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.

This is me too, won’t go into a field with cows, even if they’re without calves etc. Read too many stories of people being injured. I’ll find another route or just edge round the field, always looking for a way out just in case……
Like you people have scoffed thinking thinking I’m over sensitive or silly….

We were heading back on a walk I’ve done a few times, never seen cows in the field. Walked round the corner (so couldn’t see this section on entering the field) and there were suddenly loads of cows who looked straight at us and the dog and started heading towards us. My DH grew up right by lots of farmland and immediately started making noises and shouting at them and they slowed down or stepped back and we got through safely. He said he remembered when he was young the farmer telling him to be loud and wave your arms if they ever come towards you. There was no other way to get through it was a A to B path, unless we trespassed onto fields with no right of way, so god knows what we would have done if we’d seen the cows at the entrance. There should be warning signs before you enter a field, especially one that goes around a corner of a wooded area!

Right to Roam has been well established for many years. Any farmer when acquiring his or her land will know exactly where any footpaths run across that land. They do not change, they are not added to (or taken away). They are not a shock or a surprise.

Most respectable farmers do as they should, help maintain those paths, and look after their styles etc (often with local council help). Those farmers often are careful where they put their bulls or young males. Or local farmers are always wary and considerate to this effect.

Don’t buy the land if the rights of way don’t work for you, or fence them off from the animals, or even ask for redirection (not often given - for good reason).

Yes there are shit dog walkers / walkers - but the majority are good people.

They're often not bothered at all, particularly if the dog is on lead and walking quietly next to you.

Where they are interested, again most of the time it is just curiosity and stopping, arms out wide and telling them to sod off will do the trick, and if necessary slowly walk backwards, repeating this until you're out of the field.

They can be dangerous particularly around calving, or with calves at foot (and beef cattle are much worse than dairy cows), and are almost always going to chase IF you run.

The 'let the dog off the lead' answer is not always the smart option either, at least one of my dogs would absolutely have herded cattle AT me, rather than run from them!

Scientists have defined global warming as the carbon dioxide equivalents emitted for each kilogram of meat produced. A recent study found that the global warming potential of lab-based meat using purified media is four to 25 times greater than the average for retail beef. And in addition cultured meat goes through a process of high-level cell multiplication. As in cancer cells, some dysregulation is likely to occur in this process and it’s likely to be many years before the effects of this on human health can be evaluated.

the only time i walked in a field of cows was after a visit to the pub!

I live in a rural area and manage to walk my dogs without going through fields of livestock, never understand the attitude of 'it a public path' plenty other walks available

Oh, "scientists". Jolly good 😆
But anyway, I've never eaten lab grown meat. Like most vegetarians, I prefer chick peas. Care to give us the comparative carbon emissions of beef and chick peas? 🤔

I didn't even know that cows had a problem with dogs

I assumed they were like sheep and you could just walk through and they wouldn't really bother with you. And tbh we have walked through the field I mentioned in my other post quite a few times with no problems.

On the last occasion we realised there was a bull and it was very scary to be honest.

I've lived in the country for a long time, but it's only in the last couple of years they've moved cows near my house, before that it was just pigs and sheep.

The countryside isn't a playground for townies, it's a big factory for growing food, that takes priority. If you don't like that, don't go there.

Alas, this isn't true everywhere. There's plenty of places where the only reasonable route from A to B is via a public right of way.

About 10 yrs ago I was walking across a field with a footpath with my 3 dogs (who were all on leads) The herd was far away so I thought we were safe sticking to the hedge line but no, they charged us.

I absolutely shit myself but mercifully there was a flimsy plank of wood running over a little brook in the field so I jumped on that and the dogs went into the brook but within the space of about a minute we were completely surrounded.

They were young cows and perhaps they were just being inquisitive rather than wanting to trample us to death. I shouted and waved my arms to try and get them to piss off. It took a while but they did eventually back off a bit, just enough for me to jump over a gate and my dogs went underneath.

