Livestock in Fields

It is at this time of year that landowners are finding that increasing numbers of people are accessing the countryside, often with little awareness of the dangers that might be present and the damage they might cause.  One particular issue that the HSE have growing concerns about is that of cattle incidents, with a number of incidents in recent months. 

Part of the problem is people have little experience of cattle and are often oblivious to the risks involved, particularly from cows with calves who they perceive as placid and gentle. 

Many of these people have dogs, which can increase the dangers.  One farmer, Richard Heady, who has a page on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/headysfarm has produced a fascinating short video to illustrate to dog walkers just why cows might be interested in their pet and what they should do.  This video is available here (click on link)

Richard has given permission for this to be shared and it may be that you can share this on your farm or estate website in order to try and educate visitors.

It goes without saying that farmers and landowners have responsibilities too.  If there was an accident and the HSE investigated, they would be considering whether the farmer had done all that was ‘reasonably practicable’ to control the risks to members of the public from cattle on their farm and this is what you should be thinking of too, hopefully before an incident ever happened. 

According to the HSE, the things to think about include:

·         Can I avoid keeping cattle, particularly cows and calves, in fields with public rights of way?  (or in Scotland, in fields frequently used by the public) and particularly during periods of increased public access such as school holidays.  For cows and calves, the HSE view would be that if you can avoid this, then you should.

·         When considering whether cattle can be kept in a field with a public right of way, think about whether there have been any previous incidents of aggression in the herd, either to workers or others.  Keep a record of your assessment of the temperament and behaviour of cattle before you first put them out in a field with a public right of way.

·         If it is unavoidable to keep cattle, particularly cows with calves, in a field with a public right of way, can you keep them away from it by means of secondary fencing or a movable electric fence. 

·         Place feeding stations and water troughs away from public rights of way.

·         Monitor the cattle’s behaviour and temperament regularly for signs of aggression – HSE guidance states that this should be at least once a day.  Be aware of what can cause stress and aggression.

·         Place signage warning of cows with calves in fields at the places where the public rights of way enter the field.  Take down or cover signs whenever animals are no longer in the field.

·         Take prompt action if you are alerted to an incident, even if it did not involve injury.  Review your assessment and act accordingly to minimise risks.

·         Finally, remember that just because something is expensive, this does not necessarily mean that it would not be reasonably practicable to spend the money to prevent what could potentially be a fatal incident.

HSE guidance on ‘Cattle and public access’ is available in publication AIS17 - https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/ais17ew.pdf (England & Wales) or https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/ais17s.htm (Scotland)

HSE have also prepared guidance for their own inspectors and gives a useful insight into what they believe standards should be.  This is an open document and is available at: https://www.hse.gov.uk/foi/internalops/og/og-00115.pdf.