Another walker killed by cows…..is there a solution?

I was a solicitor with a highway authority Grey.

The real risk is with dogs, don’t go into fields with livestock the risk just walking is very low, groups of walkers rambles are no problem because the know where they are going and don’t get lost.

When we had cows I saw a man with a bicycle walking through our private fields - no right of way - when I called to ask what he was doing he said 'I am taking a short cut'. My answer was it was private land and no short cuts or right if way existed. He should find his way out before I let the bull out. Said bull was only a few days old, in the barn with his mum!! The chap certainly took a short cut, threw his bike over the hedge onto the road and quickly followed!!

Katie59

The real risk is with dogs, don’t go into fields with livestock the risk just walking is very low, groups of walkers rambles are no problem because the know where they are going and don’t get lost.

I know where I am going, I don't need to be with a group of ramblers, I can follow a map and if I am on a footpath which goes over a stile and into a field of sheep or cattle, what am I supposed to do? Fly? I am a land owner and as I've said already I have a footpath which goes across one of the fields. I understand what my legal responsibility is and as a walker with a dog, I know how to behave in the countryside. Most cattle are perfectly safe, it's cows with a calf at foot that are a risk and the farmer has a responsibility towards any walker who is legally using a footpath. Just put up a temporary fence to keep the footpath and the cattle separate. I have loads of cheap temporary fencing, everyone with land and stock does and it's a quick job that keeps everyone safe.

Don't walk dogs through fields containing cows. If you'll pardon the pun it is like a red rag to a bull.

An interesting read.
There are in fact very few publicly owned footpaths; most are rights of way by foot over private land. The public don't seem to realise this.
Several local ones have been legally re routed around the edges of fields intead of going across them, much more sensible and safer.

The answer is “don’t take your dog into a field of cows, especially if they have calves.”.

It’s common sense.
Something that dog walkers seem to lack in abundance.

It's not just the countryside...I'm in the North East and in Newcastle, we have the Town Moor which is approx' 1,000 acres.
From March to Oct' cattle graze on the land although I don't think there's ever been an incident of harm interestingly enough.

Never walk through a field of cattle, especially if they've young or you have a dog. Doesn't matter whether it is a footpath, they won't be grazing it for ever, so wait for the cattle to be removed to another field. Better safe than sorry! And if you live in the country try to learn some of the countryside do's and don'ts, it could save your life!!!

Farmers have a right to graze their cattle on their land. If walkers are too close to cattle they must take their chances …I’m a walker , but I would never venture near a cow. Kill more folk a year than sharks!! Stay clear ! Enough said

Perhaps that’s why I got pushed over by the bullock, Dylis - I was wearing red socks!😁
Has anyone had any experience of common grazing land? We were driving back from the East coast last year and passed a large grass area that was so designated that bordered the main road. It was basically no more than a village green! There was signage to that effect that it was common grazing land and to beware of cattle. There were seven cows on this land, no fences or barriers of any kind and when one cow chose to walk into the road, two others followed it. The vehicle three cars ahead of us just managed to stop and happily, so did everyone else! I can’t think that this was a sensible way to graze animals. Two brave souls got out of a cars and shooed them back onto the grass.

On the Water Meadows near my home I have seen some startlingly stupid behaviour. There are 'kissing gates' leading onto the fields and I saw a woman push her small dog under the gate and then try to force the gate against a cow which was standing close to the fence. A warden rushed to stop her - luckily. I've heard of people pushing a buggy through a herd of cows, and letting their dogs run wild amongst the cattle. You do wonder if they have even the remotest idea of the injury that even one cow might cause, and if they run as a herd, the damage can be colossal. Fresians are reckoned to be the worst for suddenly turning hostile - I would never venture near them.

Been done forever Greyduster.

It’s common in England Greyduster and most of the New Forest is given over to the ponies and cattle.Plenty of signs around and you just need to be super careful.The animals have right of way.

Walking in Devon in the autumn a friend told me the sad story of a local farmer who was killed by his own cows. No dogs involved and he knew the animals.

I can't help wondering if the frequency of attacks is increasing. I grew up next to a farm and regularly walked through a field of cows, without fear, with my dog on a lead. They didn't take much notice of us, ever. But now I feel differently. More recently I have seen people do really stupid things, coming up close to them, for instance, taking pictures with them etc. I am not a zoologist but wonder if something in modern farming and breeding methods and aggressive human behavour has somehow imprinted itself on herds' collective memories. I appreciate cows are not elephants with long memories, but they are still mammals.

Many years ago I was on holiday in Ayrshire with a friend who sometimes liked to go walking alone. So I went in the opposite direction. After a mile or so it started to rain quite heavily so I decided to cross a field with some cattle standing in groups. The cattle near me took no notice but when I was well into the field I saw that a group on my left had started running along the side of the field, then suddenly they veered towards me. Needless to say I hastily turned round and ran back towards the road and the group near my exit paid no attention to me. I did get rather wet walking back though.

On another occasion I was walking my dog along a country road waiting for my husband to visit a client when I became aware that one cow was standing apart from the herd and seemed to be staring at me and the dog. It slowly came nearer then started running and seemed to be charging towards me. In spite of there being a kind of ditch along the edge of this field I decided to run along the road; the cow did halt at the edge of the field instead of leaping over the gap.

If my dog was in my fields that’s have a footpath across it and just frightened someone then he /I could be in trouble. If I put a herd of cows in them and they trample someone then that is ok it seems.
All we farmers have to do is run an electric fence along the path ( making sure that there is room for walkers of course). It’s not difficult or expensive. I don’t understand why it’s not law..or yes I do…big land owners .

