Cows bloody cows

[plodding bear]

Is a horse being fully black a factor in it's aggressiveness? I've never had a problem with horses, but I have had nasty experiences with cows occasionally.
Also, someone earlier posted that dairy cows were usually fine - I thought them was the buggers, and beef cattle (or bulls) were normally pretty placid?

[Graeme78]

I think it is dairy cattle, especially the bulls that tend to be more aggressive, probably all that testosterone from having to constantly 'deliver the goods' all the time if you get my meaning. That said a good bull on your farm is worth it's weight, a pedigree bull will set you back a bit.

[Multiterrainer]

Be especially wary of fully black horses- seriously- one once suddenly grabbed a friend of mine by the leg in its mouth and dangled her upside down banging her head on the floor. The animal knew her well as it was resident at her stables, but it just turned on her as she was mucking it out one day and knew exactly what to do to inflict serious damage to a human.

I don't think many of us will be intending to do a bit of mucking out while out running or walking Luke!

Seriously that was bad news yesterday about the couple in Nottinghamshire and reading such things makes me even more wary of cattle and horses, although I've always tried to give them a wide berth as much as possible anyway.

[emmilou]

It's a tragic story indeed. I hate bloody cows and have had so many close encounters with them I think I've developed a real phobia I've been charged at on a couple of occasions and the dog theory is all very well but if the bleedin dog is a. a whimp and b. trained to run at heel then your as close to the cows as the dog is and have no 'distraction' at all!!

Fridays run and I bumped into this lot...I'd already run into the field the herd saw me then chased me so I hot footed it back the way and jumped back over the little fence :boohoo: the only to get through was to run up a hill negotiate a barbed wire fence and LEG IT back down the field to the opposite side squeeling all the way!!

The worst experience I had was in Hayfield - lethal things

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[Flopsy]

They went for you because you had a dog, if you'd have let it off the lead you may have diverted their attention.

Opening out your jacket to increase your visual size is the first thing i do.

Horses have lost their fear of humans because they have been domesticated, there isn't much you can do to scare a horse as a person on your own if you're acted on aggressively and the best thing to do is never to get into a situation with horses where you don't have an escape route.

(apologies, don't know why that didn't quote properly)


Yes know that they went for us because of the dog but as emmilou quite rightly pointed out we train our dogs to stay with us so they are not about to go bounding off away from us just becuase there are cows around. My dog is terrified of cows and will hide behind our legs at the sight of them (despite being a german shepherd cross).

If you read my post you will see that my husband was flapping his arms out wide and making himself bigger and shouting at them, they weren't fazed by it all.

You are speaking like someone who has never been attacked by cows, and like I said a year or two ago I would have said the same as you. But having been in that position I now know different. Hope you never have to find out first hand.

As for the comment about horse I can only assume that you don't have much to do with horses. They can be the most jumpy irrational animals, including with humans. Domesticated or not with strangers they can still be jumpy. You'd never let yourself get cornered in their box but IMO are unlikely to get into difficulties in a field becuase their instinct is to stay away from danger. I'd always keep my dog well away from them but mainly cause they are so damn jumpy I wouldn't want the dog getting hurt. Luckily he's scared of horses too and so stays well away!!

[XRunner]

...[/QUOTE

(apologies, don't know why that didn't quote properly)

It didn't quote properly because you missed out the ] at the end of the final [/QUOTE

You can always go back and edit it.

[andygib1982]

Did anyone see Country File ? Adam the farmer had to seperate the calfs from the Mum,one tried to escape in the field he ran after it and waved at it to shift it.Brave man

[Stolly]

I did research and there has been about 58 deaths from cows in the last 5 years. That to me is not insignificant.

The odds of being killed by a cow = getting on for 1 in 15,000,000; you stand more chance of winning the lottery

The odds of a cow being killed by a human in a year = 1 in 2

[Brotherton Lad]

Most of those killed by cows are farmers and vets. 12 deaths by cow a year is much less than the 50 a year killed whilst gardening.

[Stolly]

12 deaths by cow a year and people are scared of walking through fields. 3000 road traffic deaths a year but everyone is fine with driving

(You can prove anything with statistics)