Livestock Are Part of the Walk

Almost every footpath in northern England crosses a working farm. The walls, gates and stiles you climb through exist because sheep and cattle graze there — they are not obstacles, but neither are they pets. A little understanding of how livestock behave turns a nervous encounter into a quiet thirty-second job.

The rules are simple: keep a calm distance, keep your dog under control, and move steadily past livestock rather than through the middle of the flock. Getting that right costs you a slower approach and a wider line. Getting it wrong can end with an injured animal, a stressed farmer and a walker who never quite relaxes in a field again.

Read the Field Before You Enter

Pause at the gate or stile for ten seconds. That is long enough to spot the things that should change your plan.

• Sheep with lambs. Spring and early summer are the sensitive months. Ewes with young at foot will sometimes stand their ground rather than move off.
• Cows with calves. Cattle are at their most defensive in the weeks after calving. Most "aggressive cow" stories are really stories about mothers.
• A bull. Bulls of recognised dairy breeds should not be at large in a field crossed by a public right of way, and other bulls over ten months old should be running with cows or heifers. A lone bull is a reason to reroute.
• Notices asking for dogs on leads. That is not a suggestion. It reflects a problem the farmer has already had.
• The line of the path and its exits. Note the stile at the far end, the gate, the gap in the wall. Know your way out before you need it.

Passing Sheep Without Splitting the Flock

Sheep look passive, and mostly they are. But they are prey animals, and their default reaction to anything fast or unpredictable is to bolt. A flock split in two by a pair of walkers is genuinely difficult for a farmer to gather again.

Walk along the edge of the group rather than straight through the middle. Keep your pace steady — don't run, don't wave your arms, don't shout. Talk quietly if you like, so they hear you coming rather than being surprised. Given room and time, sheep will usually drift out of your way on their own.

Don't feed them, don't try to stroke them, and never pick up a lamb that looks abandoned. Ewes often step away to graze, and a lamb handled by a walker can be rejected. If you find an injured animal, note the spot and report it at the nearest farm.

Cattle: Space, Calm and a Route Out

Cattle are curious rather than malicious, but they are heavy, they move faster than most people expect, and a herd walking towards you is unnerving. Resist the urge to run — that turns curiosity into a chase. Walk on steadily, keep to the field edge, and give the herd as much room as the field allows.

Keep a wall or fence within a few metres if you can, so you have somewhere to step behind. If cattle begin to crowd you, face them, speak loudly and firmly rather than shouting, and back away towards the boundary. If you have to move quickly, head for a gate, wall or hedge and get on the far side. Never try to shoo cattle off the path with a stick or a rucksack; it escalates things.

Your Dog, the Field and the Law

Almost every serious incident between walkers and livestock involves a dog. Keep it under control, and on a lead of no more than two metres when you are on a public right of way around livestock. In practice: lead on at the stile, lead on until you are through the next gate.

• Never let a dog chase sheep or cattle. Chasing can cause ewes to abort, separate lambs from their mothers and drive stock through fences. Allowing a dog to worry livestock is a criminal offence, and a farmer is entitled to act to protect the flock.
• Short lead, close heel. Keep the dog beside you rather than stretching ahead, and don't let it run at the edge of the flock "just to look".
• If cattle threaten you, let the dog go. It feels wrong, but it is the advice given by every hill rescue team. A dog on a lead puts you in the middle of a fight you cannot win. Release it, get yourself clear, and call it back once you are out of the field.

If It Doesn't Feel Right, Turn Back

You are never obliged to push on through a field that feels wrong. A right of way gives you the legal means to cross, not a duty to do so. If a herd blocks the gate, if a bull is loose, if the ground is churned to a bog with cattle standing in the middle of it — go back the way you came and take the longer route. Farmers will always prefer a walker who turns around to one who wades through the herd.

Close every gate behind you, keep your voice low and your pace even, and give livestock the same courtesy you would give any animal working for a living. Do that, and the fields of the Dales, the Lakes and the Cheviots become one of the quietest, most rewarding places to walk — sheep, cattle and all.