Cows killed another poor dog walker

[Pippetypoppity]

I’ve just seen on the BBC news that a lady has been killed in a field by cows. She was walking her chihuahua. This is absolutely tragic. She possibly ran with dog and was chased. That would be my guess as the same happened to me on our farm when I was very young. Your instinct is to save your dog and run. I remember I had a sheep dog puppy in my arms and I’d gone into the field to play. I was about 6 I think. The cows noticed the puppy from quite a distance away and the whole herd started moving in. Luckily I was close enough to the gate to get out, but it was terrifying. I remember my father on the yard yelling ‘Drop the puppy’ at the top of his lungs. I didn’t but I’d have been a gonner if I was another 50 yards in. I just want to tell everyone what my father said to me that day. It’s stuck in my mind ever since and it’s important anyone who dog walks in the country knows it too

1. If you see cows with calves leave the field by the nearest exit immediately. Cows often charge to protect their young
2. If you see cows without calves and they start moving quickly towards you they are being inquisitive. If you have a dog with you the cows will want to know if it is a threat. They see dogs instinctively as predators. If you cannot get to a gate and they are approaching- startle them by shouting jumping, waving your arms and making yourself appear as loud, big and threatening as possible. This will frighten them and make them stop or bypass you.
3. If they persevere it will be because they want to force your dog out of the field. Let the dog go! This is critical. Your dog can run faster than cows and much much faster than you. The cows will then focus on the dog and you can get away.
4. Never ever pick up the dog if cows are refusing to back off. This is the hardest thing in the world to do as all your instincts will compel you to try and protect it. It stands a better chance running and dodging them however than it does in your arms. You will then avoid becoming a target yourself and being trampled.
5. When cows move quickly in a large group the ones at the front get pushed by the ones at the back even if they themselves try to slow down. They will not be trying to mow you down but the sheer force from behind might mean they do. For this reason if cows approach in a group and your initial efforts to threaten and scare them failed, make that momentum go in a different direction ie after your dog.

I am so so dreadfully sorry to hear that this has happened again. The lady in question was inevitably a devoted extremely responsible and loving pet owner. She must have been to have been giving her chihuahua a country walk. I expect for this very reason she picked her dog up when she saw the cows getting near. Poor poor lady.

Its a farm....where do you expect livestock farmers to put their livestock - that eventually feeds us in one way or another?

I’ve never been scared of cows. Maybe I should be more scared. As a kid my parents dragged us out on country walks constantly and always said cows were fine, herds of bullocks charging at you were fine. Just stand your ground, shout, wave your arms. I can’t count how many times we’ve had a herd come hurtling at full pelt towards us. Or do that thing where they shuffle after you all the way across a field about 2ft behind you. But never once has one touched me. Admittedly we never had a dog.

i did know to be wary if you have a dog with you, leave the dog if necessary and don’t get between a cow and a calf. A woman near me was trampled to death about ten years ago so I know it does happen but still wasn’t nervous. She didn’t have a dog i don’t think so not sure what happened.

They would be moving the signs all the time, its not that easy and they already work exceptionally long hours.

Public rights of way are a privilege

Actually, they aren't a "privilege", they are a right and predate your farm, the land of which was stolen from the public by the Enclosures Acts.

Farming is not the most dangerous occupation in the UK. That would be trawler fishing. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12241660/

The information in link above is guidance on how farmers may mitigate risks…not ‘sensible precautions they must take’. Moving all cattle out of fields with footpaths is arguably not a sensible precaution…

This comment sums up the ignorance of the general public re farming.

I don’t think it’s right to think of cows as frighteningly ‘dangerous’ animals: They are not typically aggressive- unless with their young. It’s more the situation you might find yourself in when near them. Having a dog is potentially a problem if the cattle are not well used to seeing dogs being walked. This is because the cattle will be fearful. If you are approached by cattle when you don’t have a dog, and they don’t have a calf then they are almost certainly just being inquisitive. This is not of course in itself dangerous. It is worth noting however what I mentioned earlier about the back driven momentum of a herd on the move. For this reason don’t run as you could trip and be trampled inadvertently. Instead frighten them away with noise and lots of arm waving. They’ll almost certainly get spooked and back off. They are prey animals after all so all their interactions with you will be governed by their own self preservation. This is why they can be so alert to dogs. It’s the inbuilt ‘wolf’ alarm I guess.

