Tag: Cattle charge

Pushed against the fence by cattle

Report number: 1127
Date of incident: 2/6/25
Location: Bourneheath. Near Bromsgrove
1 person and a dog

Report: “I entered the field with my dog on a short lead. The cows were some distance away so I was not worried. I always keep to the side of a field when there are cows. When I had been walking for about 2 minutes, they all ran towards me. I let my dog go as I knew this is what you should do. The cows ran at my dog. My dog panicked and ran out of the field. I slowly started to walk to the exit of the field. The cows then ran at me. They formed a semi circle around me. They were all pushing each other out of the way to try to get to me. They pushed me against the fence. I was very scared and was silently crying. I phoned my friend who is a dairy farmer. She told me to stamp my right foot and wave my arm. They moved back so I could gently ease out of the field. Thankfully a member of the public had my dog. My arm was covered in blood from where I had been shoved against the barbed wire. I was so scared. I genuinely thought I was going to die.”

“I honestly feel like I did everything right. I have no idea why they charged at me or wouldn’t leave me alone. After I left the field they were mooing very loudly. It was a terrifying experience.”

Ben was lucky to be fit and able to run and wants paths to be safe for other walkers.

Incident number: 771

Response number: 289,519,286

30th August 2023

The Goyt valley, Romiley

I was walking alone without a dog for an evening walk and headed down a public footpath from Overdale Road to Dark Lane (Goyt Valley). I saw that cows were on the field where they had not usually been seen. I walked a bit more slowly and was under the impression they would leave me alone. As the field path became a wooded path and then went down a relatively steep embankment ,(I was almost completely past them) I noticed a black cow in my peripheral vision come charging at me from behind. I quickly ran down part of the embankment to hide behind a tree. The cow waited at the ridge above and continued looking towards me. By this point it was essentially off the field and on the wooded path. I weighed up my options: I could probably have climbed the tree as I am active and climb a lot, but didn’t know where to go from there. In the end I ran further down the embankment with a view to hide behind another tree further away. I judged (I don’t know how accurately) the cow would have a difficult time running down the steep incline, and there were several other trees to barrier the way. Once it became clear the cow was not following me I ran to the style and got onto the fenced path as quickly as possible. I thankfully came out with no injuries but was extremely lucky to have caught the cow charging at me from the edges of my vision. Once home and safe I shared a laugh at my own expense with my family about having been charged at whilst out for a peaceful stroll, but it was honestly one of the most frightening experiences of my life – I have very little experience with cattle and didn’t know the right thing to do. I’ve told my family not to go down that field if they see cows on it as I know they frequent that route, however it is a public right of way! I’ve since done some Googling on how to safely traverse fields of cattle as I was quite ignorant of any danger. I was fortunate to be near the edge of the field and something of a viable escape route, if I had been charged at earlier on in the open field I would probably have fared a lot worse.

Ben says “I’d just like the route to be safe for walkers.”