Is it generally safe to walk through a field of cows?

City boy checking in.

So, this one time out on a hike in a semi-rural area, the trail opened out on a grassy riverbank kind of place, and there were a dozen or so cows between me and the path onwards.

Now, I mostly grasp which end of a cow the grass goes in, but that's about my limit; I have no real idea how they operate IRL.

I ended up carefully edging my way past them and gave them as much space as I possibly could, and got extremely stared at by all of them, who probably thought I was nuts.

Just out of curiosity - how careful did I need to be? Can you just like walk through the middle of them, or would that be asking for trouble?

Ziggurat ,

Paraglider pilot here, so I landed among the cow my fair share of times.

Cows are curious but shy, if you walk slowly they might come to have a look, if they get too close, something like clapping your hands is enough to have them running away. However, if the farmer didn't took the veals the yet, they can be pretty agressive to protect their kids, in that case forgot what I said about "clapping your hand" and stay away from the herd. Note also that bull are less shy than cow.

catharso , (edited )

bull are less shy

That's right; I have to hype myself up to get in the right mindset though.

Zozano ,
@Zozano@lemy.lol avatar

"The veals"

I think they're called calf's until they leave the abattoir.

gnu ,

I never had a problem with walking around cows as a kid and I did it pretty often. Visitors would get spooked occasionally because cows love to follow you and see what you're up to, but I never got chased or anything. That was beef cattle country though so these cows were mainly cows (female) and steers (castrated males). I've heard that some bulls could be territorial however so your mileage may vary if one is around - the couple I've walked around were fine but your chances of issues are higher with them.

englislanguage ,

In addition to the other comments here: Don't run near cows. Quite often, they will start running with you, which is very impressive and dangerous at the same time. Cows generally are faster than you for the first few hundred meters at least.

TheSpermWhale ,

Country boy here - cows are pretty harmless most of the time if you leave them alone, they might wander over to have a look, but they’re usually pretty docile. If you don’t want them near you, clapping your hands or making yourself big with your arms and shouting usually makes them go away. I will say that you should absolutely not approach them if there are calves nearby and bulls in general are typically more aggressive, but if you keep a safe distance you should be fine

jafffacakelemmy ,

a big factor here is dogs. if you have your pet with you on a lead, and there are calves(baby cows) in the field, sometimes a normally docile cow herd will be very protective of their offspring. generally if there is no dog, cows realise you are not a threat.

tiredofsametab ,

If I have to give only a binary yes/no answer, the answer is no. In reality, there are lots of variables ranging from breed, pen size, herd makeup, season, socialization, hunger, weather, and even more that would factor in. That's without considering the other variable of you as a person they don't know.

Edit: that's not even to say the cattle or a bovine would intentionally hurt you. They're big, sometimes clumsy, have horns, etc. I follow some youtubers who have been raising cattle anywhere from a couple years to most of their lives and they still are very careful in a lot of their movements and interactions.

Fondots ,

There's probably a lot of different variables, cows vs bulls, the breed, how they're being raised, if they have calves with them, how you're behaving, etc.

In general though, safest bet is always going to be to give them space and not approach them. Not to say they're necessarily going to be aggressive or anything, but that's just kind of rule number 1 with any animals you're not familiar with.

Annecdotally, when I was a teenager, I did Philmont, which is a big property the Boy Scouts of America (now changing their name to Scouting America) owns in New Mexico, where scouts can go backpacking. They also maintain a working cattle ranch there, and I believe so e of the neighboring ranches allow their cattle to (grave? Free range? Roam? I'm not sure of the correct terminology) the Philmont property, so it's not uncommon to encounter cows in various places there.

They give pretty much the same lecture, don't approach them, don't do anything to spook them, and give them some space.

At one point my group was hiking along a trail coming to a junction, and a few dozen cows came down the trail we were about to head up and went into the woods. We weren't super close to them, but it was probably about the closest I've been to a cow outside of a petting zoo in my life, and there was nothing but a few yards of open trail between us. We just stood back and watched them go about their business, the cows didn't pay any attention to us, we hung out for a couple minutes after they passed in case there were any stragglers, and sure enough there was a lone cow that came running down the trail trying to catch up with its friends.

I'm no cow-ologist, but my general understanding is that they tend to be fairly laid back, and if anything curious. That said, they're big, powerful animals and you don't want to spook them.

Brkdncr ,

If there was a calf or bull around I wouldn’t walk through.

You can yell at them and they might disperse. If they don’t then you’d be able to walk through them.

Cows just don’t like to be startled, that’s about it.

Fleppensteijn ,
@Fleppensteijn@feddit.nl avatar

Where would you come across a bull though? I've never seen one in a field with cows.

abbadon420 ,

Cows are usually very curious and nice. You have to remember that they are wild animals though and unpredictable. They could kill you by sitting on you.

If you act natural, don't make any sudden movements, than you're good. Also get out of the way, because they will just run over you. Especially in spring, when they get out of the barn for the first time since fall. They're blinded by the light and a little spring crazy.

Bulls are a different matter. You they're less sweet.

Tagger ,

As the UK’s deadliest animal, cows attack between three and four thousand people every year.

An expert has revealed this figure may continue to rise. Between 2018 and 2022, more than 30 people were killed by cows, according to the UK Government’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/killer-cows-named-uks-most-30956262

NateNate60 ,

Deadliest other animal. There were 602 homicides in England and Wales in 2022/23.

ValiantDust ,

To be fair though, there are way more cows than crocodiles, snakes, sharks or deadly spiders in the UK.

ID411 ,

NEVER STARE DIRECT INTO THEIR EYES

ValiantDust ,

Adding to what the other comments have already said: Don't bring an unleashed dog on a cow pasture. You'd think that's common sense, but apparently it's a bit of a meme in Austria and Switzerland that every few months some German get's trampled by cows because their totally friendly dog ran towards the cows and they felt threatened.

CosmoNova ,

Stampede is the most common cause of death for backpack tourists in Australia. It may tempting to jump fences for a little shortcut, but many cows do not tolerate home invaders.

lvxferre ,
@lvxferre@mander.xyz avatar

They're mostly safe. Don't taunt them, don't get too close to them (specially not to veals and bulls), and eventually they'll see you as "safe to ignore".

Th4tGuyII ,
@Th4tGuyII@fedia.io avatar

Cows, sure. Just don't startle them or go near their calfs. They're mostly just curious.

Bulls, only if you have to, but make it quick and stay as far away from them as you can. They're fiercely territorial and not afraid to show it.

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