the animal the farmer has put in the field could be dangerous.
Well, sorry to say, it could – would you prefer to pretend that it wasn’t true? Its a big scary world out there and the countryside is a working landscape, Bulls can be dangerous, so can cows, so can lots of other species.
‘Could’ is not the same as ‘is’ or ‘is known to be’!
HSE guidance on the precise wording ‘beware of the bull” is mixed, more recent guidance says that you should ‘avoid’ the word ‘beware’ however older guidance saw nothing wrong with it, decades of Rights of way law have seen nothing wrong with the phrase, though more recently ‘some’ PROW officers have begun to say it ‘could’ be intimidating to ‘some’ people (largely based on the more recent HSE guidance) – However it would be wildly inaccurate to say it was illegal, ‘not recommended’ does not equate to illegal or unacceptable
If it is actually dangerous or not is irrelevant – the message is effectively saying that the public right of way is not assuredly safe to cross.
Well, to me as someone who grew up in the countryside, it says nothing more than ‘take care’ – by that I mean I wouldn’t dream of taking a dog in there, but would be more than happy to walk through it,
Then again as someone who grew up in the countryside I wouldn’t dream of taking a dog in a field full of cows with calves either, and that seems to happen all the time now, with predictable results! Townies have got a lot to answer for!