My wifes uncle was killed by cows in the late 90’s at Threlkeld. It was largely brushed off as misadventure in the inquest.

The same herd a few years later seriously hurt one of the farmers and killed another in two seperate incidents.

I have been in two very close incidents myself both times with a dog around this time of year when calfs are in the fields. The young cows are incredibly inquisitive whilst the mothers are 3/4 tonne and very protective. Give them a very wide berth especially if you have a dog.

Were you carrying a bucket full of feed at the time?

Just askin like.

Herded an escaped cow on my last ride – it was on the cycle path that lead to the dual carriageway. I felt like I was in the Blues Brothers 🙂
Another time the other herd on that hill congregated by a gate on the SDW – there was 1 group of MTB’ers, a couple of walkers and a single MTB’er all looking at them nervously. I just bowled in there with some loud “Mooooooove” “Yah” “Shift” etc… and cleared them.

BUT they can be protective of calves, try not to get between the calf and mum. Friesians can be tricky especially around pregnant women (it’s the hormones or something) a friend of mine (wife of a livestock vet) got attacked by a herd whilst pregnant with her second child.

But mostly remember it’s all a confidence trick – you tell them you’re boss and they believe you.

DaRC_L leaves a lost cow in a safe place for the farmer to find;

To shift the topic slightly from bovine to equine, are horses in a field quite dangerous too?

I only ask as a few months back a ride was halted by horses as we weren’t sure whether they would, umm attack us. There were two and we gave them a wide berth but when they spotted us, started galloping over. We hotfooted it over a fence but didn’t want to risk going through their field again – they seemed quite territorial.

Do horses attack?

I have been in two very close incidents myself both times with a dog

well you’ve got it coming to be honest!

Do horses attack?

Neigh.

It’s a little racist there DaRC_L most breeds have protectiveness issues, friesians can be very common in a lot of areas.

Having grown up on a farm and worked with livestock for a good 15 years confidence is one thing but also discretion is important. Not being in the wrong place or leaving if the situation is not good. Dogs are not the best thing to have with you this time of year anyway with lots of lambs around and cows and calves. I said it earlier if you have a dog on a lead and it’s getting ugly leg go of the dog, hopefully it will out run them to a fence. Think twice about heading into a field of cows & calves with a dog too.

To shift the topic slightly from bovine to equine, are horses in a field quite dangerous too?

Generally, no. Exception is when you have a dog in the same field as a stallion, who won’t think twice about trying to kill it if he considers it a threat.

Horses will crowd around you for food or attention which can be intimidating if they start bickering with each other. I’ve never been unable to chase a horse away (look it directly in the eye and move towards it with arms wide and fingers spread apart).

Ultimately, horses are wimps. Cows are thugs.

I came round a bend on a night ride straight into the side of a cow, like hitting a hot wall, it barely registered me thank goodness.

Sounds like quite the experience!

and fingers spread apart

they really *hate* counting fingers but feel obliged to either try or run away?

treat with respect, especially the shaggy ones with sharp horns that have been wandering around the campsite descent recently

Not much room to maneuver when it’s trotting at you along there, between the stone walls. I hid behind my bike as it thundered slowly past. 😯

Am usually OK with cows and the like but last year there was one on the bridleway with a calf that had been stillborn. There was blood and afterbirth wrong all over the place and the poor animal was bellowing in a most disconcerting way.

Going back wasn’t an option so we stayed there for a few minutes until the cow had calmed down (slightly) then kind of edged our way round. Really sad to see it looking at us and then nuzzling its dead calf 🙁

[url=https://flic.kr/p/naPsYn]IMG_0390[/url] by SGMTB, on Flickr

those 650B wheels really make the stampede come alive.

those 650B wheels really make the stampeded rider come alive

Forget the cows…it’s these killers you should worry about 😉

Stopped us dead in our track they did.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/naQNbC]Killer Sheeps[/url] by SGMTB, on Flickr

When i was doing my apprenticeship a fellow aprentice spent 3 years building a kit car, mini marcos, took it out for a first drive, a herd of cows spooked in a field ran towards fence and straight over his car, destroyed the bodywork and i think some cows had to be killed.

Last summer had to cross a field with some cows on a cycle path, chatting to a few fellow cyclists, i pointed out they didnt like red as most of the riders were wearing red, they looked absolutely petrified when the cows started to get closer.

And totally off topic if attacked by an ostrich always raise one hand above the head and make a hand sign like an ostritch, the ostrich will think youre a bigger ostrich and walk away.

Greatest danger is when they try flying – they’re really crap at it and keep crashing on people. Just google ‘killed by falling cow’ to see how common this is. One near me:

Womans narrow escape from falling cow

I can see that I’ve completely failed to take cows seriously (I have worked on a dairy farm and have never had a problem with them).
I was riding through a field in Perthshire with my son a few years ago when a group of cows charged towards us. Ever the responsible parent I said “watch this son..” waited until they were 20 yards away before saying “boo!” and making a slight movement in their direction; mass bovine panic was the result.
Maybe I’ve only ever met nice cows??

wwwas: That picture reminds me of that night out in Aberdeen awhile back!! 😯

Redthunder, those aren’t killer sheep, they’re the decoys; the killer sheep are up the tree, just waiting to drop on you!

Fair play Chickenman, it’s an approach I would normally take but not one I’d advise others to do sometimes. There is a level of understanding required that in reality you are wandering through a work place not a landscape painting.