cattle

[crosshair]

Still no replies about mad horse incidents.

OTH, when you say not to be frightened, you are right in one respect, but not showing your fear sometimes can be foolish, especially with the nastier individuals.

And in answer to the comment by apache, don't ever try waving your stick at some herds I know, hoping they will go away as you say, because I promise you it won't work, and it will be then that you discover that adrenalin is brown.

[Dave-G]

Sorry but thats being naive about cattle being safe to people who know about them. Most are but there's always an exception. My base permission farmer had his pelvis crushed by one of his Charolaise bulls. He was in hopital for several months and it took him nearly a year to walk without assistance after that.

 

Myself and Roadkill were 'harrased out of a field by one of his cows, we did'nt run but had the sense to keep near the fence and dipped under it at the right time.

Edited November 18, 2010 by Dave-G

[al4x]

The most sense spoken on the subjest so far and clearly we have alot of members who are not tuned into cattle trails of thought.

 

Horses are def the most dangerous by a mile.

 

Regards OTH

 

Bull, horses are domesticated and handled by people, yes you get injuries riding and handling them but it is unheard of them to attack the public in fields. Cattle are far more unpredictable, bulls obviously can be iffy the worst I've ever been near was a pen load of bull beef. They stayed in their pen from weaning till they went to slaughter and getting them on the lorry has to rank up there with the scariest experiences I've had. Generally a length of plastic water pipe kept you with the upper hand with most cattle but not them. The number of farmers injured by their own stock is enough to rubbish the suggestion that they are not dangerous. That said I'd walk across most fields of them but would be watching them closely all the way particularly if I had the dog with me

[apache]

Still no replies about mad horse incidents.

 

I have looked but it seems that there is no reliable record that I can find of injuries caused by animals. Might have to be a freedom of information request job. I have just spent 10 minutes trawling office of national statistics site with no avail.

 

OTH, when you say not to be frightened, you are right in one respect, but not showing your fear sometimes can be foolish, especially with the nastier individuals.

 

Showing fear is always bad. Whatever the animal.

 

And in answer to the comment by apache, don't ever try waving your stick at some herds I know, hoping they will go away as you say, because I promise you it won't work, and it will be then that you discover that adrenalin is brown.

 

I don't mean to be insulting but do you work with cattle? I am a farm animal vet who works with them everyday. Before that I milked cows for the best part of ten years. I know cattle. I understand their behaviour. I have never had a cow or bull that I have tapped on the nose with a stick not back off.

 

Cows have a slower refresh rate of their eyes than a person. So if you wave your stick it appears to them as a solid object. Makes you look bigger and more imposing. I have turned MANY aggressive cattle using a wooden or plastic stick.

 

Sorry but thats being naive about cattle being safe to people who know about them. Most are but there's always an exception. My base permission farmer had his pelvis crushed by one of his Charolaise bulls. He was in hopital for several months and it took him nearly a year to walk without assistance after that.

 

Usually when farmers are injured it is because they are not doing things in a safe manor. We are all guilty of it, but every incident involving a farmer and cattle, usually they have done something silly or put themselves in a dangerous situation. When I go on farms it's not the bulls that people tell me to 'watch' that I worry about, it's the ones people tell me are fine, go in with no stick and scratch their head! It's the farmer behaving irresponsibly, not the bull.

 

When cows see you in the field and run over they are curious, not coming to trample you. Was talking to a farmer this very morning whilst scratching a heifer's head as she was so petted she wouldn't leave us alone. If you didn't know that you may perceive it as aggression.

 

Cattle are the most gentle, stoic creatures - a lot of you seem to badly misunderstand them.

 

[al4x]

the majority of accidents with ramblers involve ones with dogs, when the cattle threaten the dog a lot of cases the owner tries to pick the dog up or protect it rather than letting go and they very much intend to trample them. Sorry Apache but you are looking at them from a general handling aspect rather than when the accidents with ramblers actually occur. These are a few and I could post an awful lot more

 

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/4450322.Woman_trampled_by_cattle_was_vet_on_holiday/

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/derbyshire/4094596.stm

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1297737/Warning-British-tourists-rambler-left-critical-herd-mountain-cows.html

 

http://www.theinjurylawyers.co.uk/injury-lawyers-blog/2010/06/18/dog-walker-dies-after-being-trampled-by-cows/

Edited November 18, 2010 by al4x

[apache]

the majority of accidents with ramblers involve ones with dogs, when the cattle threaten the dog a lot of cases the owner tries to pick the dog up or protect it rather than letting go and they very much intend to trample them. Sorry Apache but you are looking at them from a general handling aspect rather than when the accidents with ramblers actually occur.

