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Apparently what you're meant to do is stop walking, they'll lose interest and then you can start walking again. You may need to repeat this stop / start process a couple of times. Shouting at them and waving arms about shouldn't be done, although I've heard people say that that's what you should do. Worst thing to do is speed up / run. Essentially they're bored and see you as something interesting fun, so if you stop they lose interest.
However cows with calves are always a bit concerning, apparently you should never get between a calf and its mother (may be difficult).
As for he dog, it should be let off lead if they start showing interest.
"It’s also an offence for dogs to attack or chase livestock and farmers are allowed to shoot dogs that are worrying, or are about to worry, farm animals. This is set out in section 9 of the Animals Act 1971, which also states that the farmer isn’t liable to compensate the dog’s owner in such circumstances. "
hmmm, I know a butchers round that way. wonder if there'll be some cut-price Highland steaks on offer soon.
OP has been named and this thread has been cited in a Facebook post by someone claiming that MTBers ride past him at 40mph
A local ride for me. The cattle have been a feature for years. They've always been intimidating, with those horns, but I've never actually had an issue - actually rather placid. Wouldn't want to piss one off mind...
It always struck me as a bit strange that the farmer chose a field traversed by one of the busiest paths in the area to regularly graze such potentially dangerous animals (note emphasis on "potentially"). One of those situations, where he should be able to keep his animals where he likes, but common sense would suggest he doesn't do it just there. I slightly wonder if he had a point to make.
The HSE made a suggestion that the herd should be relocated after a single complaint. Unfortunately this seems to be a standard response whilst any investigation is planned (or not, as no assessment has yet been undertaken at the site).
There is no suggestion that there have been any other complaints, nor that the herd was acting unusually or aggressively.
Sorry, was just going from the direct quote from the farmer which said he had been ordered, and that there had been a series of incidents. Whether or not there was more than one complaint, it doesn't say.
“It’s also an offence for dogs to attack or chase livestock and farmers are allowed to shoot dogs that are worrying, or are about to worry, farm animals. This is set out in section 9 of the Animals Act 1971, which also states that the farmer isn’t liable to compensate the dog’s owner in such circumstances. “
I don't think it's right to conflate that with the issue of a well-controlled dog on a PROW, which doesn't fall into the category covered by the Act above.
a bit strange that the farmer chose a field traversed by one of the busiest paths in the area
It is not uncommon for all of a farmers grazing fields to include public RoW's, which is why there is often conflict when asked to relocate.
Maybe that is the only suitable field for its occupants and if ordered by the HSE to remove the herd, would have to let them go as no alternative could be found?
going from the direct quote from the farmer
There seems to be a lot of unfounded comments, speculation and exaggeration from all sides in this.
There are several reasons why a farmer will choose to put stock in a given field. Animals get moved from field to field once they've eaten all the grass or they've dropped enough muck. They might be moved to allow grass to grow in hay meadows. They might be moved when splitting calves from their mothers - usually out of earshot of one another. The field might be more weather proof. etc., etc.
Never had a problem with them in the Peak but only been past them on the bike or when we have been walking. Not had the dog with us though.
Bit of a shame that they have had to be moved on.
Just legged it when the ones in Verbier get too close and sometimes had to sacrifice the girls.
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Interview with the farmer at 1hr 46min. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0706wxs?fbclid=IwAR2Wy_hqvAIleZ7sm6UijI96rTdSlBwgYR8_F8gc85rFi3cwab8eec9sn-E
He was told to move the herd off the back of this one complaint. Nowhere else suitable on his property as they graze best on upland areas rather than pastures. Other herds in other fields.
His only alternative was to sell the herd. No-one wants to buy adults unless they're in calf, so most of them were destroyed.
Gutting that it's taken this turn off the back of a complaint that should been rejected by the HSE, or at least with proper consultation with the farmer. No-one was injured so quite why he should be forced to move the animals is beyond me.
HSE: "The matter has been satisfactorily resolved" - satisfactory to who? The farmer? The OP? I very much doubt either party would be happy with this outcome.
His only alternative was to sell the herd. No-one wants to buy adults unless they’re in calf, so most of them were destroyed.
Well done to the complainer,hope they now feel suitably shit about the whole episode.
