Near-miss Stories – Page 14

Georgie “I saw a cow with its head down charging toward my partner”

Report number:890

Date of incident: 19/04/24

Site of incident: Avening Village, Tetbury, Gloucestershire, GL8 8PB

My partner, our whippet, and I were walking through a field on the side of a hill. The path runs directly through the field and winds its way upwards toward the top boundary. Due to the steepness of the field and the long grass, we couldn’t see the top or bottom of the field, nor could we see the cows initially or how many there were. About four minutes into entering the field, while talking and interacting with our dog, a group of young looking cows appeared seemingly out of nowhere to our side, standing in a line and staring at us. I grew up around cattle and walking the family dogs around cattle, having lived on a house located on a local common where cattle graze for seven months of the year. Both my partner and I have been chased by the odd protective mother who’s only motive is to move walkers away from their calf and always thought we had a good idea of how to stay in control if needed. However, this situation immediately felt different. These were 8 young cows who had come over to us and were now standing in a line facing us. We paused for a moment, accustomed to walking through groups of cows, as is our dog, who rarely pay any attention to us and wanted to assume these guys were just being inquisitive. The cows began to curve round and block our path just ahead, so I suggested we turn around and head back along the path we came down. My partner was momentarily reluctant to retreat wanting to stand his ground, but then one of the cows put his head down and started coming pretty quickly towards us, so we, as calmly as possible started walking back along the path we had come, but still facing the cows. As we did so, the entire group of cows then put their heads down started running towards us. I spotted two bushes ahead just above me on the steep slope and aimed for them, hoping to put something between us and the cows. In my haste, I tripped on brambles and unfortunately ended up in the bush I sought for protection, landing on a bed of nettles and thorns and fearing a cow was behind me and might trample me, I tried quickly get up which then resulted in shredding my arms and legs on the brambles. Once I was up and around the bush, I saw a cow with its head down charging toward my partner. He stopped where he was and raised his hands and shouted ‘NO’ and ‘BACK’ alarming the cow, which then reared up and turned away from him at the last moment. Meanwhile, three cows started chasing our whippet who up until then had done well to get out of the way as he was agile and quick enough to evade them. Our dog, likely returning to protect us after what had just happened with my partner, was then chased back down the path to the entrance of the field which leads on to a busy road. Fearing what was going to happen next we frantically called our dog back to us and thankfully saw him turn around at pretty much the last moment and try to return to us. I called to my partner to make his way toward me, which he did slowly, continuing to shout instructions to the cows that were still attempting to run at him while he waited for our dog to get back to us.

Once we were all behind the row of bramble bushes we caught our breath while the cows stood and waited on the other side of the bushes. As the cows were blocking the way we entered the field, we decided to silently make our way up the field and along to the gate on the other side, constantly checking behind us to see if the cows were following, acutely aware that we weren’t in the clear yet. Once we were out of the field, we checked each other over, including our dog, fearing he may have received a stray kick. Thankfully, I was the only one injured with a pretty torn up and severely stung leg, arm and hand from where I fell.

We have walked through this field almost daily for the last 4 months and hadn’t seen any cows in the field before, that’s not to say they hadn’t been there before but due to the steepness, size, trees, hedges etc, you don’t ever have a clear view of the entire field. However, this was the first time I had noticed evidence of the cows as there were fresh cow pats scattered around, so for all I know they could have been introduced to the field that day. Other than a ‘livestock’ warning which would have given us a heads up, there wasn’t much else the farmer could do to prevent what happened. As regular walkers if we had seen this notice we would have put our dog on a lead (although our dog did nothing to provoke the cows) as we entered the field. Although I do doubt that this would have made any difference as our dog walks calmly by our heels anyway and having him on a lead could have prevented his escape at the beginning.

We ran as fast as we could!!!! If this had happened to someone less fit then the outcome would have been much worse!

Incident number: 897

Response ID:

Date: 29.06.24

Location: Wick Gloucestershire. What three words values.dignify.started

“We entered a field which we were told to on our walking instructions and we have since checked there is a right of way over the field. We saw there were a large group of cows but they were right over the other side of the field and checked there were no calves or bulls. We started to walk along the hedge but quite quickly the cows turned to look at us and one in particular started to walk towards us. We stopped and waited and then the cow started to run towards us. We started to move slowly and quietly back towards the gate but then the whole herd started to charge towards us. We all ran as fast as we could and thankfully all made it over the gate with literally less than a second to spare. It was terrifying and firmly believe that we would have been seriously injured or worse had we left it any longer. We have reported to HSE as if that had been someone elderly or with children I fear the outcome could have been very different. Just a small sign on the gate to say do not enter would have stopped us.”

