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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to have been scared away by cows?

94 replies

GoodButNoMedals · 31/07/2012 15:49

I took the dcs out for a picnic in the sunshine today. We went somewhere out in the country, along a nice footpath through a farm, to an allegedly lovely pond and field with lots of space for the kids to play. Half way along this walk that I kept promising the kids would be worth it, we come to a gate leading into a field with cows (bullocks actually I think but I wasn't looking too closely) in it. We went through the gate and the cattle all stood up and looked at us, we walked a bit further along the footpath and they started coming towards us, that was when both dcs and I turned back and ran walked quickly back to the gate. We had our picnic in a not especially pleasant field, it wasn't horrible but it wasn't the idyllic spot we were aiming for.

Dp thinks we were being soft and wimpy, that the cows would have been fine, and laughed hysterically at the thought of us running away from cows. AIBU to have found them really scarey a bit unnerving?

OP posts:

DeWe · 31/07/2012 22:01

Animals love my df. He can walk up to an aggressive dog and put out his hand and it just rolls over and asks for its tummy tickled. If you go for a walk through a field the cows all come up and nuzzle him. It's terrifying.

The best thing to do was to make sure you walked through the field ahead of him, then they'd be watching behind for him. If he went first then they'd all be clustered round the stile/gate mooing for him to come back

Latara · 31/07/2012 22:09

Bullocks like a fuss off people.
They can be a bit soppy.
Then we eat them.
Sorry bullocks :(

Ps. i've heard of a dog walker being crowded off a cliff by a flock of sheep (yes, those innocent looking woolly creatures).

Bulls. Definitely AVOID. (bad memories of a pissed friend trying to 'free the bulls' that were due for slaughter from the farm near her house... & me trying desperately to stop her getting us all killed)

Anifrangapani · 31/07/2012 22:10

Cows with young are leathal. You did the right thing.

CareerChangeMum · 31/07/2012 22:18

Not at all. There have been reports of them trampling people to death in the past.

kilmuir · 31/07/2012 22:20

There is a right of way through large field of cows next door to us. I was walking around the edge , long way from grazing cows, had 400 metres to stile. Heard a thundering sound and it was the bloody cows coming my way. Nearly poopedmy pants. They gotvery close and the lead one starting pawing the ground. They were blocking the stile.
Luckily a farmer was working in next field and he came to help. Could have kissed him. He said to make alot of noise and big motions with arms. If a had a stick aim between their eyes.
Therefore YANBU

lapsedorienteerer · 31/07/2012 22:25

Ummm......perhaps you should not expect to picnic in a private field (with cattle in)? I acknowledge it was a footpath, but there's a clue in the name i.e. 'foopatth' i.e. not designed for stopping on? Just a thought.......

Notoutorabout · 31/07/2012 22:37

When I first moved in with DH, I decided to sunbathe in a particularly lovely field (he is a farmer). A bunch of cows arrived. I know nothing about cows, but they looked pretty big, so i left, swiftly. dH looked out of kitchen window to witness future wife legging it across the fields in a bikini, pursued by his herd of cows.

10 years in I would say:
avoid cows unless essential; any contact is best made in suitable clothing (ie not swimwear as this can result in embarrassment).

whois · 31/07/2012 22:38

YANBU at all!

Cows can be super dangerous, doesn't need to be bulls. Normal Dairy cows can be dangerous

I am pretty happy around animals, but was out for a walk last year on a foot path through a field with cows in it. Large heard, and they stopped what they were doing, looked at me, started ambling over then kind of charging. I have to admit that it spooked me and I high tailed it over the nearest fence.

Took an alternative route, feat like a bit of a silly billy, did some googling and discovered that cows do have a bit of a rep for charging and crushing. Mainly it is if a walker is with a dog tho, and they don't let go of the dogs lead. Better to let the dog make a run for it and you look after yourself.

Original poster

GoodButNoMedals · 31/07/2012 23:09

lapsed We've already established that the field I intended to picnic in was not the one with the cattle in, we were following the footpath through the field that had the cattle in to get to the field with the pond that is appropriate for picnicing.

OP posts:

Canidae · 31/07/2012 23:45

YANBU. Cows are mostly harmless but very big, strong and curious. They are also hard to predict. I have walked my dogs through lots of public foot paths containing cows over the years and one day a herd of them took a great interest in my dog and started running for us. Quickly took lead off dog and legged it down the field as there was about 30 of them and they were coming from all directions making those bellowing sounds.

I have never run so fast!

SoleSource · 31/07/2012 23:56

Cows are mad.

CaliforniaLeaving · 01/08/2012 04:04

I just remembered something else about bulls. We lived near an abattoir and they would keep the bulls in a field behind our houses. The boys in our little cul de sac would let them out. Then all the Dads would send everyone indoors and round them up. It was like Pamploma outside, men and bulls running about and trying to get them back in the field. We thought it was so funny when we were kids, but looking back it was very dangerous.
Sheep we were never afraid of, we used to watch them when we walked in the rain, sometimes one will get really water logged and fall over. They just lie stuck on their side or back there and die if you don't get them tipped back upright. So we used to go and stand them back up and let the farmer know we did it, and he'd go check on them.

nailak · 01/08/2012 05:31

whats a bullock?

FairPlayPhyllis · 01/08/2012 05:44

A bullock is a castrated male.

poachedeggs · 01/08/2012 06:55

YADNBU. I have been beaten up by a cow (in truth I'd have escaped if I hadn't slipped in a cowpat in my haste ) and it wasn't fun. I was black and blue for weeks and count myself very lucky to still be in one piece. I know someone who suffered rib fractures and a punctured lung when a cow turned on him. I've seen a cross cow try to join a farmer in the cab of his tractor. I could go on.

Cows with calves at foot are particularly aggressive and need to be treated with great respect. The advice to drop your dog's lead if you find the cattle showing an interest in you is absolutely correct - a dog will outrun charging cows. You won't, but it'll be the dog they chase.

crashdoll · 01/08/2012 09:26

Cow are cunts FACT
I got chased by some when walking my dog on holiday a few years back.

I eat alot more beef these days to punish those bovine pricks

Primrose123 · 01/08/2012 11:00

A friend of my parents was chased by cows last year while walking his dog. He slipped and broke his collarbone.

There have been a few stories in the news where people have been trampled by cows.

mumeeee · 01/08/2012 12:16

You are not suppossed to pinic in farmers fields they are not for public use. Yes you can walk through the field on the footpath but you should not leave the footpath. Cows can be scary but if you walk towards them they will run away. If you run from them they will run towards you.

mumeeee · 01/08/2012 12:18

Sorry I missed your post saying that the farmetr said you could picnic in the fields, So I take back that part of my last post.

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