Just back from a superb walk over Cross Fell yesterday with a friend and no dog. On our return to Milburn our route took us on the footpath from Ranbeck to Wythwaite adopted by the A Pennine Journey Trail. We passed through a gate with a “Caution - Cows with calves can be aggressive” notice on it. We could see a herd of cows and calves ahead accompanied by a substantial bull. We walked across the field giving them a very wide berth. The cattle all watched us but made no movements towards us whatsoever. When we reached the cottage at Wythwaite we met a lovely lady who had unfortunately been attacked by one of the same cows in the same field a few weeks back also without a dog, sustaining injury. She had remained on the track and thought she was far enough away from them. The farmer came and removed half the animals to a different field and mentioned that the weather conditions could make them skittish, which I’d not heard before.
I must have walked through fields with cattle on hundreds of occasions without a problem. I always treat them with respect especially if cows are with their calves and plan my route accordingly, also looking at whether the walls/fences could be climbed if necessary. I also look for the presence of other walkers relative to me, whether they have dogs with them, and how the cattle are reacting. One thing to look for is when the calves are in the centre of a ring of their mothers, a bit like the circle of a wagon train when attacked by Indians in the movies, keeping their animals in the centre. You obviously want to keep very well clear of this formation, regardless of the line of the footpath. If the circle is in the middle of a long narrow field, this would be an indication for a spot of trespassing to avoid it.
Like Sussamb, I have met herds of young inquisitive bullocks who have galloped up a field to inspect me a few times, but never aggressively and readily faced-off. (I accept that others might regard this behaviour differently, especially if they can’t identify them as bullocks!)
The only time I have ever had an issue was on a trek in Ladakh where two of us met a youngish one-horned yak, who looked like he had been recently fighting and was still in some pain judging by the bellowing and the bloody stump of the missing horn. When it pawed the ground and began to move towards us, it took successive fusillades of well-aimed stones of increasing size to drive it away and it happily retreated for good.