Walking or running through cattle

If you use footpaths, here are some tips to cross a field of 🐄.

[@iaamusic1121]

Having just gone through a field today full of cows, I wish I’d seen this first , my blood pressure would have been much better ! Thanks.

[@KiCkFLiPKiCkFLiP]

Truly informative!! Very handy for those fields in Sussex. Thanks

[@Accyboom]

I fish rivers around farmers land. I've taken many detours to avoid cattle. These videos have helped tremendously. Wish I could be as calm as you though.

[@headysfarm]

glad they have helped.

[@ryangeddes7277]

These videos about handling cattle have been very useful, I've just taken up hiking and have had a few awkward experiences with cows; from the sounds of things they were indeed just curious and jogging over to check me out. At the time I thought I was being chased out of the field and had to take a long way around on the roadside like a plonker! Will be more calm next time, give them time to come over (Near the stile of course...).

[@heidi1258]

You’re very brave. But thank you for this very informative 🙂

[@countryboy5413]

It depends on the type of cow. Them he has are the calmer ones

[@MsDeMandeville]

This is so on-point. I walk my Labrador around where i live and we go through a couple of connected fields with inquisitive bullocks in them. I always walk calmly and slowly, but i had a friend visit me about six months ago from London and she panicked and started running and off they went after her in hot pursuit. I said to her walk slowly, they are just curious, but I told her not to get in between a calf and its mother but then I've noticed most cattle farmers with footpaths running through their land don't put calves and mothers in those fields unless they have to. As to bulls, I'll steer (pun intended) clear, thanks!

[@webmwithsound]

ive never really feared cattle or any other farm animal. i did grow up camping on a farm with horses, chicken, sheep and cows when i was younger so it probably helped.

[@albionmd2739]

nice vid, I'm a hiker, camper and a detectorist, so handy advice. 👍

[@headysfarm]

thanks

[@tomfosk8970]

good video. If you're walking through a field and the herd come running towards you, do you just have to have faith that they will stop and leave you alone? You are really at their(the farmer's) mercy

[@danbeasley8465]

You might have saved lives with this

[@saudade2745]

Thanks pal, I'm uneasy around cattle resulting in arms flailing or quick skip outta there. I'll be more calm

[@shelleysanders9666]

A good video! An ex-boyfriend of mine (with a small Ped.Hereford herd) told me to talk to the cows all the time when near them which reassures them. (Surprising how many farmers u see who don’t)..

[@2spoons]

Brilliant video again.... I'm in a running club and often used your advice.... very helpful.... (just need advice on aggressive dogs off leads next)

[@headysfarm]

hi, thanks for watching. ha ha, I am not sure about aggressive dogs, I came up against a loud Alsatian on a foot path through a farm yard last weekend, luckily it was all bark and no aggression. all I can say is that running, jumping around and arm waving seems to wind them up more, so stay as calm as you can, which isn't easy, or a natural reaction. good luck.

[@2spoons]

@@headysfarm Thanks for the reply - I've learnt the long and painful way - I often ask is it ok to walk past your dog (if you're running)

[@Oliver9402]

As a kid it was only the bull that scared me, advice was keep close the the hedging around the fields.

[@peterfearon1990]

I rarely comment on KZbin but I just wanted to say thank you. I have had a couple of bad experiences with cattle when walking through their field where I've turned and run only to be (for reasons I now understand) chased by them and since have avoided them at all costs (even turned around and gone home instead of fishing because there were cows in my way 😂) I am now going try and overcome that fear with my new found knowledge and try and walk through a field with them. Do you have any advice for if for instance I do freak out and want them away from me and walking at them doesn't work?

[@headysfarm]

Hi, i am glad this has helped. the only ways to get rid of cattle that are following you is for them to lose interest in you (by walking slowly and quietly), for walking towards them and shooing them away, but you do risk exciting them by doing this.

[@alansmith1716]

Great video, I live Bucks and often run off road and to tend avoid big fields with cows in. Sometimes they collect around a gate and it's difficult to get through. Do you have any suggestions?

[@mehitabel1290]

I've been chased (and near-attacked; they surrounded me and took it in turns to run at me, heads down) by cattle -- not cows with calves -- when I was doing nothing more than walking quietly through a field, alone. And I did not have a dog. All this "Cows are just curious/want to play" stuff has me raising an eyebrow. But thankyou for the placard at the end. I've come across too many footpaths through fields containing cows with small calves, and bulls. And when there's no alternative route - it's not pleasant.

[@MovieEndings]

haha, happened to me today literally the same thing.

[@pipb3141]

We had exactly the same experience. Two of us walked quietly and calmly and cattle all started chasing us.

[@mehitabel1290]

@@MovieEndings But why the "haha"? This is what worries me. If you've had a dangerous experience with cattle, you're labelled a Pathetic Wuss, because cows and bullocks are Just Curious and Just Wanna Play, right?? And anyone who says their experience doesn't endorse that must be an ignorant, over-reactive townie, right?? Sorry, not having a pop at you, but I do think attitudes need to change..