Cow defended its herd from dog. There, fixed the title for you. People need to stop treating animals as Disney entertainment and stay out of their fucking fields! Boo fucking hoo another dog walker got trampled. Yet, that's what will happen if you take a dog into a field full of fucking cows. Sorry, "cowz".

Thank you for your post OP. That's really helpful. I would probably not go into a field with my dog, but I could see a scenario where I come across cows in a field where I didn't know they were there.

Why on earth would anyone be out walking in a field with cows, or any other livestock, in it?? It would be very unlikely to happen where I live (not UK). I'm sorry about the woman, but she was asking for trouble. Why are there footpaths through farms anyway?

This news is always sad to hear on the news. But ppl should never enter fields with livestock in them. Taking a dog which is a predator to them regardless of size. Its not a good mix.

My bad then - apologies. But you seriously can’t expect farmers to prioritise footpaths over their farming livelihood?

I'm always cautious going through fields with cows in. I run a lot in the countryside, but i would never run through or near a herd of cows in an open field.

I try and be as boring as possible. Stick to the edge of the field, even if the path goes through the middle, move slowly.

I never thought of cows as dangerous but they are massive and a bit intimidating so I don't really want to be near them. I know cows with calves are very protective. I've walked the really long way round before to give as much space as possible.

I was startled, when working in Newcastle for a while, to discover that there is a town moor and cattle are grazed there, with people walking and cycling across said moor past said cattle without incident. As in Cambridge and Oxford, I suspect that the cattle are used to it.

There's nothing like that in Merseyside.

The footpaths predate the existence of the farms, hence why they are there.

Given that the footpaths were there first and the farms only exist as private land because that land was stolen from the commons through the Enclosures Acts, I think we absolutely can expect farmer to show due regard for the public's remaining lawful access to that stolen land.

Seriously?

Everyone saying well don't enter a field with cows etc, it's not people just climbing fences or gates into farmland.

Where I live lots of cows graze on common land which adjoins a main walking/cycling route from the city centre out to certain surburbs. It's woodland, marshland, a river and grassy area. Both cows and horses are left to roam and graze. Should the entire cycle route be binned as a result and anyone who gets trampled is making a poor decision being there at all?!

Main OP advice is good though.

I bought a house and in the restrictive covenants that come attached to the house there is a prohibition on keeping chickens. If I decide that I want to keep hens anyway, I don't then get to complain about how unfair it is that the rent for the allotment I keep hens on is costing me money because I knew what the rules are when I bought the house.

Farmers can apply the same logic to public rights of way.

Have you even been to the UK?

Your comment feels deliberately misleading. According to the pathologist, the level of alcohol in her blood was at "social levels", the drugs you mention were her own prescription medication, and overall he described the effect this combination would have had on her would have been "mild".

Are you Ok? Have you ever used footpaths in the countryside or walked on common land?

Anyone walking through farmland should learn the safety rules. Just because part is there it doesn't mean you should go on it. Working farms are just that. Working. Livestock is moved from field to field.
No one should go entering land they don't understand just because there is a path

But why? If it’s a public footpath and advertised as a popular walk, then how am I supposed to know that there are dangerous cows in the field? Yes I have no idea about farming and cows, so just put a sign up telling me not to walk across the field!

Take your cow, make it taller, make it convinced that everything - including that leaf on the 5th branch to the left on the tree that they've walked past every day for the last three months which is different somehow - clearly intends to eat horses - and then make it faster, add teeth, greater agility, AND put four steel boots on the battering-threats-to-the-ground-in-a-pulp bits at each corner.