Mad cows

[slinkycat]

I see David Blunkett has had a run in with a cow, well me and hubby were also in the Peak District at the weekend, and had a bit of a scary encounter with a herd of bullocks. Now I'm not normally at all bothered by cattle when we're out walking, and must admit that I've taken the mickey out of hubby for his extreme wariness!
I usually find that bullocks are just very curious, and maybe have a bit of devil in them, like a gang of teenage lads!
As soon as these clocked us though, they started running at us, and my usual trick of turning to face them, waving my arms and shouting just didn't deter them, they backed off a bit, then charged again. In the end we made an undignified exit through a barbed wire fence to get away.
Any advice please, should we find ourselves in that situation again?

[gonzo00]

aahhh..DON'T get yourself in this situation again. you shouldn't go walking in the same fields as cows/bullocks etc. if you do and you get hurt you only have yourself to blame. these can be very dangerous animals that's why farmers go to agricultural college..to learn how to handle animals such as these.

[slinkycat]

Well it was a public footpath, how do you suggest we follow a walk otherwise, without tresspassing into private land?! Which incidentally we probably did when we climbed the fence!

[tamborine]

the grass is sweet at present and the bullocks have probably just been turned out of their winter barn. They're quite frisky this time of year; so dont carry bags into fields & certainly keep dogs away as they will chase the dogs.

[gonzo00]

lol! do anything you have to,in order to avoid contact with the beasts!

[slinkycat]

Didn't have a dog tambourine, and just a small rucksack on my back. As I said, we've never encountered such a persistent lot before, hubby has been a bit smug since it happened, he worked in an abbatoir years ago and has always said cattle can be evil *******, never believed him til now!

[Buenchico]

It can take quite a bit of courage to stand still in the face of an apparent 'attack' from cattle but, if you do so, they'll usually slow down as they reach you and then either ignore you or nuzzle up against you.

There's been plenty of discussion on AB about this previously. This thread is relevant and I urge you to check out the two (rather contradictory!) links in my post there:
http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Animals-and-Nat ure/Question591063.html

Chris

[gonzo00]

lol chris! my friend..a longtime farmer..had his bull try to nuzzle up against him just last week..the thing just went berserk and tried to gore him...his missus ended up shooting it five times in the head to kill it thus saving him from certain death!

[slinkycat]

Thanks for your replies, and the links to previous threads Chris, nuzzling I could handle, but I tried standing my ground and these bullocks were definately not in nuzzling mood!

[tamborine]

do this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1L-8xLI_5c&fea ture=fvw

[ELVIS68]

Sorry for intruding but was you on your monthlies?

Animals have been known to attack women who are

[slinkycat]

Lol at that tambourine! Pretty amazing,must practice that move before we go out hiking again!

[slinkycat]

Erm....no Elvis, is that true though or a wind up?

[ELVIS68]

No not a wind up, I saw a programme on the Discovery channel where a woman had a pet Iguana and it attacked her every month, turns out it sensed when she was on her monthlies

[shawfarmholidays]

I'm a Dairy Farmer and will add common sense is king - if the field has cows in it and they look dangerous dont go in there! I would rather you "tresspass" in one of my neighbouring fields to get around the animals rather than get injured or killed. We only ask that you try and use gates where possible to get round the animals rather than climbing and damaging walls and fences. I've written a blog about this with more details at http://peakdsitrictfa...afe-when-walking.html