Sam’s story: There is no reason for so many cows to be on footpaths!

Incident number: 895

Response ID: 304,260,052

Date: 27.06.24

Location: Two locations near Youlgreave Derbyshire What three words ///point.proclaims.poppy ///distilled.regaining.jukebox

First field had large group of 30 plus cows with calves in the fields surrounding the gate of a popular footpath. We were four people with dogs on leads. Attempted to walk through the gate cows came forward we avoided took a detour over a wall into a different field. Second location no safe route through at all. Every field full of cows. Popular footpath again. Attempted to walk through 40 plus cows charged us. Dogs barked to scare them off they backed off slightly we progressed cows charged at us again. This happened 4 times before we got out of the field.

Charged at by cattle on a footpath

Report No. 886

Date of Incident. 25/05/24

Location. Near Metton, Norfolk, England – what3words – followers.crunching.galaxies

No dog

Account “Two of us, early 30 yr old males, were passing from Metton towards Felbrigg mid afternoon in light rain. We came to a field which was signed with ‘bull in field’ and saw a group of 30+ cows, at least one bull and several calves (young, but mid size). We are experienced outdoorsy people and walked into the field, we were a long way from the group of cows, and we noticed one of them coming towards us. We still weren’t concerned until they started moving as a group and loudly huffing. As we gently moved quicker they started to charge. We turned, walking backwards moved our arms up and down expressing ‘Hey!’ at them – which has deterred further movement on other occasions. This worked at first but then they all began to charge. We loudly shouted ‘HEY!’ This slowed them at first but they began to run. By this point we had gotten closer to the fence and were able to scramble out of their way. They then all came close as they could to us, on the other side of the fence not moving. It was a VERY close call.”

“I was not aware until today we could report it. Honestly we didn’t know we had rights about this as while it’s a marked footpath and on OS as a walking route, we assumed it’s still private land – so on us if something happens.”

Killer Cows states: The farmer has a duty of care to people that walk across their land.

Steve’s group meet an aggressive cow

Report number: 883

Date of Incident: 5th June 2024

Location: High Tilberthwaite, Cumbria, England. Grid Ref SD 330824 501300. On right of way.

Dogs: None

Cattle: Group of cows and calves. Brown.

Account “Our group of four adults entered a field of cows near to a farm through a gate; we were intending to walk calmly across it following a public footpath. Cows with calves were lying down on and near the path so we made a detour to give them a wide berth. All the cows except one appeared to ignore us. This one cow, which was approximately 80 to 100 yds away, looked at us with great interest and started to walk briskly towards us. It then began to run, and charged aggressively towards one of our group, a man. It stopped about half a metre away from him and made aggressive roaring noises, darting at him repeatedly in a threatening way and pawing the ground. It was very close indeed. The man stood his ground, unsure what to do, and two others of us shouted and clapped loudly. The cow fortunately hesitated and withdrew. We quickly retraced our steps and left the field through the gate. Many of the cows had calves next to them, but this cow did not appear to have a calf.”

There were no warning signs.

Steve comments – “It should be illegal to put potentially dangerous animals in a field that contains a public footpath.”

Blaine meets bullocks on Offa’s Dyke

Incident number: 881
Date: 31.03.24
Site: Over 6 days walking the northern half of the Offa’s Dyke Path. Montgomery to Prestatyn.

Description: A group of five of us started to walk the northern section of the Offa’s Dyke Path, a National Trail, from 26th May to 31st May 2024. We walked on average 14 miles per day over 6 days.

We had to walk through fields of cows and bullocks every day. Some days the National Trail route took us through as many as six fields containing cattle. One of our group was not at all happy with walking through fields with any large animals, so they stopped their walking trip after day 2 as a result.

