Ensuring Safety on a Walking Holiday: Cattle Management

Walking holidays in the UK are great for several reasons:

1. There are so many different areas to discover. Our countryside is beautiful and very diverse.
2. We can get there without jumping on a plane – that makes me happy as I hate the palaver of flying, getting to the airport early, queuing through security, waiting with hundreds of others etc….. Also, I am trying to not take flights to keep my carbon footprint down.
3. We have a fantastic network of public footpaths, and bridleways, across England and Wales, giving walkers access to some stunning locations.
4. We know that spending our money locally helps our economy.

Have you ever been prevented from walking because of fear of meeting aggressive cattle?

Planning a walking holiday fills me with terrible anxiety. Having chosen the location, I pour for ages over satellite images checking possible routes.

Why? Because, I’ve been attacked by cattle in the past, and wish not to have a repeat performance.

[You can read my story here: Featured Story – Libby’s Tale – Cattle Safety]

So, I spend anxious hours scanning the satellite images to see whether there are stock fields in the area, and whether these fields have sheep or cows in them.

There are many areas I will not visit because they have too many cattle fields. This means, there are stunning locations that will not receive any tourism money from us due to cattle not being separated from walkers.

We are encouraged to move more for our health. We know that being in green spaces is good for our minds, and walking is good for our bodies. We should be able to walk public footpaths safely – but we can’t.

Some people will argue, “It’s the farmer’s field and the cows’ home. Leave them alone and walk elsewhere.” Some will say, “There are plenty of parks – go and walk there instead.” Others will say, “If you respect the cattle, and walk through quietly, you’ll be fine.”

To these arguments I say: we all have a right to walk safely along footpaths, and we can’t predict which cattle will be aggressive.

The standard advice

Farmers are advised by The Health and Safety Executive not to place cattle with calves in fields with footpaths across them, and to check the herd daily, or twice daily, to ensure there are no aggressive cattle. They also advise farmers not to place cattle in fields where there is a high traffic of walkers, and not to feed cattle on the footpath.

The farmer has a legal duty of care to people who walk across their land, yet I have observed numerous occasions where all of the above were not done. On this website the many reports we have also bear witness to this neglect – whether it is due to ignorance, or intent, or some other reason, is unclear.

And for those who say, “It was because you were walking with a dog – or you did something wrong – and that was why you were attacked.” No!

We have multiple reports of aggressive behaviour/attacks with NO dog present (half of our reports are from walkers without dogs). Many of our reports are from experienced walkers who know how to behave around cattle, and who were brought up in the countryside. Yet, those walkers experienced attacks that were not their fault. Cattle can be unpredictable – whether they have been shouted at by the last walker who went by, whether they’ve got an illness, their calf just removed from them – multitudes of reasons why they may turn aggressive. Yes, they might feel threatened, but a walker cannot be expected to know why – or when – a cow might decide to attack.

The solution is fencing

Using fencing – to separate the cows from walkers – would stop the animals feeling threatened, as does removing them from the field crossed by a footpath.

Unstressed cattle are surely what the farmer wants; and they are certainly what walkers want and need.

So, please do enjoy your walks in our beautiful countryside and, of course, please follow the Countryside Code. But, in order to be safe, we need the help of farmers. We need farmers to look after the welfare of their cattle and keep them stress free. This means keeping their cattle away from walkers on public footpaths.

And, we need the Health and Safety Executive to stop advising and begin enforcing their own advice.

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Header walking woman image by malcolm west from Pixabay

Other images by the COWS group members