A panic-stricken grandmother got the fright of her life when a heifer rammed into her and her grandchildren at the Northern A&P Show in Rangiora on Saturday.

Carolyne Cunningham was knocked to the ground and her two young grandchildren were thrown out of their pram when a one-year-old heifer went on a mini stampede at the show.

She was pushing her six-month-old granddaughter and two-year-old grandson around, seeing all the sights of the show, when they came across the animal.

Mrs Cunningham said she could see the animal was getting agitated. Suddenly, it eyeballed them and charged at the pram, knocking her, and the pram, to the ground.

"It came straight for us. It just took off. The baby was just going off to sleep. I was screaming and the kids were on the ground. I was scared for the children because they were on the ground and the animal was still rampant."

The children's parents were nearby and ran over to scoop the children up, she said.

Despite attempts by Harvey Rhodes, of Edsal Lowline Stud, to restrain the animal, it took about eight men to get the feisty heifer under control.

Mrs Cunningham hurt her tail bone when she fell and, although the children got a fright, they were not injured, she said.Show organisers should consider changing the layout of areas where members of the public and animals converged, she said.

"That's a very busy space out there ... where cattle go into the rink is where the members of the public are as well. The animals that cannot be around people should not be at shows. Some animals are not good."

Show president Graham Morris said several thousand people visited the show over the weekend. It was the 140th show since 1886.

Animals escaped every year and often had a "mind of their own", he said.

"It's a very hard one. You could put up a six-foot fence around the thing and then it's not a show. You could have it that sterile you couldn't get near them. At the end of the day it's where town meets country and animals are animals and they will do their own thing."