I tried to stand up, but got knocked down again…
In August 2015, two of us were walking along a public footpath with my dog on a lead. We were on the outskirts of Stithians, Cornwall.
Continue reading “CT’s Story: surrounded and trampled”Suddenly, the cows charged right at us.
In April, 2019, me and my wife wanted to use a public footpath to walk into Retford. So, we started walking along a footpath which runs from Grove, through some fields, and down to Grove Coach Road.
Continue reading “Matt’s story: chased over barbed wire”I constantly relive the nightmare… the flashbacks are utterly terrifying and extremely distressing.
On the 6th July, 2020, I was walking a very familiar footpath, in the far west of Cornwall. I was with my daughter and two grandchildren, and we had our two dogs on leads. The path was very well-used. All of us including the dogs were very used to country walking.
Continue reading “Melanie’s Story: seriously injured by cattle attack.”I was knocked to the ground, and knocked out.
in 2015, my husband and I were walking along a footpath near Buckingham, following a route we had found in a walking guidebook. We had our two Gordon Setters with us, both on a lead.
We entered a field. There were no warning signs about cattle, and to start with we didn’t see any cows in the field, but then they suddenly appeared. It was a herd of Limousin cows with calves, and with a bull among them.
The cows ran at us, and went for our older dog and knocked him down. He lay so still, we thought he was dead. My husband managed to pick up the dog, and then the cows started attacking me.
I was knocked to the ground, and knocked out.
I recovered consciousness after a few seconds and managed to get up for a moment, before falling down again. From then on, my memory of what happened is very unclear, and most of my story is based on what my husband told me afterwards.
My husband was also knocked down, but he jumped up again and tried to push the cows away from me. He set both dogs off their leads so they could escape, and the younger one ran away, but the older one just lay still on the ground.
The bull actually saved us, as he seemed to lead the cows away.
I got up again – although I have no memory of this – and managed to walk to the stile. I climbed over the stile and collapsed on the other side. Was totally unable to walk any further. Luckily there was a road there, and my husband flagged down some people in a car. We had no phone reception, but somebody drove to find a mobile signal, and they called an ambulance.
While we were waiting for the ambulance, a farm hand came over. He asked which cow had attacked us, and pointed out one in the herd. “Was it that one?” Thinking about this afterwards, it was clear there were some cows in the field who were known to be aggressive, and the farm hand knew it.
I was taken to the Radcliffe Infimary, where I had an MRI scan. It was discovered I had a fractured sternum and a fracture of my top cervical vertebra, at C1. I was concussed, but did not need any immediate emergency treatment, and they let me go home the same day.
Actually I was lucky. If the C1 vertebra had fractured right across, I could have ended up dead from brain stem injury.
Afterwards, I suffered from back pain. I’d never had back pain before, but required several sessions of osteopathy to help me recover.
Our old dog survived the attack. We think he played dead when he was first knocked down, and this probably saved his life. Sadly, he has since died, but he was an elderly dog and we have no way of knowing if the incident shortened his life.
I’m not better yet. My main problem is severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which has badly affected my life. I get extremely anxious if something is approaching at speed. This makes it impossible for me to drive on a motorway, and for a long time I couldn’t even sit in the front passenger seat of a car. After multiple sessions of a type of treatment called ‘Somatic Experiencing’, I’ve made some progress towards recovery. But I still have a long way to go.
Before this happened, I was fit and healthy, and a confident person. I was brought up with animals and am a qualified osteopath. In the past, I’ve given osteopathic treatment to cattle, and was always confident around cattle and never frightened of cows.
I was also a keen long distance walker. Now I only go for short walks to take the dogs out. If I want to do a longer walk, I usually go out with my husband. He saved my life that day.
Every time I go out, I have to plan the route carefully to avoid walking anywhere where there might be cows.
We did sue the farmer and eventually won some financial compensation. But nothing, of course, makes up for the trauma of the experience.
This has changed my life completely. Just thinking back and talking about what happened makes me feel distressed and shaky.
Top Image by Michael Gornig from Pixabay
Image of husband with dogs was supplied by the victim.
I was knocked unconscious.
On the 3rd of July, 2017, I was walking with my husband along the Calderdale Way. We were close to Norwood Green, Halifax, in West Yorkshire. There were no warning signs about cattle on display, and we didn’t have a dog with us.
A group of Limousin cows were lying down in the far corner of the field. We kept as far away as possible to the right hand side of the field. The cows started to stir, but we kept walking calmly. Continue reading “Attacked by a Limousin cow”
A tragic example of how even an experienced farmer can come to grief.
We were very sad to learn of yet another death caused by cattle.
According to news reports, David Thomlinson (73) was working on his farm in Cumbria, when he was tragically killed in a ‘farm accident’ on the 8th June. The incident is still being investigated, but it appears the farmer was handling a young calf and was attacked by the calf’s mother.
David was famous as a livestock auctioneer, and was also a very experienced cattle farmer. Although Limousin cattle have a reputation for being rather aggressive, it was a breed he was very familiar with. In fact, David had bred pedigree Limousin cattle on his farm for the past forty years. In addition, he was a former Chairman of the North West Limousin Cattle Breeders Association and had been President of the British Limousin Cattle Society.
His tragic death is an example of how even the most experienced of farmers can come to grief when handling cattle.
We offer our sincere condolences to his family and his colleagues.
Limousin cows are the breed we most often feature in our Horror Stories section.
Why? Because they are now the commonest type of beef cattle farmed in the UK, and because Limousin cows do seem to be more aggressive than traditional British breeds.
It’s not just humans who are at risk. Just look at what happened in Ireland, when a swan made the mistake of landing in a field of Limousins.