See my first post re dogs!

[al4x]

but then you went off on a tangent saying cows were mis understood and didn't mean any harm, as walkers on your own they are relatively low risk but certainly when with calves or with a bull in you do need to be very careful. Ok most bulls used these days are smaller beef breeds put to heifers and relatively easy to handle they can still be iffy. The links would suggest that the risk compared to horses is rather significant.

[Dave-G]

Most times I'm in a field with cattle I feel safe as they are mostly being curious and a visitor is a break from their normal routine. A sixth sense sometimes rings alarm bells and I think anyone would be foolish to ignore it just to be all masculine like.

 

Now who's up for some cow tipping?

[crosshair]

Apache, You may have frightened some cattle with your magic stick, but I repeat I can take you to herds where you would'nt have a snowballs chance in hell of turning them.

You ask do I work with cattle ?, yes I do, and have handled thousands over the years, and yes I have roped them from horseback and still go into the yards to rope them.

Sone years back there was a series called "Drovers Gold" depicting the droving of cattle from North Wales to Smithfield during the 1800's, I supplied some of the horned cattle for the series.

My son was also a drover in the series, alongside the actors pretending to be drovers.

The horsemen involved were from the series "Sharp".

So yes I do know a bit about cattle, and you with that magic stick is an accident waiting to happen.

Always look for an escape route before confronting them, play safe.

Forgot to add, I have also done bull riding, still got the pics somewhere.

[Dr W]

Apache, You may have frightened some cattle with your magic stick, but I repeat I can take you to herds where you would'nt have a snowballs chance in hell of turning them.

You ask do I work with cattle ?, yes I do, and have handled thousands over the years, and yes I have roped them from horseback and still go into the yards to rope them.

Sone years back there was a series called "Drovers Gold" depicting the droving of cattle from North Wales to Smithfield during the 1800's, I supplied some of the horned cattle for the series.

My son was also a drover in the series, alongside the actors pretending to be drovers.

The horsemen involved were from the series "Sharp".

So yes I do know a bit about cattle, and you with that magic stick is an accident waiting to happen.

Always look for an escape route before confronting them, play safe.

Forgot to add, I have also done bull riding, still got the pics somewhere.

 

How many cowboy hats do you own?

[crosshair]

Quite a few Doc, how many have you got ?.

[Dr W]

None, I don't like cows or Brokeback Mountain.

[al4x]

or the welsh version of Brokeback Mountain

[apache]

or the welsh version of Brokeback Mountain

Broke Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack Mountain?

 

[Dr W]

Broke Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack Mountain?

 

 

That's a very different film

[Grandalf]

My wife's cousin is a rancher in Alberta, Canada. A few weeks ago he sent us some pictures of 10 of his house/milk cows seeing off a fully grown black bear. Hearing a rumpus going on he grabbed his gun and the camera was in his truck already. He couldn't get a clear shot with the gun but did get eight with the camera. The cows had young with them but the old mama who started the attack didn't. She watched the bear stalking the small heard for a while - then charged. Another barren cow joined in. They kicked, stomped, butted this bear all over the paddock whilst all the others just stood and watched the action from about five yards distance. The bear had no chance. The attack lasted twenty minutes. It eventually hobbled away with lacerations and broken ribs at the very least. Hasn't been seen since so it likely died. The old cow had some bites and scratches to her lower legs and the younger one was unmarked. I, of course, have deleted the pics but will see if I can get them again. Cousin has never witnessed this before but they do loose stock to bears now and again.

It was a graphic demonstration of the power of cows - these were not great big hairy types - they were just cows.

[crosshair]

Grandalf, pity they did'nt have Apache's magic stick, one wave and the bear would be gone.

[Grandalf]

Got to be a BIG magic stick crosshair - and best used from the cab of a JCB!.

[crosshair]

Got to be a BIG magic stick crosshair - and best used from the cab of a JCB!.

 

Very true mate.