I avoid entering fields with cattle in them
Last year I walked through a field on a public footpath with my 2 dogs on leads, I checked first and could not see any livestock in the field
Half way through, I heard a snort behind me and was confronted by a herd of cows following me, I tried to shoo them without success, a lady outside a nearby house,shouted to me to let the dogs go, I walked quickly to the fence, which the lady couldn’t open, the cows were pushing closer,and nearly pushing me over, I had to scale the fence and then drag one of the old dogs,who wouldn’t leave me ,under the fence, I tore my hand on barbed wire
Very near miss
I do think signs warning that livestock are grazing could prevent an accident, and footpaths should be fenced if possible
I do think people should be careful after all we are entering the farmers property, where they have every right to graze their livestock
So some precautions from both farmers and walkers could help prevent more tragic incidents

So as I lived far away from my brother as a teen, when we would meet up, we would go on midnight walks around his home, we were in our late teens and spend hours walking for miles in the dark.
Anyway, one night, climbing over stiles into different fields, we heard noise and my brother turns on our torch. This was no small weeny torch on our phone, this was an industrial head sized monstrosity that my brother had bought along.
We lit up hundreds of eyes on the other end of the field, and the second we did, they started to stand. We switched the torch off chuckling uneasily, they had started to make more noise by this point, and we thought we would have one more look before leaving.

I don't know how many of you have watched Dr Who's Weeping Angels, but this was like that, the second we turned the torch on again, they were so much closer, on their way over, some started to pick up the pace, and they looked narked.
We ran, and this was not helped by the fact I was wearing 90's block heels and a long skirt with a split lol.
Luckily, after jumping over a small stream, and clambering a fence, we made it, but those cows looked so murderous, never even thought about being afraid of cows before. Bloody was after that! lol

Walking along a public footpath with my two small children and dog (on a lead), the herd of cows docilely munching grass suddenly gathered together and slowly advanced on us, gathering speed into a stampede until they were almost upon us.

Instictively, I let the dog off the lead to take his chances and managed to reach a gate with the children and scramble over it.

I was on a public footpath but hadn't realised how dangerous cattle could be and yes, there were calves: I should have known the danger but didn't appreciate both the speed of moving cows or the danger they presented.

Education of youngsters is key to ensuring that the public understand bovine dangers.

I understand that farmers have an obligation to keep the public safe where there could be cattle. Farmers could also play their part by putting a notice by any gate into fields containing cattle plainly stating that there are cows with calves in the field and that it is dangerous to enter. Anyone who chooses to enter does so at their own risk.

Of course, this presumes that farmers would not take advantage of the public...

Near my house is a field with a corridor through for pedestrians. It has chain link fencing on both sides and obviously keeps people away from animals - an excellent farmer!

Do we ever hear of people being killed by cows who don’t have a dog or dogs with them?

My father was an experienced freshwater angler and and often fished near cows and normally was never bothered by them, but on one occasion as he was leaving, a herd of cows charged him. He ran as fast as he could, carrying all his fishing tackle and leapt over the five bar gate to safety.
We didn’t have a dog so no dog was with him.
Thankfully on this occasion, we children weren’t with him either.

This is a very sad story and I feel that the couple did nothing wrong. They couldn’t see the cows and often there were no cows in the field. Perhaps when public footpaths cross land, the landowner should be required to make the footpath safe with the use of hedges or fencing.

Half of England is owned by less than 1 per cent of the population, and there is a right to roam on just 8 per cent of England's land, and only 4 per cent of rivers can legally be navigated. The only place where wild camping is legal is Dartmoor (and I believe there are proposals that this be changed).

Now there seems to be an implication that people should be eternally grateful for any rights they have in relation to access to land. People who, in accordance with the law, walk through a field of cattle have been portrayed as having only themselves to blame if something untoward happens. Surely there should be warning signs? People generally don't think of cows as being dangerous and, from childhood, cows are often portrayed as gentle, non-confrontational animals.

Some people seem to be of the opinion that owners of vast tracts of land are doing the general public a favour in allowing them access - partly on the grounds that we wouldn't want people to have free access to our back gardens. Surely that it is a completely different scenario?

Good post Eloethan Some people seem to be of the opinion that owners of vast tracts of land are doing the general public a favour in allowing them access - partly on the grounds that we wouldn't want people to have free access to our back gardens. Surely that it is a completely different scenario? where there s a public right of way the owners know this and should respect it, and are obligated to make it safe. All the arguments about private gardens, factories etc is just nonsense. If the deeds of my house indicate that there is a public right of way across my back garden then I have to respect that and accept strangers walking through, but keeping to the designated path. Don't like that prospect? then don't buy that property. If you inherit land that has public access, just be grateful for your good fortune in having an inheritance that many would like.

I find some of the attitudes about this astounding tbh. If there is a public footpath then it should be safe for people to walk through. If it isn’t then there should be signs warning that it’s dangerous and extreme caution should be used. As someone else pointed out if you had a dog on your land that was killing people walking on a public footpath you’d be in trouble.

If I was out walking and saw a sign saying Public Footpath then I would naturally assume I could use it. It’s about time something was done about it as people are being killed and seriously injured every year by cows.

Public footpath on a sign means it’s a Public Right of Way as listed on the Definitive Map drawn up many years ago. It means what it says on the tin … the public have a legal Right of Way. I’m talking as a retired Parish Clerk who had to deal with many footpath issues. My favourite was one which was found to go straight through someone’s bungalow!!!

It should be possible for a farmer to graze stock with calves at heel in a field without a right of way across it. Neither should a bull be in such a field. They have plenty of alternative options.

Some farmers are bolshy though and do not like the public on their land. And who can blame them? Some members of the public have no thought for others.

When someone is killed or injured by a cow attack then the incident should go to court. Blame should be apportioned so that the farming community and the walking public each be aware of their responsibilities.