Not knowing the layout of said field, could he not have segregated the cows from the path with an electric fence?
He admitted the cows "had a go" at the dog, which was on a lead, but said no-one was injured.
Mr Birch admitted there had occasionally been problems before but they had always been dealt with privately.
so not really an isolated incident then.
Not knowing the layout of said field, could he not have segregated the cows from the path with an electric fence?
Nah, the result would have been shocking
Well done to the complainer,hope they now feel suitably shit about the whole episode.
Right, I'll probably unadvisedly wade in in his defence.
I know the OP/complainer, and have done for over 30 years. He's not a townie, he's lived in and around the countryside his entire life and most, if not all, of his leisure pursuits revolve around the 'great outdoors'; walking, running, biking, climbing, camping etc etc. He's also not an idle moaner and, knowing him as well as I do, the incident would have had to have been particularly significant to prompt him to contact HSE.
His dog was under control, on a lead. The calves were not visible from the path, there were no signs to say there were calves in the field, so he had no way of knowing that they were there. The request from the HSE was that cows should not be kept in that area with calves, not that they be removed altogether.
And, yes, I bet he does feel a bit shit about the outcome, but was justified in his actions.
There seems to be a lot of unfounded comments, speculation and exaggeration from all sides in this.
Indeed.
OP has been named and this thread has been cited in a Facebook post by someone claiming that MTBers ride past him at 40mph
It was only a matter of time - NIMBYs with an axe to grind will always find a way.
The same ones who complain that 'kids played outside when I were a lad, none of this Playstation nonsense'.......then put up 'No Ball Games' signs anywhere within half of mile of their house and ring the police every time a child shouts within earshot.
someone claiming that MTBers ride past him at 40mph
To be fair, that could be the OP 🙂
Not knowing the layout of said field, could he not have segregated the cows from the path with an electric fence?
Would be a long section of new fencing, plus you'd lose all the grazing between the BW and Baslow Edge. Can't see it making economic sense, and would probably get more complaints from people moaning about fencing off a large tract of attractive heather moor.
Not sure what 'dealt with privately' means in the above quote, given that the farmer had no means to sort the problem other than the one he's just taken.
Thanks for the personal character reference IHN, but regardless of how outdoorsy the OP is or is not , he failed to assess the potential risk .He then wandered in to a serious situation with his family and an old dog . It doesn’t matter if the calves could be seen or not, if you are approaching a large group of livestock you need to be thinking about what could happen and plan your route through accordingly. If that means going around a different field or even turning back completely then so be it.
.
he failed to assess the potential risk .He then wandered in to a serious situation with his family and an old dog .
Unless you are
a) the OP
b) his wife
c) one of his daughters
d) a now homeless Highland cow
you weren't there and you don't actually know what happened.
I've been watching this thread for a couple of days to see how it develops.
I can assure people that I will never be 'happy' when healthy animals are destroyed, but the decision for that to be done was well out of my control. However, with the farmer admitting that there had been problems before, (which presumably had gone unaddressed) and the HSE concluding the animals (with calves) posed an unacceptable risk to the public my decision to report the incident is validated.
For those of you that think I acted inappropriately, I suggest you consider how you would feel had you not reported the incident but then heard that someone had been subsequently killed or badly injured. - That is not a situation I want on my conscience.
Fasthaggis - You are clearly being confrontational. However, I am happy to admit that with the benefit of hindsight I made the wrong call on the day to enter the field with a dog. Regardless of my decision, with a busy footpath running through the field there was a real and likely possibility that same 'wrong call' would be made by numerous other people who may not be as lucky as me and the family. - See paragraph above.
Sadly wrong cattle in the wrong place, a herd of Longhorn and they wouldn’t have bothered you.
Say hello to all the non-STWers who are reading this thread on the witch-hunt. Hello everyone.
Hello!
Had a lively debate at work with a colleague at work who was up in arms after reading the BBC report.
Seems to me that there must be dozens of occasions every year where walkers have worrying and potentially dangerous interactions with cattle and other livestock here in the East Midlands, let alone the ones you read about where people are injured or killed. This is only the second time in 20 years living up here that I can recall a report of a farmer taking/having to take this kind action.
On that basis, I suggested that there is probably a lot more to this story than the BBC report suggests for this action to have been taken.
