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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think that cows have gone more aggressive.

72 replies

tarashill · 09/02/2015 17:18

Regularly on my walks down the country lanes I've been scared by them. I'm sure they used to be gentle placid creatures content to just chew the grass. But now they seem disturbed if I walk by and run towards me only stopping when they reach the wall. I'm aware that if they wanted they could easily jump the wall if they wanted. I wonder if anyone else has noticed this new aggressive behaviour in cows.

OP posts:

Whitegrenache · 09/02/2015 20:44

Thank goodness Clartyyakker came along and spoke such sense.

I hand reared 2 suckler calves from about 2 weeks old and had 3 calves off them each over a few years.
1 was a dairy breed crossed with a beef breed and she was lovely and gentle even with her calf at foot. The other was a beef breed and although lovely and quiet I never quite trusted her as she was a littl ebit more flightly. Both had been brought up in the same manner and were well handled. All this 'feed them on antibiotics' and remove the calf at birth may be prevelent in the dairy industry (to which I have no experience) I can assure you that all the beef cattle that I know have a lovely life, and are sheltered in the cold winter then live out in the summer on lush green fields and dont have their calves weaned until about 6-9months old.

However, I would never trust cows and calves in a field especially with a dog. Bulls alone prob would not even give you a second glance.

Young heifers or bullocks are flighty but usually through curiousity more often than not.

ErrolTheDragon · 09/02/2015 20:47

A while ago, having started to read Bill Brysons 'A walk in the woods' - which begins with an inventory of the many dangerous things that may be encountered on the Appalachian trail - I started a thread under 'The Great Outdoors' topic about what dangers we have in the UK. By far the greatest perceived threat (among people who are into 'the great outdoors') was cattle. DH and I were once chased by a lost lone bullock ... a great heavy beast which could run faster than us, probably one of the scariest moments of our lives. Various people I know have had bad encounters with cattle and comment that there seem to be more problems than there were in the past. Factors seem to include different breeds and less handling.

SaskiaRembrandtWasFramed · 09/02/2015 20:55

My DH was chased by a bull while taking a short cut after a night out. He's still not scared of cows.

If there is a problem with cow attacks, I don't think it's solely due to different breeds and less handling (electronic milking has been around for many generations of cows). I think the way we've distanced ourselves from agriculture plays a very big part. At one time, the majority of people would have come across cows multiple times a day, so they knew how to act around cows and what to expect of them. Now most people only really see cows as they drive past them. They have become an unknown quantity.

happyhats · 09/02/2015 21:45

I am afraid of cows as an adult but as a kid would happily walk through fields of them without giving it. Thought! Daft but true!

happyhats · 09/02/2015 21:46

*a thought!

NorksAreMessy · 09/02/2015 22:07

Anyone know the song 'cows with guns'?
DS plays it on the uke when I am feeling sad.HYSTERICAL!

OstentatiousBreastfeeder · 09/02/2015 22:29

I once saw a video of a cow eating a duckling.

kilmuir · 09/02/2015 22:34

walkers are idiots. we back onto a large field. March to Sept the bull is in there servicing the ladies. i watch people climbing over the fences, getting halfway across field, herd appears round corner, then panic!

FoxgloveFairy · 09/02/2015 22:45

I love the 'Cow's with guns' song too. The cows in the song were organizing a rebellion. They also had air support from chickens in choppers. They served their spiritual leader- Cow Tse Tung.

BubbleGirl01 · 09/02/2015 23:40

Do you think they may have finally figured out that humans eat them? I think I'd be aggressive too!

Did you have one of their brethren for lunch before you went out? Beef breath?

Or maybe they're a bit hormonal what with all the hormones pumped into them. Do we give them steroids in the UK?

DH's best friend throughout his childhood was his cow. He'd lead her around his village and tell her his dreams while she grazed . He said they have more intelligence than what we give them credit for.

NorksAreMessy · 10/02/2015 10:36

"we'll fight for bovine freedom, and hold our large heads high"

ErrolTheDragon · 10/02/2015 11:28

saskia, I think that there being more ignorant walkers than in the past may be a contributory factor, but the people I know who've had bad encounters haven't been in that category.

chrome100 · 10/02/2015 11:32

I am actually phobic of cows. If I have to cross a field of them I turn into a jibbering wreck and cry (I am very, very ashamed of this). I absolutely hate them. I have been known to do huge detours on country walks to avoid them.

Stinkle · 10/02/2015 11:43

I'm not a big fan of cows these days. As a child they never bothered me. We lived rurally and we're forever finding stray ones in our garden.

I'm quite wary of them these days though.

We were out walking a while ago and had to walk the long way round as a whole herd of them had blocked a stile and got quite irate when I tried to shoo them away a little bit so we could get through.

Last summer dog and I came face to face with a cow that had escaped her field and was mooching down the middle of the road. Cow took exception to dog and started to charge towards us so I let go of dog and legged it back to the car. Cow chased dog, but dog easily out ran the cow. Dog is also now terrified of cows

lynniep · 10/02/2015 11:43

No, but then I don't live near cows.
I have noticed pigeons getting dozier though.

RandomNPC · 10/02/2015 11:53

I had one come at me with a flick knife once.

DropYourSword · 10/02/2015 11:56

Please tell me you had a Crocodile Dundeeesque knife to respond with Random

RandomNPC · 10/02/2015 11:59

I ended up making mince meat of that cow. There was too much at steak, I couldn't back down. You should have seen my mooves.

DropYourSword · 10/02/2015 12:21

Dairy me, I wouldn't wanna beef with you! You sound udderly insane.

Or maybe it's because I'm a coward. I just don't want to be bullied

RandomNPC · 10/02/2015 12:43

I'll leave it now, I don't want to milk it.

KellyElly · 10/02/2015 13:07

The first time I was chased by a herd of cows was nearly 20 years ago. I slashed my leg on a barbed wire fence trying to get away from them. If they've got more aggressive, then I'm just glad I don'y live anywhere near the country anymore

Behindthepaintedgarden · 10/02/2015 13:16

When I saw the thread title I thought it was going to be about some of the more unpleasant posters on here, and how much worse they've been recently.

I love cows. As long as they stay on their side of the fence.

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