I am uncomfortable walking through fields with anything but the most benign cows. I had an incident as a young teenager where I was unwittingly in an effective “bullfight” with an extremely aggressive bullock! The other three in our party are reasonably confident with big beasts. We are all experienced long distance walkers. If it had just been me and my partner, the walk (and our holiday) would have been abandoned at the first cow field on day 1! She was persuaded to continue, only with promises of surrounding her and “sacrificing” ourselves should the need arise.

Advice to find an alternative way to avoid a particular field is, in reality, often impractical with many field boundaries.

The range of encounters was from cows a long way away in a field paying us no attention, (but even this can concern some, including my partner.) We met cows, no calves present, crowding near gates/stiles having to be gently mo(o)ved and then following us from curiosity. There were cows with calves having to be given a very wide berth. The most scary incidents involved bullocks. We had 6 scary incidents with bullocks over 84 miles of walking. We would enter the field as a group and be immediately surrounded by bullocks getting very close. We would talk calmly to them, occasionally shooing them away, raising and waving our arms. We learned to gradually escalate our responses, as they seemed to get used to whatever we did and overcome their fear! By the time we reached the end of the field, we would be dealing with charges/mock charges to within inches of us.

There was one field, where a group of bullocks were quite enclosed by water/mud/trees, where we did opt to jump a fence. Luckily that was an option as these were very feisty.

We saw relatively few other people walking the dyke (end to end). Those we did meet all shared concerns with bullocks. Having spoken to locals they reported that numbers of people walking the dyke have dropped significantly over the past 20 years. This may be due to relative popularity of other paths but could be due to livestock issues.

A couple of points that I think our experience raises:

Scary encounters with livestock are common;
Such incidents put many people off walking in the countryside (if we’d dropped to only 2 or 3 of us then we would have abandoned our walk). My girlfriend won’t come on the next one; I was a hang-glider pilot in my youth and accepted the risks of death/serious injury. This should not be the case for a walk on a right of way in the countryside!

Comment: I think bullocks, cows with calves and any aggressive animals should not generally be allowed on paths with rights of way. As a minimum the right of way should be protected from beasts of any kind by an electric fence.

We threw ourselves over the gate!

Incident number: 874
Date of incident: 18.05.24
Site: SX868968
Type of cow: Group of heifers
No dog

We entered the field carefully closing the gate behind us. As soon as the gate was secured the cows started mooing and moving towards us. We quickened our pace and one cow started bucking excitedly close by. They followed us closely at a distance of about 1 metre. I talked to them calmly throughout, trying to reduce their aggression. We reached the opposing gate, very closely followed by the cattle, we didn’t have time to open it and threw ourselves over, my partner bruising her leg on the hurried descent.

Injury: Not injured but badly frightened

Kay’s tale of charging cows

Incident number: 873

Date of incident: 18.05.24

Site: In fields between Rugeley Trent train station and Colton

We were walking along a public right of way and entered a field close to a farm. The field was empty. We only got half way across the field when a herd of very aggressive cows appeared from the farm yard and charged us, we ran. This happened in a further 2 fields and on one occasion, both myself and my husband had to throw ourselves over a gate. My husband hurt his neck.

We were fortunate in that, although we are in our late 60’s, we are fairly fit, but if there had been a child with us, then it could have been a very different story. We were with a younger couple, who had a dog on a very short lead and we always kept to the field edge where we could.

We have been walkers for years and we have noticed that:-

1. The cows are getting more and more aggressive

2. Farmers are less tolerant towards walkers.

Although it cannot be proven, we suspect that when we entered the first farm, the Farmer saw us and let the cows in on purpose. The field was definitely empty when we entered it.

We are encouraged to exercise more and there is nothing that we would enjoy better than to take our Grandchildren out into the countryside. But there is always the fear that we will come across a field with cows in. Farmers clearly do not want people walking across their fields (on a public right of way) and are succeeding 100% in deterring us.

I know that Farmers are usually insured but I don’t care about compensation. I would like to not be injured or killed somewhere where I have every right to be. If we ever go on a country walk again (looking unlikely), then we will not be going in a field with cows in it but will find an alternative route which might not be on a public right of way. And if we are trespassing, then so be it.

I have reported this to the HSE.

Kay comments:
“I would welcome a law to be passed which says that Farmers should not put cows in a field where there is a public right of way, or they must put a fence up separating us from the animals.”

