It is an underestimated danger: a cow can cause serious injuries with its horns.
This almost became fatal to a hiker on Friday.
District farmer Ursula Fiechtner gives tips on how to deal with the animals properly.
Lenggries/Wackersberg
– A 64-year-old hiker had great luck in misfortune on Friday at Brauneck.
When she wanted to pet a cow near the Kotalm, the animal turned its head and hit the woman with the horn on the neck.
That could have caused a serious injury.
But the woman got away with a relatively minor wound (as reported).
In this context, district farmer Ursula Fiechtner speaks of the "underestimated danger of the horns".
She therefore advises keeping a respectful distance from an unfamiliar animal on the pasture.
"I've experienced a few injuries like this," reports the woman from Wackersberg - fortunately not on her own body.
In the 1980s, however, a neighbor was hit in the heart by a horn while stalling his cows and died.
The farmer has also experienced severe injuries from cow horns several times in her life.
When she was a child, on the farm at home, a cow rammed its horn into another cow's skull.
The statistics of the agricultural trade association show around 180 horn injuries in people in Bavaria every year.
Precautions for handling cows
For this reason, appropriate precautionary rules are taught early on in agriculture.
As a child, she herself was only allowed to hang a cow on a chain at the age of twelve, says Fiechnter - when the arm was long enough so that an "arm's length" distance was really enough.
That's why she advises hikers when meeting cows in the pasture: "It's smarter, you hold back a bit and keep a respectful distance." On the other hand, petting a strange animal is not a good idea.
"It's an animal and you never know exactly how it will react." Not every cow or calf likes being touched by strangers.
The characters are as different as people.
"Some like hugs, others don't." If the cow is uncomfortable with being touched, it can move its head reflexively.
Only pat animals with your arm outstretched - if at all
A shake of the head is also quite normal.
"Some cows are generally more restless," says Fiechtner.
"They shake their heads to drive away flies or simply for their well-being." If a person then stands too close to the cow's head, there is a risk of being hit by the horn - and that can be quite acute.
At least as long as the animal has not been dehorned or is even genetically polled due to "decades of breeding work", according to Fiechtner.
If someone has the insatiable need to stroke a cow, then the district farmer's wife advises only doing this when the animal is tied up in the barn.
Even then, as a precaution, you should do it with your arm outstretched – and rather pat the cow on the behind than hit her over the head.
You can find more current news from the region around Bad Tölz at Merkur.de/Bad Tölz.
