Many hiking trails in Switzerland cross through cow grazing areas, which are sometimes enclosed with electric fences. They don’t look like much, just a couple flimsy strings hanging between thin metal posts. But trust me, they pack a punch!
A couple years ago, my boys and I were hiking with friends on the Globi Treasure Hunt trail at Engelberg Brunni, a really fun theme trail. A short section of the trail passed through a fenced cow pasture. Normally, this is no big deal. But a couple days prior, I had a scary encounter with a cow that chased me away from its calf. So I was a little nervous.
I saw two cows by the barn about 200 meters away and another cow far up the hill. The cows weren’t near the trail but to be extra safe, I had us walk close along the pasture fence, a single electric rope that we could easily duck under.
Very soon after we entered the field, the cow up the hill started mooing and running down the hill full speed. I immediately had everyone duck under the cow fence so we were separated from this cow. The kids were small and had no problems scooting under the rope. But I had a big backpack and as I shimmied under the rope, the hiking stick in my pack caught on the fence rope and a second later I got zapped with the electric current and I fell to the ground, dazed and confused. The zap was definitely unpleasant, but I wasn’t hurt, just a little disoriented.
The kids were laughing their heads off, while I lay there, still stuck to the fence awaiting the next zap, trying to get untangled. The kids finally used a tree branch to unhook me from the rope and we continued the hike. Of course, they still laugh about it years later, their silly mom brought down by a little cow fence.
Fortunately, the cow didn’t approach us but ran all the way to the other two cows by the barn. When she reached them, it became obvious that those two cows were slighter smaller than the running cow and must have been her babies. When she was far enough away, we ducked back under the cow fence and continued on the trail. She watched us the whole way but didn’t approach us.
Moral of the story: don’t touch the cow fences!
It can be hard to tell if fences you see on the trail are electric, but best to train kids not to touch them just in case. Many electric fences have a pulsing current. So you could touch the string and feel nothing and a couple seconds later, the electric pulse will pass by and zap you. You can often hear the static on the string as the current passes.
See also my post on Hiking Safely with Cows >>>
