My daughter minded the place for a week recently. It was a big deal for us to get away for a few days, but I was worried how she would go.

Most of it ticks over without too much trouble. If something goes wrong the diagnosis and fix can be complicated, but if we had to we could have come back on a day's notice.

But I was worried about her feeding the cows. They are big, and can be pushy. They don't like strangers and small animals.

This time of year they are getting a small bale in the morning. I stacked up enough to be readily loaded into the buggy, showed her where to cut the baling twine so its easy to remove, and we worked out a process where she could drop the bale into the buggy, drive to where they cows were NOT, and put the feed out. By the time they got there she could be away and not have to interact with them.

There were no problems, all went well.

When we got back I was hauling a bale out by hand and my oldest cow got impatient with me. She dived on the bale and tried to grab a mouthful. She's a big girl, more the 600kg, and the weight of her head pushing at the bale crushed my knee sideways. Its my dodgy knee and it brought me down. It was a timely reminder of the inherent risk in even basic tasks, and I changed what I was doing so I now use the same, safe method we worked out for my daughter. Now I go out in the buggy, set up 100 metres away, and split the bale before they arrive, and no one gets hurt.

But yesterday I was just walking in the olive grove. I was taking the dogs out...they've been stuck inside with us with the weather and the fact that both of us are sick with a shocking cold. The cows were nowhere to be seen, except one steer. He watched me walk past. The dogs were miles ahead. No food in the mix, no triggers that I can think of. He was maybe 20 metres from me.

After I went past, with my back to him, I heard him coming. A full bore charge at me.

I yelled and waved my arms, and like a cartoon character he skidded to a stop, all fours gouging furrows in the paddock. But close, no more than 5-6 metres. If I had needed to, the olive trees are good cover to dodge around, but he had stopped.

Its not clear whether he would have stopped anyway and was just razzing me up, or whether my reaction saved my bacon.

Not very happy about it. He's been a bit feisty occasionally, but day-to-day quite laid back, and not normally something I would worry about.

There's a pretty simple solution, on a farm, for a troublesome steer, and our freezer is empty.

Time to make a phone call.....