I-hope-you-don't-think-I'm-being-nosey: but!!!

Agreed Val

Hope they think the same about us!

 

So what's the next investment 'M'........A cow perhaps, then you could sit in the garden and milk it......in more ways than one!

 

You have to beware of cows too. In fact they are worse than sheep.

 

I'd just take it as a compliment, cos that's what it sounds like

 

Clueless, whoever was behind that camera must have been mad, they were all young bulls by the look of it!

 

Got chased by a load of young bulls while I was on horseback many years ago. I was the youngest in the group, aged about 11, and my 'horse' was only a little welsh mountain pony at 11h2, and he was normally as stubborn as a mule. It didn't take any persuasion at all to make him leg it flat out that time though. We were being charged at by a good couple of dozen young bulls who took exception to us trying to cross their field, and my little steed matched the bigger horses in the group as we shamelessly fled. We only just made it out in time. I'm not sure our reaction afterwards was appropriate given that we could have been killed. We all had a right good chuckle about it. Some of our group didn't even leave via the gate, they'd just charged the hedge and jumped into the next field, which I can clearly remember was full of oilseed rape. I'm sure the farmer will have loved that some of his crop had been trampled by terrified fleeing horses.

 

It's amazing the scrapes we get ourselves into at times, good stories to remember though. I was raised around farmland and obviously learnt what to respect. Don't ever take a dog into a field of cattle either unless it's a farm dog, they're not keen to say the least.

 

And wise words from an old farmer I once knew, "Never enter a field o livestock wi-out a girt stick int yer hand".

Oh, and "If cornered, never break eye contact, retreat calmly, walking backwards if you have to but don't turn your back and don't run unless you can run faster than a bull".

 

Some people are just plain nosey I think, maybe without them even realising they are?

 

They can be dangerous at times! Especially when they get all brave, safety in numbers!

 

And if the cows run at the dog, let go of it's lead, it'll be able to run away faster from the cows than you can!

 

D'you know Sheal, after seeing Freddy's "sheep", I do have a hankering for a pig in the Copse: maybe my neighbours will then be saying: M, you are like a pig in moo poo

 

That idiot in the video sounds stoned out of his tree!

Sounds like a terrifying experience, Clueless. Obviously engraved on your memory!

The "bulls" you were talking about and the ones in the video were probably actually bullocks, i.e. castrated teenage bulls. They would probably have been killing time in a field somewhere waiting for their moment of glory in a Pukka pie.

No farmer would pen up 20+ uncastrated bulls together, the chemistry wouldn't be good.

Generally, bullocks are not aggressive in the sense that they've got a strong urge to damage you. Rather, they're very excitable because they're teenagers, living in a field is boring and you are the most interesting thing they've seen since a vet sliced off their cojones. So they could easily damage you by accident. If you fell over in their field, for example, one hoof out of place and you're a goner. Add in the sheer terror of being chased about by mobile steak mountains, and it's well worth keeping away from fields of bullocks.

Fields of heifers (teenage girl cows) are probably slightly less lively but still excitable.

These days, beef cows are so puffed up from breeding for meat that they look totally butch from a distance. What you need to look out for is the presence of an even more humungously muscled one with a ring in its nose. That's a big clue even if the possession of enormous testicles escapes your notice. They say that a bull running with cows is less excitable, personally I would still avoid entering the field unless I was certain I could run to an escape route quicker than the bull could run to me. Watch the body language very, very carefully.

Many incidents of aggressive cattle are linked with the involvement of a dog, so good advice to keep them away.

Bulls with cows and calves together are also said to be quite dangerous. A cow with a calf can be very aggressive if she is trying to protect the calf and could deliberately try to butt or crush you.

Groups of mature cows don't seem to present a problem.

My dad kept a bull on the farm when I was little - a beef bull, so said to be reasonably manageable, too big too move around fast! He nearly got killed once when he went in the pen with it. I used to be fearless with cattle when I was a tiny child and we kept placid dairy cows, (knackered matrons!) now I'm extremely wary of livestock after many years of city life and a few alarming experiences!

 

Puts images in my mind of me running round a field pursued by a cartoon bull, probably a randy one, to the Benny Hill tune.