Riding around open cattle pastures

[Black Dog]

Dollars to donuts or should I say nonuts, that was a steer and not a bull.

I came across a massive limousine bull on a ride near my house and I can tell you I was within a 100 meters when I saw and I felt like I was way too close. 2800 pounds of anger. I called the local police and they were very happy to get my call since they were looking for it all afternoon and it had had wrecked (as in written off) 3 cars already. I followed it from a few hundred meters back and a cruiser pulled up next to me and said the officer said he had it from here. I grew up in a rural commercial fishing and farming area and asked him what he was going to do with a handgun when he needed a vet with a tranquilizer gun or a bazooka. He said not to worry, well 5 minutes later his cruiser was smashed up nicely. His confidence was in as bad a shape as his cruiser.

[parris]

hahahahahaha!!!!!

[mokofoko]

Originally Posted by parris

hahahahahaha!!!!!

*backing away slowly*

[parris]

I would've LOVED to have been a fly on the wall as the officer tried to explain his trashed car to the bosses...

[djg21]

Originally Posted by pottshead

The other day I was riding up a public country road on the central coast of California. About 8 miles in, started encountering cows on both sides of the road, without any fence between the road and the grass. This wasn’t too concerning, I just had to avoid a few cow pies on the pavement, but about another mile into my climb, I encountered more cattle, including a bull with horns, about 10 feet from the side of the road. I was pretty tired from my ride the previous day, and decided I’d rather not take any chances, and headed back.

Does anyone have experience riding around cattle, including bulls? When I was reviewing my route, I could see that it was part of a fairly well-trafficked Strava segment, with additional segments further down the same country road. I’m curious if turning back was an over reaction on my part, and if anyone can speak to a similar scenario. For all the posts about dogs on the forum, the only related post I saw was about a cyclist in France being gored by a fighting bull in 2013

A bull would not have been allowed to run freely around other cattle. Bulls are extremely aggressive and will attempt to assert dominance over a herd, not to mention impregnate every cow in the herd that comes into heat. What you saw likely was a steer, i.e., a castrated male. Steer are castrated as juveniles and are far less muscular, and more docile than bulls. They can graze with a herd. Granted a steer still is a large animal, but you might have been over-reacting.

[pottshead]

Thanks everyone for the insight. I’m more of a city guy that recently moved out to the country. You’re probably right it was a steer! I also contacted and spoke with a few locals on Strava about the route, and they said just to make sure not to get between a mother and it’s calf. Other than that, there’s just some dogs further up the road that I need to be careful for, they say. I’ll explore it the coming weekend.

If anyone is local of curious, the route in question is San Simeon Creek Road in Cambria, CA.

[Red Tornado]

Originally Posted by joosttx

Bulls aren’t usually kept around cows. Are you sure it was a bull? Did you see it’s balls? Anyway, I have ridden through cows and steers. There is no issue, they are more scared of you and will move even when the first hold their ground. Not sure I would do it with an actual bull around that I did not know. Anyway, you can find some fun mushrooms in them pastures.

Originally Posted by djg21

A bull would not have been allowed to run freely around other cattle. Bulls are extremely aggressive and will attempt to assert dominance over a herd, not to mention impregnate every cow in the herd that comes into heat. What you saw likely was a steer, i.e., a castrated male. Steer are castrated as juveniles and are far less muscular, and more docile than bulls. They can graze with a herd. Granted a steer still is a large animal, but you might have been over-reacting.

When my mom was younger my great uncle sent her out to get the cows in for afternoon milking a little earlier than usual, because they had something going on that evening. Normally this wasn't required because the cows would mosey on over from the pasture to the feedlot gate on their own at the same time every day (1950's), but with the earlier start time this day, I digress.... Yes, the bull was out there with the cows and evidently didn't appreciate her coming out there early interrupting his time with the ladies. Great uncle forgot the old boy was still out there. She ended up having to jump a barbed wire fence and had some beautiful cuts/tears on them. She said the silver lining was it got her out of chores for a while.

The bull may not be in with the cows all the time but if you're breeding livestock the old fashioned way (not injecting the cows) he's going to have to be in there enough to make babies. Sometimes that happens in the feedlot, sometimes in the pasture. Growing up I saw them in with cows all the time.
When I was told not to turn my back on the bull, I was cleaning out & re-bedding free stalls. Down here they will let multiple bulls in with the cows, with really large herds, and sometimes the bulls will fight it out a little to establish a pecking order. IME some bulls are just plain mean, others won't mess with you unless they feel threatened or if you're getting too far in their territory. Now if you put cows, steers and bulls all together - I don't know, never been down that road.

[Ruckusdog]

A little warning sign.

[bigbill]

All the gravel and MTB rides around here are on open range. If you cross a cattleguard, you're either leaving or entering open range. I've ridden through herds of cattle, you just keep moving at a steady speed and give them room. I have bells on the dirty bikes, it keeps me from surprising cattle.

This one time, while riding in the hills above Kotor, Montenegro, my friends and I were doing a fast descent on the road and rounded a corner into a herd of cows. It took some fancy bike handling requiring me to push off a cow to stay on the road. They were just dairy cows and didn't seem to care about us.

[Bob Ross]

Originally Posted by pottshead

Does anyone have experience riding around cattle, including bulls?

I encountered a similar scenario a couple years ago when the missus & I were cycling around Park City, UT: We found ourselves on a shoulderless two-lane road with open pastureland on either side, and a small heard (<6) of cattle were moving diagonally from the right side of the road across/along the street towards the left side. We stopped riding to marvel at this strange parade. The lone bull [edit: or perhaps it was a steer, per other comments in this thread] also stopped and turned to face us. There was a Mexican Standoff for maybe 20 seconds, until it became apparent that the bull was just looking out for his herd to make sure they cleared the road without any interference. Once they were all on the left side of the road, the bull turned back around, followed the other cows, and then surprisingly they all broke into a fairly brisk gallop! We continued riding.

Sorry, that's all I got. No idea what would have happened if we hadn't stopped, but I don't think there's any such thing as "being too careful" when you're around >800lb moving objects, be they made of meat or metal.

[fignon's barber]

Originally Posted by pottshead

Does anyone have experience riding around cattle, including bulls? When I was reviewing my route, I could see that it was part of a fairly well-trafficked Strava segment, with additional segments further down the same country road. I’m curious if turning back was an over reaction on my part, and if anyone can speak to a similar scenario. For all the posts about dogs on the forum, the only related post I saw was about a cyclist in France being gored by a fighting bull in 2013

Funny you should mention this. About 2 years ago, I did an initial shakedown ride on my Orbea Terra. I was on a remote section of trail about 15 miles from home that connects 2 sections of MUT. There were fenced in cattle on both sides. As I moved along the trail I noticed an open gate and a large bovine standing in the trail. I passed about 5 feet from him, our eyes locked. As I went by, I jokingly mooed at him. He just stared. I continued a few minutes longer on the trail when I was met by an oncoming Sheriff's SUV, lights on. The officer stopped, looked at me and said " Are you effing crazy? There's a bull on the trail. You could have been killed if you passed him." I was born in Philly, and the extent of my cattle experience was on a cheesesteak. But I guess it's a thing.