The entire herd charged the poor bird, intent on trampling it. Luckily the swan was eventually rescued, and is recovering on a nearby lake.
Read the whole story in the Irish Mirror.
Photo of swan being chased by the herd of cattle: photo credit Dan Linehan.
Anita only survived because her dog raised the alarm.
I was 80 years old in September 2015, and very fit and active. I had planned to spend two weeks on a walking holiday in Northumbria with my daughter, Helen. We drove up from Lincolnshire, set up our camper van on the camp site, and decided to go for a walk.
We took our three dogs with us. I have a little Jack Russell. My daughter had a Border Collie (Meg) and a German Shepherd cross (Holly). Holly was a timid dog, frightened of cars, and little did we know that Holly was shortly going to save our lives.
We walked down a lane, crossed a busy road, and climbed over a high stile. The field was huge and seemed empty of livestock. In the distance was Hadrian’s Wall, and we thought it would be nice to follow the public footpath towards it.
Some way across the large field, we came upon a herd of black limousin cows and their brown-coloured calves. There were probably about 30 cows. They came towards us, bellowing and mooing loudly, making a terrible racket.
We dropped the leads so the dogs could run off. I can remember them hurtling past us and away from the cows. By this time we were a very long way from the stile, and along the side of the field was a barbed wire fence that I couldn’t climb over.
I caught my foot in a rut on the path and fell over, hitting my head. What happened next is a little vague, but I think the cows must have rolled me over, kicking my legs, because later I discovered my legs were covered in bruises.
I remember calling out to my daughter, Helen. I didn’t realise that one of the cows had tossed Helen and thrown her to the ground. Bravely, she picked herself up and came to help me. I was bleeding from my head. Blood everywhere.
Luckily, nearby, there was a feeder for calves. It was a big structure with bars that were wide enough for calves to get through, but not wide enough for cows. I couldn’t walk on my own. Helen dragged me over to the feeder and we crawled underneath it.
The cows surrounded the feeder, pushing their noses through the bars as if trying to get to us. They continued making a noise. We couldn’t stand up, just stayed crouching and sitting under the feeder, surrounded by cows.
This went on for over an hour. It was terrifying.
We later learnt what happened to the dogs. Meg (the Border Collie) got her lead caught on the stile on the way out of the field. Holly (the timid German Shepherd cross) somehow managed to cross the busy road and return to the campsite, where she raised the alarm by barking. People followed her, rescued Meg, and then realised there was a problem in the field with the cows.
The police arrived and a medic in a car. It took some effort on their part to shoo the cows away. I remember most of the cows eventually wandered off, but there was one cow who seemed to be the matriarch and was particularly aggressive. She was making the most noise. After a while, she gave up trying to attack us and followed the other cows up the field.
The medic had to crawl under the feeder to treat me. I had the cut on my head, but also had pins and needles in my arms. I thought the pins and needles were simply due to shock, but the medic put a collar around my neck.
I couldn’t get out from under the feeder, so people had to physically lift up the structure and move it, a few inches at a time, until I was free. I was placed on a stretcher and a helicopter arrived – an air ambulance. I remember the medics had to cut my clothes off and I was worried about getting cold.
The air ambulance took me to Newcastle Infirmary.
I have only vague memories of the next few days. Apparently they discovered I had a vertebral dislocation in my neck (between C5 and C6) and that was the cause of the pins and needles. By this stage, I couldn’t move my left arm. I was on traction for 4 days to try to remove the pressure on the nerves at the place where my neck was dislocated. The doctors needed to operate and told my children I could possibly become quadriplegic, and I might even die.
Luckily the operation was a success. I survived.
I was in Newcastle Infirmary for over five weeks. Because of the problem with my arms, I couldn’t look after myself and my daughter had to visit every day to look after me while I was in the hospital. She was still staying in the camper van, with three dogs to look after, and had to take time off work to do this.
I discovered there was going to be a long wait for neuro-rehabilitation in Newcastle, so I got myself home, and later was admitted to Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield for specialist rehabilitation. I stayed there during the week and went home at weekends. I was there for another 5 weeks.
My household insurance paid for a neuro-physiotherapist to continue treating me at home. This treatment continued for over a year, and I had my last session a few weeks ago.
It’s nearly 2 years since the injury. I still can’t use my left arm or my left hand properly. It feels like I’m wearing a thick rubber glove on my hand. My right hand is much better, but I continue to feel pins and needles. I drop things and am clumsy. Before this happened, I enjoyed sewing, knitting and card making. I also played the clarinet and was planning on learning to play the piano. Now I can’t do any of those things.
As I often say, I now lack “nimblitude”.
I prefer to eat with my fingers (when nobody else is around!) because I have difficulty using cutlery. I cut up meat with a pair of scissors, so that I can eat it one-handed. I have to carry things – like milk bottles – clasped to my chest, because I don’t have the strength to carry them in my hand.
Luckily I can walk and get around. I used to ride a bicycle, but can’t manage to balance because of my weak left arm, so I use a motorised tricycle instead. I must be a nuisance at traffic lights, because I take so long to get going.
Sometime after I returned home, I was contacted by a solicitor from Bristol and we are suing the farmer for damages. The farmer has admitted he did not make any effort to keep his cows with their calves away from the footpath. The case comes to court in September. If I win, I intend to give some money back to the air ambulance service.
Sadly, my daughter’s dog, the timid German Shepherd cross, Holly, is now slowly dying from cancer. We still can’t believe the dog managed to raise the alarm and save our lives. Without her, I truly believe we wouldn’t have survived.
Cattle Safety 