Walking steadily through is fine, but with a dog on a lead??? That is suicide!

Hmm well for your £250,000 as well as the trauma or being trampled, you would also need to be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of your life, as well as suffering brain injuries which would mean you could not live or work independently

Still want the money?!

"And for the people who are labelling anyone who has been confronted by cows as "ignorant", "arrogant" Q Moobli

They were words that I used but not in that context. Ignorance is a lack of understanding and I think that quite a few people don't understand the issues. Arrogance - there are, unfortunately, people who really do think that they can do what tehy like when they like. I have seen them and i am sure that you have as well. To put it a "gentler way" I am sure that people get in to problems becasue they do not understand the issues and others get into problems because they think that they can ignore them.

darn... ah well back to the lottery...

I wasnt calling you dim and im sorry if you took it this way.

The problem Rips is that joe public often dont take any notice of signs and will even do excally opposite to what they're told to do.Theres a field near me which has a public right of way and the farmer grazes both cows & sheep in it.He installed kissing gates at either ends and put signs up saying "livestock in field-please keep dogs on lead"-it took a matter of weeks before someone wrote f*** off underneath one.I see numerous people with their dogs running free in this particular field and admittingly at the time the cattle are often at the top end about 300yds away,but they should still keep them on lead.

Im all for people to enjoy the countryside because its ever more shrinking,but care must always be taken.Personally,if i see cattle in a field it dont deter me from entering or going further-unless they've got calves or if theres a bullock.Besides cows seem to like my face because i often end up with an entire herd following me.

Some people will only learn the hard way! There are two places I walk regularly in Colchester that regularly have the army doing live ammo manoeuvres on them. Despite red flags flying and soldiers posted at all entrances you still see idiots calmly walking their dogs right across the firing range and telling the soldiers to F off..

As I write this I am being serenaded by the gentle sounds of mortars and automatic gun fire from the friday woods... which was right where we were planning to walk tonight! I had to turn back and head to a different field! But I saw another dog walker with two staffies calmly ignoring the signs and sounds of gunfire and happily making their way into the woods even as we turned back!

Well I have to confess that I was one of those ignorant people who didn't know cows could be dangerous. I knew they could be inquisitive, especially bullocks but I didn't realise they posed a huge threat until I found out first hand.

We were happily walking in a National Trust park on designated footpaths when a rumble could be heard coming down the hill behind us. It was a whole pile of cows and calfs charging down towards us. My god did we hot foot it out of there fast.
There should absolutely have been warnings up that there were cows in the field as when we entered it appeared empty.

Some people may not wish to be educated and ignore signs. People like me and lots of others are not in that category and would be very grateful of signage displayed clearly as it's a terrifying thing to be charged at.
People should be encouraged to enjoy and respect the countryside in equal measures.

From reading this thread it seems there does need to be a compromise to reach a satisfactory agreement.

Farmers should graze cows and calves/bullocks etc in fields without footpaths if at all possible.

The footpaths should be clearly marked and maintained.

Signs should be placed advising walkers of any livestock in the area.

Walkers should honour the correct pathways.

Walkers should be aware of the dangers of certain livestock and know how to act with their dog in case of danger.

Surely if everyone works together there is a way forwad without litigation and culpability.

Surely liability can only be apportioned if a risk is admitted to though? Like "Cows with calves in field - enter at your own risk", that could be liable, but a sign informing people of a fact, like "cows with calves in field", wouldn't be? At least that's how I see it....

No offence taken mate.

I understand what you're saying, but I honestly don't think you can apportion all blame on the general public, farmers need to take responsibility too if they have public rights of way on their land.

I regularly walk through fields full of cows - both dairy herds and beef bullocks. They're generally at their most dangerous when they've been let out in the Spring as they're quite literally full of the joys of Spring! However most of the time they're just curious when you have a dog with you and are in fact more scared of you than they're curious about the dog. Entering a field with cows and their calves can be very dangerous and it's one of the few times I think dog walkers can be in real danger. For this reason I think Farmers should take some responsibility for where they place their livestock when it comes to public rights of way and cows and their calves, not livestock in general.

I find this absurd.

The first one clearly indicates that there is an inherent danger and informs the ignorant of the risk

The second one invites the ignorant to go and see these wee little calves.

Meaning lots of folks haven' a clue of how any animal can and often will react.

Greetings

Johan