Cattle

[corydoras]

Ayrshires have been mentioned as dodgy - to that I would add Galloways and Jersey bulls.

Yup I would add Galloways to the list. When it comes to bulls, dairy bulls tend to be cheekier than beef bulls but I would not use that as any rule of thumb. The uncastrated males of most farm animals even tups (rams if you are English) will have a go at you if they are in the mood.

 

Also this is all a bit academic if one can't tell the difference between a Jersey and a Fresian.

Edited June 26, 2007 by corydoras

[corydoras]

Wow, thats some statement!

Having never been to any of those places, I have no reason to doubt you whatsoever. When in Africa were you fishing? And if so, did you have any bother with Hippos? As I've read that they can be volatile to say the least and have been touted as Africa's biggest killers...

They are worthy of their reputation. A hippo could snap you in half with its jaws, but most hippo deaths occur when some unfortunate gets trampled on. They say that on the Zambesi there is a hippo or a crocodile for every metre.

[medwaygreen]

Yup I would add Galloways to the list. When it comes to bulls, dairy bulls tend to be cheekier than beef bulls but I would not use that as any rule of thumb. The uncastrated males of most farm animals even tups (rams if you are English) will have a go at you if they are in the mood.

 

Also this is all a bit academic if one can't tell the difference between a Jersey and a Fresian.

 

Is it one's Brown and the other is black and white.

 

[corydoras]

Is it one's Brown and the other is black and white.

 

Yup. BTW Fresian cows are generally very docile, and the bulls are just the reverse. You won't often see a Fresian bull though, most Fresians are produced through AI (artificial insemination).

[dant]

They are worthy of their reputation. A hippo could snap you in half with its jaws, but most hippo deaths occur when some unfortunate gets trampled on. They say that on the Zambesi there is a hippo or a crocodile for every metre.

 

I don't think they like little boats with fishermen buzzing over top of them either.

 

If you have a bit of spare time corydoras, why don't you post us up a picture top ten of the worst Equine and Bovine offenders for people who aren't too sure which cows are which, as you seem to know a bit about the perils in the pastures.. Just an Idea??

Edited June 26, 2007 by dant

[medwaygreen]

Hello Guys,

 

I have lived my hole life with our bovine friends.

 

The trick is wear GARLICK.

Edited June 26, 2007 by medwaygreen

[Newt]

When in Africa were you fishing?

 

If they were visiting a place, they were doing some fishing and some watching of the local birds.

[Vagabond]

Yeh, I am never comfortable with hippos, they are unpredictable, and like being confined in a field with strange livestock, if you are in a boat in hippo country, you are sometimes dangerously close to them.

 

Most of the time the hippos ignore you, but there are exceptions. The most scared I have ever been around wildlife was on a lake in Kenya, where a hippo swam towards us, then went under the boat. It came up the other side, but not before I had experienced a literal "hair-raising" - every hair on end and "goose-bumps" to match.

 

Dant - there are a few threads about our travels that should yield to a search. Try :-

 

Cape York (salt water crocs)

Vagabonds in Brazil (anacondas)

Vagabonds in India and Assam (elephants) all fairly recent (1,2 or 3 years)

Have also done pieces about Southern Africa, Canada, Colorado, Costa Rica, Belize etc but they may have fallen off the bottom of the threads by now

[Dick Dastardly]

Dngerous animals whilst fishing eh? Well Ive never encountered Hippos fortunately but have had run ins with snakes,shark,crocodiles/alligators,bears etc..................but none were as horrific as the cow I witnessed "attacking" an angler many years ago at Claydon Lakes.

 

As some of you may know Claydon is quite a small water being almost river like in shape ie long but narrow.It gets very crowded at weekends so most of my catfishing campaign there was carried out mid week.You could at least get a bit of room to yourself then.So imagine my displeasure one early morning when my partner and myself were allready set up on an otherwise empty lake when a guy waltzes down on the far bank and sets up directly opposite us! Even happier when he got out his throwing stick (about 35m wide at this point!) and starts bombarding the margins beneath our rods with boillies! Ah well you got to learn to be a bit laid back on circuit waters like that I suppose.

 

Once the bombardment had stopped I was able to return to that most important aspect of catfishing....snoozing! An hour or so latter I was awoke by the irritating sound of the sheep munching the reeds.Not a problem unless the daft things fell in the water though."Boillie Man" had obviously made the right choice of bank as he had no sheep there just three friendly looking cows...............

 

Unable to doze back off with the combination of the reed munching sheep and Boillie Mans playing with his buzzers I just lay there enjoying the early morning sun and absently watching boillie man do his thing.

 

All the effort of his "long range" baiting campaign and the increasing heat of the sun had taken its toll on my far bank neighbour as well.He also retired to his bedchair for a welll earned snooze.

 

My reed munching sheep were driving me mad! how lucky the guy was to have the cows quietly grazing away on the grass next to him.They didnt care that he was there or indeed him care that they were.Angler and nature in harmony the way it should be.... I started to doze again (see I told you its vital to do this if your a cat man!) when Rob started screaming at me "Look!" "Look!" he shouted,I opened my eyes just in time to witness the most horrendous attack on a human by a farm animal Ive ever seen........ the cow backed up next to the recumbent Boillie Man,its tail lifted up straight and the most enourmous stream of liquid cow sh1te sprayed out all over the geezer!

 

I think Boillie Man got the shock of his life! I also think he packed up imediately and went home but I cant be sure as it was hard to see anything through my tears of laughter and the short term memorey loss caused by lack of oxygen to the brain brought on by the laughing fit I had made things very difficult.

 

Anyway Hippos,does anyone know why Hippos have to mate in the water?

Edited June 26, 2007 by BUDGIE

[Severn Wolf]

Budgie, classic mate

 

Thanks to all for this thread

 

Here was me with this unreasonable mortal fear of cows not realising I wasn`t alone.

 

I hate the damn things. As has been said, its not that I think they`re going to get aggressive but when you`ve got half a ton with no brains lumbering around its worrying. I fish a lovely deserted stretch of the upper Severn and have had cows edging down a step muddy bank to get nosey. One slip and they`re in the river but unfortunately they`d take me with them. Theres a couple of psychotic and very playful ones which bounce around and scare the hell out of me.

 

I`ve also returned to the car late on a Sunday afternoon only to find it totally covered in cow slobber. A disgusting but very funny sight especially when the M54 all the way home is packed with families in freshly washed motors coming back from a day in Wales! Makes you feel like a right swamp donkey.

 

The stretch has the potential for some real eye opening fish not normally associated with the upper Severn but its been three years since I last took the plunge and walked the banks. Hell of a shame but I`m afraid that the damn cows just un-nerve me too much.....