Anglesey – Cattle Safety

Roger and his friends are pushed off their walk by frisky cows.

Response ID 311,460,084
Incident number 1066
Date: 14.10.24
Site: Anglesey Coastal Path from Cemlyn Bay to Carmel Head – Llanfairynghornwy near Carmel Head.
Type of cow: Group of Cows: Freisian dairy
No dog

Roger’s account: “A group of us were walking the Anglesey Coastal path, we were watching seals with pups on the beaches below. Having spent some time watching a mother seal and her pup, we started to make progress towards Carmel Head only to find a recently milked herd of cows making their way onto the headland by Porth Newydd at around 16:35. The herd consisted in excess of 100 cows and these were extremely frisky (jumping on each other’s backs) and moving quickly. The farmer had placed feed in numerous areas both on and to the seaward side of the Coastal Path in an apparent attempt to encourage the cattle to deter users of the path (this practice has been apparent in previous years but with no cattle present on previous walks).
The cattle quickly approached us with some of the cows breaking into a run. It was only because of a ditch that we were able to retreat back across and exit the field through a gate that we’d entered through that we were able to escape their attention. The alternative of a 200 metre sprint to exit the field on the far side was never considered to be practical.”

Roger comments: “Placing cattle food on the coastal path to deter walkers appears to be ‘common practice’, it certainly is not an isolated occurrence. I would like to see the Coastal Path and headland in this area fenced off from the grazing area, as one section of the path we walked earlier, near Hen Borth.”

Roger supplied the photograph of the cows beginning to fill the field.

A charge that could have been very nasty

Incident number: 831

Response ID: 300,626,483

Date: 30/03/24

Location: Llanfwrog, Anglesey. Here is a precise what3words address branch.starlight.hillsides

Gary and his wife were walking on a public right of way in the location above with their small dog on a lead when they came upon a single cow with a farmer.

In his words “The cow had given birth overnight and the farmer had the calf on his quad bike and was using it to get the cow to follow him up the road. We had nowhere to go and it saw our dog and charged her taking me and my wife out in the process. A few cuts and bruises but it could have been a lot worse.”

They were understandably very scared and didn’t know who to inform although we have contacted them and suggested they contact the Health and Safety executive.

Multiple spoiled walks and near misses – badly scared walkers

Killer Cows receives many varied reports of aggressive and scary behaviour by cattle, and several of our recently reported incidents are posted below. There does not seem to be one type of breed that is safer and we cannot assume that because cattle did not react the last time we walked through their field, they will be equally calm the next. Farmers can fail to spot when cattle are a risk – so how can we notice?

Our reports are split with 50% having a dog present, 50% not. These incidents have happened in quiet rural spots and in areas where there is a lot of public footfall. Each incident results in badly scared walkers; they are no longer able to enjoy the wonderful freedom of walking along a footpath without worrying whether there are cattle in the next field.

The guidance issued by NFU or The Ramblers can work in some occasions, but not in others. Signage doesn’t seem to be updated to reflect whether cattle are present at the time you are walking – so no help at all. Signs warning of cattle in fields don’t absolve the farmer of their duty of care to walkers, but they may deter some walkers – and some farmers may be happy with this result. There are farmers who are actively looking at ways to keep walkers safe and are proactively working with the legislative bodies – we applaud them. Our footpaths give us access to our countryside, we need to feel safe to enjoy them.

Read the varied accounts below –

Scramble over barbed wire

Maybe I should just pack wire cutters?

I was on a public footpath in Anglesey with a companion, and we were headed downhill east from Bod Feddau (shown on 1:25000 OS explorer Anglesey East) through a field at SH593797. We saw some bullocks in the field, and we took a low key detour to avoid the field they were in. We had no dog with us.

There was a connecting gate we hadn’t noticed. The bullocks caught sight of the pair of us and came at us at a gallop. We climbed over a couple of barbed wire fences to avoid them, getting our clothes ripped in the process.

Getting very fed up with similar incidents on Anglesey. Many farmers seem to be obstructing the footpaths with problem cattle. There were approx 25 bulls in this incident and they looked to be at least 10 months old, and possibly Limousin; which seem to be common locally. Getting to the point when I’ll just pack wire cutters to make escape easier and safer.

I’ve reported it to the council but have had no reply.