Charged at by a bull

Report number: 847

Date of incident: 08/05/24

Site of incident: On the footpath up the river from St Nectan’s Waterfall, Tintagel, Cornwall. Coordinates 50°39’58.6″N 4°42’32.2″W. WhatThreeWords; ///disarmed.nipping.perfected.

There was a dairy bull in the field with multiple bullocks.

2 people no dogs

We are seasoned and experienced hill walkers. We approached the field on well worn path along from a much loved popular waterfall. We made sure to keep talking as we approached as to not startle bullocks (visible). As we entered the field the younger bullocks backed off. The dairy bull immediately started with aggressive body language. I picked up a large stick and tried to continue to follow the path with confident but non threatening body language. The bull charged us. I attempted to be assertive so raised the stick and held my ground. The bull continued to charge us, just stopping short of hitting us.

A herd of cows charged with no warning!

Incident number: 851

Response ID: 302,275,824

Date: 11/05/24

Location: Rigsby, Lincolnshire

We were a group of 6 people walking through a field along designated public footpaths with no dogs. A herd of young cows charged without any warning or being provoked. We managed to get through gate before anyone was injured but here was a high risk that someone could have been killed or seriously injured.

The reporter of this incident said “Where a footpath goes through a field, either cows are not to be kept in the field or the footpath routed around the side of the field with a suitable fence or barrier to protect the walker”

Attack on Offa’s Dyke National Trail

It seems that cattle are getting more and more aggressive. Often you simply cannot walk safely along a public right of way.

Report number: 845

Date of incident: 30/04/24

Site of incident: Grid Ref SO 236 406 on the Offas Dyke path (a national trail) south of Hay-on-Wye

1 person, 1 dog on lead

“I was walking my dog along the Offa’s Dyke Path south of Hay. I walked from Cusop as far as Upper Danyforest where I turned around and retraced my steps.

At around 8:35pm I crossed the footbridge (SO236 406) and entered the field beyond. I saw a group of cattle near the house called Pant Barn. I hadn’t been aware of cattle in the field on my outward journey, but they may have been out of sight behind Pant Barn. The cattle were moving up the field away from me and didn’t pay me any attention so I proceeded along the footpath towards Forest Rd. I had only gone around 100m when a group of 8 cattle broke away from the main group and started charging directly towards me and my dog. I immediately let my dog off his lead and made some noise to try and stop the cattle and shoo them away. The cattle slowed but then started coming very close, bucking and kicking. I was terrified. I gave my dog a command to ‘go to the gate’ and thankfully he did as instructed and ran towards Forest Rd. The cattle followed him charging and bucking and kicking. Meanwhile I ran in the opposite direction back up the hill to the footbridge. I could see my dog had ducked into the stream to avoid the cattle so I recalled him and he joined me on the safety of the bridge. I know that if my dog is scared he won’t always follow commands, around half of the time he’ll come and hide behind my legs instead. If he’d have done that tonight I think there is a very high chance I would have been trampled by the cattle.

Unharmed, but frightened

I have reported this to the Health and Safety Executive, the local authority and Brecon Beacons National Park.

I’d like to add that I’ve lived in the area all my life, I’m a qualified Mountain Leader, I do a lot of walking in the countryside. I like to think I know how to behave around livestock, but recently particularly on the Offa’s Dyke path around Hay it seems that cattle are getting more and more aggressive. Often you simply cannot walk safely along a public right of way. I feel like I had a very near miss with this incident and that it’s only a matter of time before someone is injured or killed. Yet the authorities are powerless to do anything.”

Unexpected near miss

Report number: 842

Date of incident: 2/5/24

Site of incident: There is a R.O.W. path through a field between Tanyrallt cottages, Llanllyfni (Caernarfon), which leads down onto Lon Ddwr (by Bro Silyn).

I walk this route most days as our daily dog walk, and the dog is always on a lead. There are signs on the gate warning of the consequences of dogs worrying sheep. Today I got halfway across the rather large field, when the dog starting behaving as if he were afraid, and when I glanced over my shoulder, there were two cows rapidly gaining pace and heading towards us a little too fast. At this stage both myself and the dog were really scared, we tried to walk as quickly and calmly as possible, without running, and feel that we made it to the gate with moments to spare. They were so close at this point that we could have touched them, so I don’t know what their intentions were. An elderly or less fit person may have been in serious trouble, especially due to the lack of warning signs!

No injuries, but both man and dog very frightened.