Report: 1176
Date: 3/8/25
Location: ///rattler.fulfilled.beaters near Long Lawford, Warwickshire
2 people 1 dog
Report: “I was walking with my partner on our normal route to walk our dog and noticed in the distance some cows on one side of the bridge that we needed to cross. There was a lady and a gentleman walking towards us who appeared to have already come from that direction. My dog was heeling next to me off lead as we passed the man and woman, though I put him onto a short lead soon after this so we could get past the cattle. (We practice this often with cattle, sheep and horses, and he is always very focused on me.) We were quite close to the herd, maybe 3 meters, and they were stationary, all on the left hand side of the bridge – about 4 young calves were closest to the bridge/river. As we were about 5 meters from reaching the bridge, one cow started to charge towards me, then moo’d, I let go of my dogs lead who ran away towards the right hand side of the bridge, and the cow headbutted me to the floor. I think another cow must have turned to look at the dog as I was suddenly surrounded by at least two cows, as I was in the floor and pinned between two cows. I stood up as quick as I could, but was still being headbutted while doing so.
I was shouting with my arms up to try and appear larger, backing away slowly and trying to get towards the bridge. Luckily I was close enough to the bridge to get through, the dog was close next to it so I could call him through, and my partner was already safe behind the barrier. They were both unharmed. During the incident I realised I had dropped my phone, so I stayed on the bridge for about 5/10 minutes to see if the herd would move. The two people who we had recently passed were at the other side of the field behind a gate and shouted if we were ok – I shouted back that we were all ok, but I had dropped my phone. I think this shouting then scared the herd who walked away towards a house. I was then safely able to retrieve my phone from the ground and go back home, noticing that I had a painful right hip and painful left shin.
My left shin is very swollen, I am able to walk ok but I needed to ice as soon as I was home. I’m unsure if the shin injury is from being headbutted or not, as I can’t remember if one or two cows were headbutting me. There is a small bruise currently though I feel it will spread due to the amount of swelling. My right hip is also bruised – I think this was from being head butted as this side is where the main cow was attacking me from.
I walk this route often and there are no signs about cows, I haven’t seen them in this part of the field before. There are horses the other side of the field and there are sometimes signs about not feeding the horses, but no signs about cows
I feel like it was completely my fault, and I shouldn’t have even tried to go near the cows with their young. I was more focused on keeping my dog in heel so he wouldn’t sniff or interfere with the cows – I didn’t even think the cows would attack, and now I feel quite stupid! Especially since my partner has been chased by cows before and fears them, the fact that two people had already walked from that direction made me feel like we would be fine. I don’t blame the cattle for protecting their young, though I wish I had been wiser. I am lucky that no one was trampled, as it was very close.”
Cattle Safety 