (AFAIK) they’re gentle giants – or why else would bodies such as the National Trust leave them to graze their open access areas?
4. Lie of the land. I’ve saved what I consider my most significant consideration until last. When it comes to making that decision about whether or not to mix with the cattle ahead, the lie of the land is all-important.
On my solo walks or on walks with my wife, only once have I abandoned all hope of making further progress and retraced my steps a considerable way. I’m not talking about finding a way around or doing a spot of trespassing in a nearby field, I mean giving up and going back rather than chancing going on!
We were walking in South Wales. There was a wide, fast-flowing river to our right, a railway embankment to our left, and a herd of cattle straight ahead. They were in a small, triangular field and the map showed that our exit would be at the narrow point some way ahead. As we approached, the cattle seemed to show an interest and moved towards us. We chickened out!
Often, fields are wide enough to give any cattle a wide berth and on open land in national parks and similar, the berth can be as wide as you like. We’re not going to walk through the middle of them, but if we keep our distance, there’s enough room for all of us!
Sometimes though, there can be a real dilemma. A few years ago, I was walking alongside the Royal Military Canal in the south of Kent when I arrived at a group of cattle spread across the narrow strip available to me. I had the canal to my right and a fence to the left. Returning the way I’d come would have added miles to the walk, so I had to walk straight through the herd and hope for the best. I was in my early days of walking and my wariness was still undeveloped, and it did occur to me that since I was on a named footpath, no one would put dangerous animals in my way. I was so trusting!
I’m hoping that if we can share our own experiences and observations, it will aid our awareness and hopefully help us all to minimise the risks we’re still likely to take…