[@MovieEndings]

@@mehitabel1290 Well, I do think it was because it wanted to play, but I was not up to it, I was looking for my drone that fell down there haha. Maybe an other time I will play with them if I have the balls of course....

[@mehitabel1290]

@@MovieEndings Haha.

[@pipb3141]

Great video, and I am sure it will work most of the time. But yesterday we walked through a field of cows who started walking behind us. We walked calmly and quietly and tried to ignore them. At one point they all stopped, and we carried on towards edge of field, still walking and not speaking, and not making eye contact. Then we heard hooves - all of them, about 50 youngish Friesian cows, all charging us at full speed. At that point we ran. Made it to gate at end of field in nick of time. I think they would have trampled us. What else could we have done? (We had no dog, cows didnt have calves, just 2 of us)

[@noellealdi881]

Dude that’s literally the scariest thing

[@jkvoot]

nice vid! I just want to say that if the cow has a cattle nearby, be careful walking towards them! I did this with my dog on the mountain and it was going well until I tried walking towards this huge cow with a bell around its neck and a calf behind her. The calf somehow got scared or something and decided to run around the big cow and towards the rest of the herd behind me. The big cow trying to protect its calf immediately charged towards us. It was only 1 - 2 meters in front of us before charging and was way faster and more explosive than I imagined cows were. I jumped backwards as her head was ramming my hands pushing against her head (serious power). After 2 seconds the huge cow quickly turned and ran after its calf!

[@mervynforsythe50]

You were very lucky a cow protecting a calf will kill you, they weigh around 8 900 hundred kg and can run at 20+ on rough wet ground can you. Do not go into a field with animals you don't know , if you do always have an escape route. If you are walking a dog on farmland you must lift any poo as it can cause pregnant cows to abort and a dog chasing cows in calf can cause them to abort their calf and don't forget a farmer can legally shoot a dog chasing his animals.cows or sheep.Enjoy the countryside wisely.

[@simplynightcore6133]

Oh ok cool

[@KeplerYubified]

Just think of cows as oversized dogs

[@Bereit18]

Interesting post. Are you a farmer? I’m always wary of cattle and have heard some horror stories, people have been killed by cattle in the UK.

[@headysfarm]

Yes I am a farmer. cattle can be dangerous, but if they are in a field with a footpath they should be a fairly easy going bunch, so long as you don't wind them up. Cattle get very excited buy moment and noise, but soon loose interest if you keep quiet and go slow.

[@yetidodger6650]

@@headysfarm wind them up? are you suggesting that anyone who is attacked by bovines has wound them up?

[@headysfarm]

@@yetidodger6650 no, I am suggesting its a contributing factor. As I mentioned above cattle get very excited by movement and noise, a quiet field of cattle can become very dangerous is they are stimulated by this. Sometimes the next user of a footpath can experience the consequence of the previous users behaviour. its the same with dogs, you can take a placid household pet and then wind them up with a game or toy and they can become bouncy, snapy, and hyperactive.

[@mehitabel1290]

@@headysfarm I've been set upon by cattle (and no, they were not just Being Curious..) twice. Once by cows and once by Limousin bullocks. On neither occasion did I have a dog, nor was I acting in an agitated manner. I was simply walking slowly, and alone, along a public footpath through the field. I respect your honesty (it makes a refreshing change from "All walkers are moronic city folk who don't understaaaand our countreee ways!") but I do think that, as more profitable but unpredictable foreign breeds are introduced, there is a growing problem here..

[@PedroGonzalez11111]

@@mehitabel1290 you should see a hypnotist to tackle your irrational fear of impending cow doom

[@rishigembali6066]

Why can’t farmers keep their cattle in a private field?

[@headysfarm]

Hi, these are private fields, they just have a ‘right of way’, permission to cross the field. They are not a public areas, but a business asset to the owner who need to make a return on their investment. In some areas there are so many footpaths that finding a field without a ‘right of way’ is a challenge.

[@rishigembali6066]

@@headysfarm if a cow was to attack a Walker would the farmer by responsible?

[@mnshp7548]

one came up to me and started butting me with its head and trying to charge me, what do i do then ?

[@zandvoort8616]

Shoot it with your concealed carry pistol.

[@Carl-ht3wt]

@@zandvoort8616 you really hate cows

[@zandvoort8616]

@@Carl-ht3wt on the contrary, I think they taste very nice.

[@Carl-ht3wt]

@@zandvoort8616 i agree

[@navnavo1414]

What about if you have a dog with you? Would the same work?

[@headysfarm]

hi, similar, but dogs add a level off unpredictability and attraction for the cattle, check out this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/p4jQoaqtndqig5Y

[@jerryrilea1018]

Thanks for everything! Here’s a little something for you: kzbin.info/www/bejne/i5bVaKOjjbuba6s

[@zandvoort8616]

OMG. That looked we’ll scary?

[@xWHITExEAGLEx]

What part? It's just regular everyday cows.

[@zandvoort8616]

@@xWHITExEAGLEx large animals charging at you. That’s why you need to carry a firearm when walking in the countryside.

[@xWHITExEAGLEx]

@@zandvoort8616 Eh you are probably just young, or trolling - but those cows are not charging, they are just playing, as he says in the video.