Category: Miscellaneous

Incident number: 853

Response ID: 302,464,247

Date: 16/05/24

Location: Hadlow, Tonbridge

Dudley’s story: “I was walking on my own with my dog. Having walked dogs through cows fields for the last 40 years it was just another walk with a dog, on the lead, through a cow field. As per usual the cows were inquisitive and came up to sniff my dog’s nose, who in turn, licked the cows nose. After a couple of minutes I decided to carry on my walk. Like most days the cows follow us for a bit, about 4/5 of them. But today, as I was trying to leave them, the cow reared up making weird snorting noises!! This was some sort of call to all the other cows in the field and 20 odd more came running over, mainly huge cows with full udders. Their tails were flicking and heads swaying from side to side, they looked very agitated and virtually surrounded us. I shouted at them to move like I usually do, this time they wouldn’t. The snorting cow was still rearing up, like a horse, about 6 feet away and still looking mad! Eventually with lots of shouting and clapping I managed to slowly edge away to the gate, with a slightly pounding heart!! I have never seen the cows like this before!”

Incident number: 852

Response ID: 302,416,861

Date: 12/05/24

Location: Two incidents in North Yorkshire Moors on popular walking routes/ Cleveland Way.

Kevins Story:

“The first incident was in a field in Middleton-on-Leven that leads towards the road to Hutton Rudby, near Middlesborough. The second instance was around the Wainstones whilst walking a stretch of the Cleveland Way. The Wainstones are a place of scenic interest and the Cleveland Way is a national walkway.

The Middleton on Leven Cows: I was on the path from Bullister Gill as it meets with Scarth Wood and then emerges at Middleton on Leven. The field is the public walkway that forms the last part of this stretch. I was hiking through to the N.Yorks Moors. I saw the field and that the cows had young with them. I couldn’t see an alternate route. When I entered the field there were some moos, but nothing too severe. Once I dipped out of sight behind the gorse bushes, following the hedgerow to the exit point, the mooing became more alarmed. They weren’t charging, and were cautiously continuing to approach. I hopped the style without further incident.

The second encounter was trivial for myself personally, however the potential risk of harm or injury from cows is definitely above average. From the opposite hill these cows were visually larger than average,. Once the visible ones had grouped, I made my way to the Wainstones without incident. I thought that once up in the stones the cows wouldn’t be likely to handle the steeper terrain. I was wrong! There were huge hoof prints up through the Wainstones and right along the moortop until the next boundary wall, something like a quarter of a mile or more! Given the isolated terrain, the cliff edges and difficult terrain, plus this being a scenic point of interest and a national hiking route, these cows pose a significant risk. I’m uncertain of the breed, but they were twice the size of dairy cows and could handle mountainous terrain like a walk in the park. The calves cleared 50 metres or so in a matter of seconds. And with such a wide roaming area through gates into different boundaries there is few options for escape. Again no incident here for myself, but the risk assessment of the scenario definitely places this area above the average.”

Kevin wants “Balanced laws and public insurance policies by law for farmers, safe and secure boundaries that protect both cattle and people from harm by law, signs of risks of injury or death to humans by law where boundaries would be difficult or where scenic beauty ruined. All maps and apps to include cattle risks by law, no livestock dangerous to humans to be kept on places of scenic interest, national trails, or public rights of way by law, no livestock dangerous to humans to be kept on land more than half a mile from the farm of ownership by law, and farm ownership and contact numbers to be placed visibly clear on risk associated signs at entry and exit points to the walkways and on all cattlefields as rights to access aren’t always easy to discern.”

The Health and Safety Executive is the national body responsible for investigating accidents and incidents that happen on a farm. If you have a close brush with cattle, or if you are unlucky enough to be injured, please file a report with the Health and Safety Executive.

https://www.hse.gov.uk/contact/tell-us-about-a-health-and-safety-issue.htm

You can also add your incident to our database by filing a report with us: https://killercows.co.uk/page/

19/8/2023

Near Stonegate station, Sussex

We were walking along a public footpath. There were three people in our group with no dogs. We were familiar with the area and there weren’t usually cows in this field. One of the cows was separated from the others and we had to walk past her. This aggravated the other cows who began to approach us menacingly. There may have been more than one bull. I tried to clap but this made the cows more threatening. My teenage son started to run and we all followed and the cows followed and they picked up pace. We managed to cross into a neighbouring field over a ditch and tried to ignore the cows/bulls but were terrified. Annie says that ”There should be signs up and ideally fencing or electric wire to separate the cattle and humans”

Incident number: 763

Response number: 289,062,691