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Cows

Matt Withers

Matt Withers

Senior Member
I fished last night on one of my club stretches, it’s a nice stretch on farm land, and most of the time the fields are left fallow , occasionally sheep are put in to control the grass, but over the summer months the farm always puts around 30 cows in the field, it’s not ideal and in past years the cows have never really been that bothered by the people fishing,

Last night how ever, as I trudged back to the car park, I could see a few gathered by the stile into the field, great I though, as it’s never ideal having to walk through them, as I got to the stile doing my usual “ hi cow , move cow act, to shoo them away, they all wondered off toward the middle of the field, great I though, crossed the stile, and was happily walking along, when I hear an ominous rumble behind me, and all the cows were running at me, so I dropped down the banking to the escape the stamped, it was that bad I ended up jumping into the river and wading a couple hundred metres towards the next stile, all the time being followed by the herd, Iuckly the river is low, but I still ended up soaked and drove home in me undies, if it had been an older chap the outcome might not have been so good,

Does any one have a suggestions of the best way of dealing with cows in this situation?
 
Matt Withers said:
I fished last night on one of my club stretches, it’s a nice stretch on farm land, and most of the time the fields are left fallow , occasionally sheep are put in to control the grass, but over the summer months the farm always puts around 30 cows in the field, it’s not ideal and in past years the cows have never really been that bothered by the people fishing,

Last night how ever, as I trudged back to the car park, I could see a few gathered by the stile into the field, great I though, as it’s never ideal having to walk through them, as I got to the stile doing my usual “ hi cow , move cow act, to shoo them away, they all wondered off toward the middle of the field, great I though, crossed the stile, and was happily walking along, when I hear an ominous rumble behind me, and all the cows were running at me, so I dropped down the banking to the escape the stamped, it was that bad I ended up jumping into the river and wading a couple hundred metres towards the next stile, all the time being followed by the herd, Iuckly the river is low, but I still ended up soaked and drove home in me undies, if it had been an older chap the outcome might not have been so good,

Does any one have a suggestions of the best way of dealing with cows in this situation?
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Matt, I just avoid fishing where they are now, never used to bother me but I can't relax when they're about.
 
Matt Withers said:
I fished last night on one of my club stretches, it’s a nice stretch on farm land, and most of the time the fields are left fallow , occasionally sheep are put in to control the grass, but over the summer months the farm always puts around 30 cows in the field, it’s not ideal and in past years the cows have never really been that bothered by the people fishing,

Last night how ever, as I trudged back to the car park, I could see a few gathered by the stile into the field, great I though, as it’s never ideal having to walk through them, as I got to the stile doing my usual “ hi cow , move cow act, to shoo them away, they all wondered off toward the middle of the field, great I though, crossed the stile, and was happily walking along, when I hear an ominous rumble behind me, and all the cows were running at me, so I dropped down the banking to the escape the stamped, it was that bad I ended up jumping into the river and wading a couple hundred metres towards the next stile, all the time being followed by the herd, Iuckly the river is low, but I still ended up soaked and drove home in me undies, if it had been an older chap the outcome might not have been so good,

Does any one have a suggestions of the best way of dealing with cows in this situation?
Click to expand...
''Stand your ground''
Seriously that had to be scary, if they were youngsters it might be just that that were curious, or probably you were going to feed them. I know cows with calves can be protective and dangerous, and if you have a dog alongside. However the farmer should be alerted as to any possible reasons, or call DEFRA they are excellent and will I am sure be able to advise.
 
Matt Withers said:
I fished last night on one of my club stretches, it’s a nice stretch on farm land, and most of the time the fields are left fallow , occasionally sheep are put in to control the grass, but over the summer months the farm always puts around 30 cows in the field, it’s not ideal and in past years the cows have never really been that bothered by the people fishing,

Last night how ever, as I trudged back to the car park, I could see a few gathered by the stile into the field, great I though, as it’s never ideal having to walk through them, as I got to the stile doing my usual “ hi cow , move cow act, to shoo them away, they all wondered off toward the middle of the field, great I though, crossed the stile, and was happily walking along, when I hear an ominous rumble behind me, and all the cows were running at me, so I dropped down the banking to the escape the stamped, it was that bad I ended up jumping into the river and wading a couple hundred metres towards the next stile, all the time being followed by the herd, Iuckly the river is low, but I still ended up soaked and drove home in me undies, if it had been an older chap the outcome might not have been so good,

Does any one have a suggestions of the best way of dealing with cows in this situation?
Click to expand...
lower hall farm cows can be a bit frisky .normal has them in the middle section of horse shoe bend fenced in.contact sec to report it to him
 
Mistakes,… Ive made a few🎼😉
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I’ve a healthy respect for livestock that we share fishing venues with,.. they’re often unpredictable.
As with most river anglers, there’s umpteen tales to tell ,.. kinda go’s with the territory but ultimately it’s a gamble on how cattle, bulls and horses accept your company and what mode they’re in.
It’s not always the fear of being kicked or trampled,… fishing a swim below a high bank when umpteen kilos of beef is standing above yer head can be off putting and so on. Stay safe guys.
 
As said above, stand your ground. Also make noises and wave your arms around and they should just stop!

Putting bulls and cows with calves to one side, I typically find the biggest problem with regular cows, is when you encounter a herd, which isnt used to puplic interaction in the their field. This is when they seem to be more inquisitive, frisky or agitated.

Then again, every now and again, you do come across groups of cows which just seem wrong in the head. They will come at you with back legs kicking in the air, but a wave of the bank stick or landing net handle seems to calm them down.

I also used to fish a stretch of the Dane, where the cows would congregate in the farm yard after dark. My only option was to physically push through them and I never had an issue in doing so. That herd was mentality sound fortunately 🙂
 
As I've mentioned here before I nearly got terminated by a charging group of cows.
A dive over a wire fence into a blackberry Bush wasn't fun. They were coming down a hill..no chance to stop.

I had no problem walking through them earlier. BUT it was near dark and wondered if the two red lights on my headtorch made them think predator eyes?

Did you have headtorch on Matt.
 
This is what I don’t like , one trip from one of them and they land on me !
Don’t have a problem walking among an herd of them

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Graham Elliott said:
As I've mentioned here before I nearly got terminated by a charging group of cows.
A dive over a wire fence into a blackberry Bush wasn't fun. They were coming down a hill..no chance to stop.

I had no problem walking through them earlier. BUT it was near dark and wondered if the two red lights on my headtorch made them think predator eyes?

Did you have headtorch on Matt.
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No, it was dusk but still light enough with out a torch, I specifically didn’t use it so I wouldn’t spook the cows 🤣
 
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This bugger wouldn’t leave me alone when I spilled some Source bait dip on the back of my fishing chair. I never noticed it at the time, being somewhat pre-occupied with fending off the unwanted attention of this great lump behind me, but in the far distance the bull looked to be sizing me up too.
 
I’ve had my share of incidents with cows (and horses) over the years including a very close shave with a charging bull (my fault - taking a short cut) and being surrounded by a very frisky herd of heifers. I now avoid fishing in any field where animals are present - it may mean that I miss out on some good swims but I cannot concentrate on my fishing when there are animals around.😕


Dave
 
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