I have never walked in a field with cows in since, nor will I ever do it again no matter how far away they are!

In fairness, I get it’s a nuisance and nothing should oblige you to fence it off, however the footpath itself isn’t “someone else’s land”. It’s a public right of way.

Public footpaths should be safe to walk on. A local footpath here goes right through a field with cows - it should be fenced to protect the public

I will never walk through a field of cows again, I had a terrifying encounter with a herd of them and I did NOT have a dog and there were no calves.

Well I'm in N.Ireland, and just asked my father (his side of the family own 20 acres) and there is a right of way. I never noticed it growing up as I never saw anyone other than the family using it.

Being a private farm you cannot just walk anywhere, just a pathway that's it.

These public paths predate the farms (so pre British agricultural revolution of the 1600s), and with this being before urbanisation took off (beginning in England via the Industrial Revolution) in the 1800s society was largely rural so people had to get around.

Canada was mentioned. First off Canada is vast and sparsely populated (ie. not packed in like sardines as we are, certainly Britain), so there is no issue of people being able to move around, and its also very young so no older laws.

Also, they shouldn't have an open field with livestock and a public footpath - there needs to be a fence involved somewhere.

Yes but we get told its the cows that are stupid!!!

imho Cows are great things, they have a terrible life.

Nope. The number of times I’ve seen meat alternatives in supermarkets is all I need to know. If vegetarians/vegans are so against meat, why do they have to have alternatives ? If you want to be vegetarian/vegan I wish you all the best with that. But I like meat, so crack on and so will I.

A rape alarm can really help to stop them if they come charging at you. It's 💯 the farmers legal duty to not put dangerous stock in a field with a public footpath. The farmers need to be held to account.

They are all over national trust and forestry commission land in the area where I live; free roaming, so you don’t have a choice to ‘stay out of a field’. That said, I treat them with extreme caution and go out of the way to avoid them. A lady was killed a few years back - she also had a dog. I wish they were in fields! People go up to them and stroke them. They are crazy in my opinion!

There are 140,000 miles of footpath, can't fence it all off, just use common sense and go elsewhere if you don't feel safe.

DS was nearly taken out by cows when he was 9. We were walking the South Downs Way, and entered a field with a steep slope down to the exit gate. No sign of any livestock. As we started down the hill, ds asked if he could run down it. We said yes sure. About halfway down the long hill, a herd of cows appeared over a rise behind us, spotted ds, and started running down the hill after him. It was absolutely terrifying. We yelled at him to stop, but he didn’t hear us, the cows quickly overtook us and thundered down towards him. He heard them and turned, and thankfully then stood still.

Honestly, I’ll never forget seeing him disappear into that mass of galloping cows - it will haunt me forever. We thought that was the end of him. But then he emerged, grinning, untouched. When we caught up with him all he could say was a cheerful “Did you see that? That was AMAZING!”

They had swerved at the last moment, and flowed passed him within touching distance on either side.

We call him the cow whisperer. He has always loved them, and is not at all fazed by what happened.

It's not just if you have a dog, sadly. I think about 40% of cattle attacks reported to the website "Killer Cows" (yes, that really is its name) did not involve a dog.

I don't have a dog, and I've been chased with intent (as opposed to curiosity and dicking around) once. They were bullocks, but some cows with calves from the same herd a few fields back had started to move towards me with a particular fixed intent, but luckily had been on the other side of the field. They were Ayrshires, a breed that I later discovered have a bit of a reputation for aggression. So, I think breed matters, as does herd.

How cows are handled has something to do with it too, and some people attribute the rise in cattle attacks to the fact that cattle aren't handled by farmers half as much as they used to be in the past. There's a lot of rounding up with quad bikes nowadays. Plus, stocking levels can be a lot higher than they used to be in dairy herds (market pressures) and I wonder if that puts stress on the cows.