I saw on the news today that a herd of cattle had trampled and killed a woman who was out walking her dog.Apparently when the cattle saw the dog they started to move towards it to drive it away from them.The lady in trying to keep her dog safe had held on tight to the lead and sadly been knocked over amongst the herd.The advice given out by experts later,was to let the lead go,as the dog will look after itself and run away,at the same time drawing the cattle away,as they are only interested in the dog.Not living in the country,i had no idea that cattle would go  after dogs,i really did think that it was only dogs that would go after sheep.

Cattle are very protective of their young so it's never a good idea to walk in a field where cows are with their calves. How sad for the poor lady and her family :-(

Years ago i had to walk through a field of cattle to bring my pony down to the yard. The regulary used to terrify the life out of me by stampeding after us. As soon as i had broken in tessa my pony i just used to ride her bareback down so i could get down to the yard quicker. They terrified me. Never trusted them since.

Oh yes... if we have to walk through a field of cattle I prefer to have the dog off lead.... it's him they're bothered about and he can run faster than me!! Having said that, he has sense where it comes to cattle, and gives them as wide a berth as possible. I am always cautious of cattle, particularly bulls, or cows with calves.  It's unfortunate that this doesn't seem to be more widely known, and this poor lady has suffered the consequences. :-(

I've always thought it was strange that there are never any warning signs about this on footpaths.  I quite often go to the Isle of Wight and walk our dog up to Tennyson Down, the National Trust bought part of the down a few years ago and allowed a farmer to graze cattle (and calfs) there yet there were never any warnings that I saw despite this particular part of the down being very popular with walkers. 

There are far too many footpaths which cross grazing land to maintain warning signs on every one. The Government updated the Country Code and renamed it the Countryside Code in 2004, which specifically says:

"If a farm animal chases you and your dog, it is safer to let your dog off the lead - don't risk getting hurt by trying to protect it."

Cattle are very inquisitive animals and are fascinated by strangers in 'their' field and will invariably come and investigate.

Ok perhaps not on all footpaths but on the busy ones surely it should be compulsory.  On Tennyson Down the National Trust have put up signs asking for dogs to be kept on leads because of nesting birds shouldn't they also warn about the cattle?

Thinking about it I'm suprised that with current health and safety rules that the National Trust in this case are even allowed to put cattle in the field.  Before the National Trust bought the land it was used for growing crops and the cattle were introduced to help return the land to it's "natural state" so the footpath and walkers were there long before the cattle.

TBH the last time we had to walk among grazing cattle with calves, there were signs saying to keep your dog on lead through livestock - but I eyed up the cattle, and the swans with cygnets sitting next to the canal, and decided safety came first! On lead through sheep certainly - but if they're on lead and you have to drop it, the collar and lead then becomes a risk to the dog of getting stood on or caught.....

I was quite surprised to see that the lady who was kiled was a vet.It just shows that when someone is protecting their animal,knowledge can go out of the window.

most small animal vet wouldnt even recognise a cow let alone know about its behaviour!!!

a work colleague of mine got kicked by cows...
he broke his arm and had a nasty kick to his leg.
The dog boke its leg...
He did let the dog off lead when he realized they were coming for him but the cows decided to get him instead and the dog came to help and got kicked too.
This is on a very popular walk near city centre so hundreds of people walk through some part of it every day!
I think some warning signs should be up to warn people, as most would not realize there is a risk.
I didn't until my colleague had to have time off work and told us what had happened!

Must admit i never walk in a field if there are cows in it. think it's just because of their size and usually a lot of them.
Poor lady and dog, think i'll stick to empty fields it's much safer.

I found out today that my boss used to work with this vet, and is amazed. Usually your first thought is that the victim must have been a "dippy old bat" but this was a very experienced vet, with both large and small animals.

It seems she got crushed against a wall, not trampled as was originally stated.

We recently got chased and cornered buy a small herd of cows, it was extremely scary!! i usually avoid at all costs fields with any livestock in, but they were all laid down and on a bend of a field, we were about to turn back when we spotted them.

i with bear on this one, i never go in fields with livestock in, as it would be risky and intrude on their grazing space.i guess i am lucky enough to have plenty of fields on my doorstep that are empty, thank goodness.

> most small animal vet wouldnt even recognise a cow

I'd be surprised- since vets train with all animals even if they then go into specifically small animal work!!

Cattle are very curious creatures and will sometimes follow you with or without a dog. If the cows have calves then yes they may be protecting their young, after all a dog is a predator to them. It is sad this happened, odd that she was a vet?? Sometimes when its your time, its your time perhaps?

> most small animal vet wouldnt even recognise a cow let alone know about its behaviour!!!

My vet is a well respected, very experienced small animal vet.

I have sat chatting to him, waiting for a dog to come round (at night.)  We have had some laughs about experiences he had when out doing Bovine TB testing.  He certainly has experience of all livestock.

I walk regular with my two on dartmoor and there are loads of cattle up there.
My dogs take no notice of them as brought up going there from pups. The cattle just ignore the dogs too,unless you get a young one thats inquisative to look at the dogs.
They are used to people and i dont bother about them,but i not so sure i would walk through a field of cattle as their not used to people so much and want to take a look at you a bit closer.
As sam said some vets only do small animals. when i had my horses up to a couple of years ago,i would have a vet that specilised in horses and farm stock.

I've been very wary of cattle for years - each year it seems a dog walker is killed by some, somewhere.

In the Purbecks there are many National Trust places with many well used footpaths and there are often cattle on them but every now and then they will chase humans or dog or both - and they are not necessarily dairy  bulls or cows with calves either!

I give all cattle a wide berth. I won't go on any walks where there are cattle of any description along the route, much to the annoyance of my OH who thinks I am overreacting. However, I'm the one who has been chased by cows when my dogs were leads, well behaved, complying with all the rules  - and it was Not Nice!!!!!

Cattle in the New Forest are usually fine and used to dogs and visitors, and are pretty chilled on the whole but I don't entirely trust them either. Better though as they have no small territory, only one area not fenced.

I've handled very small calves at college, but that's it as far as I'm concerned :)

Some more info, this woman was walking the Pennine way with her dog apparently ...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8114529.stm

I've only just realised this is my dogs vet :( :( :( she was such a lovley lady :(