The unfortunate hiker had no doubt inadvertently posed a threat of some sort, and prompted a fight or flight response from the animals. Had he known how to control the situation and manage the beasts calmly and confidently the outcome would have been opposite. I see his condition is critical, i hope he recovers.
Recently when out running with a group above Staveley we came between a group of cows and a farmer, who had appeared behind us on his quad bike. The cows started running towards him, perhaps thinking his presence meant food; they then changed direction slightly and started running towards us. Despite standing tall/shouting they continued to run towards us and we had to leave the field - luckily this was not too difficult. Very frightening.
I experienced 2 seperate instances of large groups of heffa's acting far too quizzically this weekend - running across the field to inspect us at speed. If we hadn't been seperated by a wall I wouldn't have felt safe. They didn't have any calves with them.
For the benefit of others does anyone have advice on what to do when approached by a herd of feisty heffa's / bullocks? Only advice I've heard is to wave arms / shout alot (make yourself big) but not sure if this would provoke a situation where a herd was involved
More often than not this advice is true.Originally Posted by Hurry Up
As a kid I spent all my holidays on my uncle's farm so I have a lot of experience with livestock.
Me too Dr_PB...helped with Livestock of all sorts (still do a bit)..
Be Kind, Firm, Friendly, Entertaining...and keep your cool..
Be ready to change...."direction"...quickly!!
Mostly they (like us) will be friends too..
Unless....???:w00t:...
You don't smell/smile of the right stuff
If they're running at me I run straight at them shouting at the top of my voice. They've always backed off (so far!).
Run round them rather than through them, don't split calves from their mothers and Bob's your uncle. If they trot after you, don't worry but if they start catching up just turn and face them, waving your arms and shouting 'yarghhh'. (Thats 'yarghhh', not 'yargh' or 'yarghhhhh' mind
Mind you when I'm running with Harry my border collie, some cows really, really do not like him and none of the above applies. In fact all sorts of fun and games can kick off.... but we always manage to survive.
Last edited by Stolly; 08-06-2012 at 10:14 AM.
I think you need to be cautious of them when entering a field, particularly if you have a cow in tow. They can rush at you and the cows in front sometimes get pushed into you from behind. I find generally making noise, clapping and waving limbs usually does the trick - and doing it in plenty of time before they get too close. otherwise I prefer the dancing sort.....
....I meant 'dog' in tow - not cow!
Works for me too although not sure I got the 'yarghhh' right a couple of weeks back when I had a herd of bullocks/heifers come across the field towards me - took about 5 mins of slowing down, walking away, turning to to the arm-waving/clapping & yarghhh-ing before they finally got bored and turned away. Actually they did me a favour as with it being a hot day it gave me an opportunity to slow down a bit and take on some water.Run round them rather than through them, don't split calves from their mothers and Bob's your uncle. If they trot after you, don't worry but if they start catching up just turn and face them, waving your arms and shouting 'yarghhh'. (Thats 'yarghhh', not 'yargh' or 'yarghhhhh' mind
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote