What? Cows murdering walkers

Odd Man

Odd Man

Thru Hiker
Ian Barton said:
Disclaimer: I live on a dairy farm. Dairy cows are usually safe as they get handled by humans twice a day. Avoid cows with calves. If you have a dog and it looks as though the cows are threatening let the dog off the lead.

Heiffers (cows that haven't yet had a calf) are very inquisitive and will often follow you, but will
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I can't bear the suspense... they will WHAT!!!????

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Enzo

Enzo

Thru Hiker
I herd :)biggrin:) that dairy cows are less reliable than beef due to differences in hormone levels, I don't know if that's just linked to having calf's or generally. But was especially the case with the bulls so perhaps not.
Me and hormones!?:banghead:
 
Enzo

Enzo

Thru Hiker
This talk of cows is all good and well, but as a child I was cornered by 20 hens. I called for help and when my big sister and cousins came they just laughed and walked off. I survived with my life, but the trauma.... It's life long.
 
dovidola

dovidola

Thru Hiker
Stuff happens. Sad maybe, but true. Perhaps for some of us one of the attractive features of backpacking is that we choose to enter a world, albeit for just a few days, where we acknowledge basic risk and take personal responsibility for dealing with it. I find this strongly life-affirming.
 
TinTin

TinTin

Thru Hiker
We need to just understand the risks, consider the risks and take personal responsibility.

Ignorance is no defence and you shouldn't take a dog for a walk in the countryside if you don't understand the risks if you want to stay safe. I don't think that you have a valid complaint if you are unaware of the risks and then suffer injury or worse as a result.

Unfortunately I think that one of the recent North Yorkshire deaths was caused by someone else with a dog rather than the victim.
 
cathyjc

cathyjc

Thru Hiker
Enzo said:
This talk of cows is all good and well, but as a child I was cornered by 20 hens. I called for help and when my big sister and cousins came they just laughed and walked off. I survived with my life, but the trauma.... It's life long.
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When I was a child our Welsh Collie used to round up and corner the bin men - not let them back in their cab - they were terrified of him. My dad had to 'release' them.
Basically he rounded up anything that moved but never harmed anything.
 
Enzo

Enzo

Thru Hiker
Collies are amazing dogs :thumbsup:
In my experience they can be a little demanding though:o o:

My aunt's black lab gun dog used to bite the heads of their chickens if they went near his food.
 
cathyjc

cathyjc

Thru Hiker
Enzo said:
Collies are amazing dogs :thumbsup:
In my experience they can be a little demanding though:o o:

My aunt's black lab gun dog used to bite the heads of their chickens if they went near his food.
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The problem was that the dog was a working dog with no work - my parents admitted he was the wrong dog for their situation.
As mad as a box of frogs - ended up under a bus. :(
 
Heltrekker

Heltrekker

Section Hiker
Lempo said:
@Heltrekker

Now sure if you can answer this, but whenever coming across animals I always wonder about couple of things.

1. Me being 191cm, big bloke, does a size of a person change the way animals react? When meeting small dogs, I sometime squat to be less intimidating and letting them come to me.
2. I often wear sunglasses with mirror lenses, does the fact that animals don't see your eyes change the way they react?
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The size of the person generally doesn't matter - my biggest horse measures 176cm at the shoulder and towers over me - it's the attitude, body language the tone of voice that works if you're trying to deter them. Having said that, they can definitely tell the difference between adults and children, they are a lot calmer and gentler around children.

My horses don't react at all to me in glasses, but when I'm wearing mirrors, they are more skittish, even though they know it's me. Their behaviour definitely changes if I go in the field with mirrors on then take them off. I assume it's because they can't tell what you're looking at.
 
Enzo

Enzo

Thru Hiker
Wearing ear defenders made the horse where I worked try and throw their riders. Whole stable was very skittish. New management seemed to change them though, seems they picked up something from who was looking after them?
 
Heltrekker

Heltrekker

Section Hiker
Enzo said:
Wearing ear defenders made the horse where I worked try and throw their riders. Whole stable was very skittish. New management seemed to change them though, seems they picked up something from who was looking after them?
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Horses are extremely sensitive to mood - they mirror however you're feeling and have very strong likes and dislikes, that's why one rider will get nowhere with a certain horse/pony, and another will find it a dream ride. My daughter spent half an hour trying to get one of our horses into a horse truck when she was in a foul mood. The more frustrated and ticked off she got, the stroppier the mare got and the more she refused to load. Eventually I took the mare for a 2 minute walk up the road whispering sweet nothings and giving her treats, she followed me straight up the ramp first time. (Didn't improve my daughter's temper, though!)
 
el manana

el manana

Thru Hiker
In August we stayed in a cottage on a livestock farm. Every field entrance had a warning about calves and cows.

I took the dog on a morning walk across an empty field. An hour later when i returned the field was full of huge cows. As i walked down the quad bike path in the field a nearby cow glared and made some grunting noises (the dog was savvy, she was literally sniper crawling past). As soon as we got past it let out a large bellow and 3 of them starting chasing. We legged it down the path, i was a bit worried about going flying on the uneven path, i would have been splatted. They stopped chasing so i stopped so they started again. I got out in time. God they're surprisingly fast.

Fairly sure it was the dog that triggered them. On the plus side my daughters laughed for the rest of the day after i told them my story.
 
Davy

Davy

Thru Hiker
Wearing ear defenders made the horse where I worked try and throw their riders. Whole stable was very skittish. New management seemed to change them though, seems they picked up something from who was looking after them?
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Do horses wear ear defenders?

I actually googled it, they do have ear plugs.....

:D
 
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