This one is probably going to off topic fairly quickly but I thought it illustrated well the perils of smallholding. Perhaps you can share your unusual smallholding experiences with everyone.
A man in New Zealand went looking for his elderly parents on Thursday morning after becoming concerned that he had not heard from them for days, reports say. At their rural rented property in Waitākere, West Auckland, he found a ram in a paddock alongside the lifeless bodies of his parents.
New Zealand Police said the bodies were found at around 7:30 a.m. local time on Thursday morning. The agency said in a statement that the “ram was in the paddock” when authorities were contacted about the situation.
They said another person at the scene had also “suffered a minor injury after being attacked by this ram,” and that when police arrived at the scene “they too were confronted and approached by the ram.”
“On undertaking a risk assessment, the ram was shot and died at the scene,” police said. “A scene examination has been ongoing today and has now been completed.” They said authorities are now working to establish the circumstances of what had taken place in the paddock.
Burrell described the deceased as hobby farmers who had sheep, chickens, and some cattle. “Everyone’s in shock as to what’s happened. They’re very upset,” Burrell added. “I feel like I was dreaming it actually, it was a bit of shock, being told what had happened and I just didn’t believe it.”
Not a direct reply but I do recall an article about the puzzling phenomenon of sheep learning how to cross a cattle grid (basically by rolling), at locations separated by hundreds of miles, simultaneously.
Also here in the UK a surprisingly large number of people get killed by cows (not bulls, I mean actual cows).
RenewableCandy wrote: ↑06 May 2024, 15:28
Also here in the UK a surprisingly large number of people get killed by cows (not bulls, I mean actual cows).
That might happen if you keep your dog on a lead. Cows are usually more curious about dogs and will crowd and crush you because of the dog.
I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker
If had to choose between entering a field containing a ram and a field containing a bull, I would choose the bull every time. And yes cows do sometimes kill people with dogs, especially if they have calves. Rams are just mental. Very angry, very crazy, and want to take it out on anything that moves.
"We fail to mandate economic sanity because our brains are addled by....compassion." (Garrett Hardin)
I have heard of an electricity company worker being chased by a ram and taking refuge atop his van. They declined to come down until the ram was chased away. A shotgun loaded with blanks is the best way to scare the ram. Fireworks also work.
"Installers and owners of emergency diesels must assume that they will have to run for a week or more"
I have been attacked by a cow when moving a group of cows with calves from one field to fresh grazing in another. If the cow had horns or my wife had not been there I would probably have been dead. Now I will nearly always carry a long, stout stick and do not hesitate to use it on any cow that even looks like it is going to turn on me.
kenneal - lagger wrote: ↑21 May 2024, 13:33
I have been attacked by a cow when moving a group of cows with calves from one field to fresh grazing in another. If the cow had horns or my wife had not been there I would probably have been dead. Now I will nearly always carry a long, stout stick and do not hesitate to use it on any cow that even looks like it is going to turn on me.
That sounds like a lucky escape ! I presume that the cow that attacked you put on the "slaughter for meat" list rather than being kept for breeding. I suspect that some farmers select breeding stock for productivity only without thought as to temperament or behaviour.
"Installers and owners of emergency diesels must assume that they will have to run for a week or more"
There was an attempt to breed cows back into some kind of Iron Age breed in the 1930s in Germany. Unfortunately, because of this, the Daily Mail called them Nazi cows and they supposedly charged at you when you weren't looking or even when you were. They were called Heck cows and were supposedly like the Aurochs of ancient times.
Makes a change from the General Election I suppose.
A herd was coming up my road, I was walking down it. I jumped up on a flowerbed, about 60-70cm high and stood with my back to a wall.
A cow broke out of the herd, came towards me and butted me on the chin, chipping a tooth and giving me a nasty bruise and pain for a week, plus mental shock. I kicked back at it of course. It could all have been worse.
I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker
adam2 wrote: ↑28 Jun 2024, 01:51
That sounds like a lucky escape ! I presume that the cow that attacked you put on the "slaughter for meat" list rather than being kept for breeding. I suspect that some farmers select breeding stock for productivity only without thought as to temperament or behaviour.
That's true. We keep cattle on our local common and any cow that might attack people would not just be an Health and Safety disaster but a PR one as well. If a cow with a history of attacking people attacked someone on the common the HSE would have a field day. None the less I couldn't countenance one of my cows attacking anyone.
