[bloomer]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-19909801


very sad...

[Fowlman]

I heard this on the local radio earlier. Details are sketchy.

[jaykay]

It happened up here last year  Awful.

Needs education of the public and the advice to let your dog off the lead if you find yourself in that situation, so that the dog, and you, can get yourself separately out of it - it seems to be the safest for both.

No point the howls that came in the papers up here that farmers shouldn't put cattle where there are footpaths - many would therefore not be able to use half their land.

[lachlanandmarcus]

If anything like the cattle here, there are a lot of calves out and very excitable at the mo. I have to go through a cattle field to hack out, but that's with a horse, which they dont see as a threat, just as something interesting, we still give them a VERY wide berth. And I would never contemplate taking my dog through there.
TBH I think when there are young calves and cows in a field it would be sensible for dog walkers to choose another route for a few weeks. Farmers have to make a living and young cattle are part of that, taking a dog through is just foolhardy IMO. Of course they have the 'right to' but then I have the 'right' to ride my horse on a massively busy A road - do I do it, no, because it's too dangerous. Here the danger is likely to lessen as the calves get older, tho not disappear, so common sense would say wait and go another route till that point.

[manian]

we've had some in derbyshire
the footpaths have advice about how to walk with dogs through fields
Mx

[SallyintNorth]

I know we always give the advice that the owner should loose the dog if the cattle start coming towards it - but most dogs when frightened will come and hide behind their owners' legs! 

So really, dog walkers should avoid fields with cattle in, particularly when it's cows with young calves.  And farmers should where possible avoid putting cows with young calves in fields with well-used public footpaths.

It is more of a problem if you are visiting an area and have planned, say, a 6-mile walk, only to find at 2.5 miles out there's a path across a field full of cows and calves.  To be safe, you should turn back - but I do understand why a walker would choose to try to get across and continue their planned walk.

Having said which, it is often local people when these things do happen - the very people who should know the cattle and the farmer, and would know where else they could walk their dogs for the necessary few weeks.

[colliewoman]

I think it's another good reason for people to stick to public footpaths!


If I read it correctly, there was no footpath in the field the lady was in, so the farmer has every right ot graze whatever stock he wishes in it IMO.
Tragic for the lady and her family, but if you don't want trouble, don't tresspass

[SallyintNorth]

If I read it correctly, there was no footpath in the field the lady was in, so the farmer has every right ot graze whatever stock he wishes in it IMO.

Yes, of course.

I think it's another good reason for people to stick to public footpaths!

But.... taking those two sentences together, does this imply that farmers must not put livestock which could be dangerous in fields with public footpaths across? 

Plus - what would be the rules for 'open access' land? 

And what about Scotland, where there are no 'public footpaths' as everywhere is 'right to roam'?  (Or if this Sassenach doesn't understand the Scottish situation, please will someone set me right!  )

[colliewoman]

Ah I see what you mean, i have always been led to believe that I mustn't put potentially dangerous stock on land with a footpath, and indeed here you will rarely find a ram, cow with calf, mare with foal in the same field. However, what i am used to and have assumed to be a law may not in fact be so. I would be very interested to hear others opinions on the matter.


Certainly the land I am now renting I an intending to fence of the footpath so my rams cannot get near to walkers, just in case.

[Fleecewife]

I think the woman would just have thought 'ah there's no bull in there so it's fine' and proceeded without realising she was endangering herself.
 
As I understand it we now have 'open access' to anywhere we want to walk - a rule surely thought up by someone who knows nothing about the giant food production factory which is the countryside, and the production units ie livestock involved.

[SallyintNorth]

We farm 23 main fields/enclosures.   11 have no rights of way or paths across, of which 5 are hay fields (so closed to livestock for much of the spring and summer), 1 is rented as sheep keep (so no cattle), 1 has cattle excluded for late spring and summer under an environmental scheme and the other 4 are usually too soggy to be suitable for adult cattle.

I am all for people being able to use the countryside - but not to the extent that this farm would have to give up farming beef in order to never expose a walker to a cow with a calf. 

[Moleskins]

I haven't read the story but I think one or two of you need to re read the title to this thread.


If I were an outsider or newcomer to this forum I'd see some who thought because they've got a few acres they can strut round with a 'get off my land attitude'.


On this island we have a large population and as such farm animals and the public will 'coincide'. Aside from the laws about footpaths and rights to roam, the public have responsibilities on where they walk, as do the stock owners have responsibilities on the stock they own and where they put them. In the same way, I as a driver have a responsibility not to run over a cyclist who's not obeying the highway code.


One of the fundamental questions that needs to be asked is why these incidents seem to be on the increase.


Also, at the heart of this is a farmer who has to sit and eat his breakfast with his family, knowing that this has happened on his farm and done by one of his animals. The lady who was trampled, let's not forget, to death presumably has a family, possibly an employer, friends and neighbours who will all be affected by the incident.


So please re read the title of the thread and can we consider the fundamental question ?

[colliewoman]

I am truly saddened for the lady and her family as I said, and I am thinking of the farmer who's land this is happening on but what IS the solution?


How do you protect the public when the public don't follow the rules?
Farmers would have to stop grazing cattle full stop if suddenly we had to not graze cattle anywhere where public could physically get to, rather than where they are legally allowed
This discussion has already made me realise that what is easy for me and others locally in regards to keeping stock and walkers separately, isn't as easy for others.
But how do you convince the public that farm animals are dangerous? Cos some of the walkers here simply won't believe you and assume you are telling them a pack of lies just to keep them off the land (of which there is no public access in this case).
What IS the solution?

[tizaala]

Stick a risk assessment notice on your gates,
 THESE COWS ( THIS RAM/ BULL/CHICKEN etc)WILL TRAMPLE YOU IF YOU ARE STUPID ENOUGH TO ENTER THIS FIELD WITH A DOG,
 enter at your own risk, blame yourself when you get injured. 

[YorkshireLass]

Ooo no no no, admission of liability right there 




People just don't "get it".


I know of dog walkers thrilled to find a fenced in field so they can let their dogs off with an unreliable recall - not even thinking that maybe it's fenced for something else.

On a more sympathetic note, I'd be uneasy about diverting from a footpath around e.g. stock for fear of being accused of trespass