Cattle with calves not fit to be on a public right of way in Horninghold Leicestershire

Incident number: 1274

Response ID: 330,024,462

Date of incident: 05.07.26

Location: Horninghold, Leicestershire. GR 819 976 (Path No B101). Footpath running between Knob Hill Farm and Burn Hill.

Status: Two people with dog on the lead on PRoW

Chris’s story

“We passed through Knob Hill farm which is a danger in itself due to dogs running loose. However, the farmer did put the dogs away to let us pass. When we entered the large field above the farm we noticed a herd of cattle on the opposite side. I put the dog on the lead and we tried to skirt round below the ridgeline so that the cows wouldn’t see us. However, as we got to the middle of the field they came over the brow of the hill and began to charge towards us very aggressively. Probably about 50 cows, including calves. They were most interested in the dog so I let the dog loose for our own safety and told my daughter to try and make her way to the fenceline as I retreated with my back to the cows trying to keep them at bay. One of them charged past me and lunged for the dog. The others came right up and I had to wrap one on the nose to stop it charging over me. As we got to the fenceline it looked as though they had backed off but then came another charge. My daughter managed to throw the dog over the fence and clamber over, ripping her leggings and cutting her hand on the barbed wire. I had managed to pick up a stick to try and keep them at bay an just had enough time to make it over the fence. I’ve been walking in the countryside all of my life and this was the closest I have ever been to being trampled by a herd of cows. They were incredibly aggressive, no doubt protective of the calves, and not fit to be in a field with a public footpath running across it.”