Unusually, my colleague thought that reasoned argument might be right.
Where would the nearest available alternative RoW be? Obviously in Scotland you could double back to the field entrance, and just loop around it -- in this scenario, an alternative might be a long way away and impractical.
As the witch hunt continues on numerous Facebook pages, this appears to feature the same cattle in the same location
I’ve tried to inform the braying mob on a couple of fb pages, sadly it’s like peeing into the wind
It certainly is
Trying to justify the unjustifiable often is like pissing in the wind. I’m guessing.
Hi tr
Sounds like the OP was correct to report this incident - it sounds as though this wasn't an isolated incident. Ultimately the HSE and the farmer decided the outcome.
The farmer has a responsibility to ensure that the public RoW across the land is safe to use - this clearly wasn't the case.
Dunno, isn't it stay the fark away from large animals generally if loose - bloody simple. It's an animal, it's not your trained dog or cat ?
As said earlier, this type of cattle are generally pretty docile and fine to be amongst, however they had calves - which were unknown and unseen to/by the OP. Had the OP known this he wouldn’t have gone near them. Sadly the cows turned on him, there should’ve been warnings or the herd kept away from Rights of ways. He quite rightly raised this issue with the correct authorities, sadly the farmer decided he had to sell/kill the herd
Dunno, isn’t it stay the fark away from large animals generally if loose
Yep, indeed. I do lots of walking and if I'm unsure will give animals a very wide berth or find an alternative route. But they were unseen by the OP coupled with inadequate signage meant there was indeed a risk.
There had been previous incidents which had been dealt with "privately" (whatever that means) so sounds like there were missed opportunities to address any potential problems. A sad outcome but not one the OP had any control over.
And yet there is a growing call for rewilding and an introduction of species like wolves and lynx to the British countryside.
I'm not sure they are talking about introducing wolves to Stanage Plantation. Although it would make the bouldering more interesting. 🙂
This is effectively an outdoorsy theme park less than an hour from two major cities. Occasional conflict with farming interests is inevitable given the scale of visitor numbers.
In this case, it may well be earlier incidents with loose dogs has triggered this ongoing aggressive response in the herd. TBH if my herd had caused significant injury to walkers on such a popular path, as in the earlier incident where someone had to be airlifted, I would already be considering whether it is appropriate to keep them there in future.
The OP has done nothing wrong. His dog was on a lead. The calves were hidden. And you do tend to make a judgement (wrongly in this case) that a herd situated on such a busy track would be acclimatised to the presence of walkers and dogs.
The incident could have resulted in serious injury or worse to him or his family. While it is a shame that the herd has clearly been repeatedly spooked in the past, this is not the kind of thing that could be 'dealt with privately', as the farmer would prefer.
I’ve tried to inform the braying mob on a couple of fb pages, sadly it’s like peeing into the wind
You must be joking, this is a NIMBY wet dream. Even though there was no mountain bike involved in this incident at all, the mere fact that this was posted (probably ill advisedly) on a mountain bike forum will have them frothing and ranting. The generally good advice on this thread and the odd photo of (horror of horrors) people (and even kids) enjoying the outdoors on bikes, won’t make a jot of difference. The (obviously joking and flippant) comment about cheap steaks however, will be picked up and requoted over and over.
FWIW I love riding in the Peaks and the vast majority of walkers are nice people enjoying the countryside too. A tiny minority are just perpetually grumpy people who, if they really looked at themselves, would realise that their real problem is that they hate everything and everybody - and are incapable of taking joy in anything!
But that is the same anywhere.
And yet there is a growing call for rewilding and an introduction of species like wolves and lynx to the British countryside.
Sounds wonderful, but nowhere near me, right?
There are now “the true story” vids of an interview with the farmer being posted. Not watched yet but can’t help but feel it’ll be very one sided and lack facts about the OP’s complaint
And 😂 at your last paragraph
From the forums when pushed to get the balance
"The Birch's explained they had very little explanation & a confused one in the video. We only know his first name from an online forum post and of course can't ask Alex and Steph for his full name because of GDPR rules. If he wants to chat he can message us."
Sadly wrong <st&dt;cattle </st&dt; pet in the wrong place,
ftfy
I hope the farmer's business can recover from this.
😢