Cows: Friend or Foe?

The first time I encountered cattle in the field was walking back from Stonehenge to the visitor center. I was forewarned that they were friendly and used to walkers due to the common occurrence of it around the Stonehenge area. I laughed off the warning, thinking that cows are always friendly unless threatened... right? Right!?

My friends that have farms are likely laughing at my ignorance here (including my uncle who has a herd of cattle), but in a country where walking paths often lead through fields with livestock it's actually not unheard of for cattle to cause issues for walkers and there is an occasional death. Mauled by a cow isn’t really what I want in my obituary.

But it should be simple...at least that's what the signs say for walkers: Respect the cows, don't get in between mothers and calves, keep dogs on a leash unless a cow attacks, avoid the herd all together if possible, etc etc. To me this seems basic. But what do you do when there is a 1,000 lb young bull standing in front of the gate you want to get through? Run and jump over the fence? Attempt to move the cow? Lure him away? Turn around and give up on the walk? 

If you are me, a brave but extremely cautious person, you spend a ridiculously long five minutes assessing the situation...standing in the middle of a field with the cow about 30 feet away while you stare it down and he doesn’t even give you a glance. During that five minutes I watched six walkers coming towards me attempt to get past the cow. Although he didn't seem to be bothered by the people, he certainly seemed intent on getting out of the gate, people be damned. However, they all made it by safely so I decided to make the attempt. In addition to the young troublesome bull by the gate there was another larger, older bull lying peacefully under the tree 15 feet to its left. In order to get to the gate, I had to go between the two cows, another prospect I didn't love.

But I'm stubborn and although not in great shape (if running away was required), I decided I could make this happen. The older couple that walked up behind me did not come to the same conclusion. They quickly decided this was not something they wanted to attempt and turned around on the spot to head back. I was not deterred. 

I quietly and softly made my way in between the two bulls, nearly tiptoeing in my new hiking boots. The one lying on the ground was only vaguely interested in my presence, following me with his eyes as I walked but much more concerned with the swarm of incessant flies around his head.

The younger bull was more active and thought he needed to get a closer inspection of the potential savior from his captivity. Before he could maneuver his way around though, I dashed the last five feet and quickly scaled and hopped over the fence. 

It's amazing how much confidence a few 1"x 4" fence boards and posts offer. Safely on the other side of the fence, I was more than happy to pet the feisty little beast finding that he was much more interested in the green grass on the other side of the fence than me. I, of course, was happy to oblige his addiction feeding him a few handfuls of the long tufts of grass.

Sure, he looks small and friendly until you see how tiny my hand is scratching his massive head.

Author's note: After speaking to a few people, I did some research on this and the cows in fields should be something to be cautious around. But although not common for walkers, maulings and injuries are a lot more frequent than deaths. Neither are high on my bucket list though, so I don't plan on making this a habit. Here is an article from the BBC.