Well, I have to disagree somewhat with the “ignore him and keep riding” opinions. I worked on a dairy farm for 3 years and saw bulls attack the tractor or charge fences numerous times. A man here was just mauled and killed by a dairy bull a week ago.
First of all - what is the breed? The hottest and most volatile cattle we have in the States are Holsteins, followed by Herefords. Black and white Holsteins, in particular because the color is not natural to the breed so selective and inbreeding has occurred for so many generations that the personalities have gotten hotter and more unpredictable. I have even seen Holstein cows charge and attack the dog, or the gates. A young heifer once ran us all right out of the barn when she broke her chain and charged. Most of our cattle were very sweet, very very well trained. But young heifers who are in the milking barn for the first time were hotter and crazier than anything I’ve ever seen. On the other hand though, we never had a Red Holstein that acted this way. The Reds were always very very quiet.
Angus, Jerseys, Brown Swiss, Dutch Belt, etc. are much calmer and saner.
There was a saying on the dairy farm where I worked - there is nothing in the world more dangerous than a full grown Holstein breeding bull, never ever trust them. Obviously each bull’s personality and breeding will affect his temperment, but as a general rule, I would never trust a Holstein bull, followed by Herefords.
The farm had a young Angus bull that would sit in your lap and lick your neck if you let him. Very very sweet guy, all 1,800 pounds of him.
Conversely, one of our farmers went out with the tractor to move a water tank and the Holstein breeding bull, defending his cows, charged the tractor and got head to head with the bucket. We had to run down the fence line yelling and clapping to distract him so Chuck could get out of there safely with the tractor. They told me they’d seen breeding bulls flip tractors over, depending on how angry they are.
So if it were me, depending on the bull’s breed, I would likely give him a wide berth. If it is one of the gentler breeds, I would be cautious and keep my distance, but wouldn’t worry too much. But a Holstein or a Hereford? I’d probably find a different path. The good thing is though, they usually respect electric fencing so I’d feel a lot safer if he were in electric than if it weren’t electrified. Breeding bulls are raised to respect fencing from an early age. But if you are riding THROUGH the field, inside the fence with the bulls, you’re taking a very huge chance. One that I wouldn’t take.
Also I disagree about - if there are females in season they are more territorial. I’ve seen exactly the opposite. When cows are in their heat cycle, the bull is 100% focused on the cow, and doesn’t even know you’re there. We would wait for a bull to be courting a cow and then go out and do a fence repair, or put out mineral salt, etc. It’s when the bull has nothing else to think about that they focus on you.
DA - you’re in CA, which is 2nd to WI in dairy production, so I’d be curious to know if this is a Black/White Holstein or not.
Part of a stock dog’s job is holding the stock so a human can work nearby safely, but only a small part. The price for a trained stockdog starts around $1500.00, and the handler must also be willing to invest some months (at a minimum) into learning how to work the dog.
