AIBU to think that if you hate animals you shouldn't move to the countryside?

I think this chap had the right idea.

One yard we were at, the neighbours grew a hedge right next to one of our grazing fields, and then were surprised and cross when our livestock leaned over the fence and ate the hedging - they demanded that we fence our animals away from (our) fence.

I'm speechless!

I'm a townie (grew up in Croydon ffs, how much townier can you get?) but I did get a reasonable notion of what producing meat involved. How can people be so ignorant?

Anyway OP, I think Mr N should swap houses with me. I'd love to live next door to your sheep and cockerels, and if you got pigs and donkeys as well, I'd love it even more. We have sheep close by, but the only ones we can see are 3 miles away and that's too far to tell when they're having a dump.

Another sad one... in my rural village growing up we had a little old lady who had Bees and made honey. She lived in the house that she had grown up in and had had this little beehive with no issue for over 60 years. She was known across the village as the honey lady - she gave the honey away and it was indeed delicious.
Anyway, one day a new family (from London) moved in next door and immediately started a campaign against her.
Nasty notes through the door, threats of legal action if any of them happened to get stung.
Honey lady was terrified and heartbroken. She sold the hive and got rid of the bees. Two months later she passed away, heartbroken and deeply depressed.
I was young at the time and bitterly wish I had done more to help her and I hope that family know they hounded a woman to her death on their conscience.

The village who farm need to respond andridicule these comments every single time, make them stop. Otherwise it will be like the very lovely equestrian centre near me that was driven out of business by 2 people waging a campaign.

The centre tried to accommodate every request politely but the complainers just moved onto the next point and after a few years the centre had enough.

This is my favourite thread in ages! I moved to the country about 5 years ago and love it here (I'm not one of them, I promise!)

Would like to say unbelievable but sadly these people do exist. My solution would be to fence off the part of your field closest to his end, get some nice corrugated pig arks then put some porkers on there to turn their nice green view into a mud pit.

We have some of these here too. They actually started a petition to stop farmers spreading slurry, then another to stop farmers lambing outside (one farmer had a particularly bad year, with many dead lambs) and then there was two petitions about tractors. One was no tractors on the road, and the other was okay, tractors on the road but they can't pull trailers. I've no idea where they intended to hand these petitions to, but I was told that the reactions in the local when they wandered in looking for signatures was something to behold.

A local farmer was buried today. He was someone who was always on the periphery of my life, and I sort of always expected him to be, iykwim. I went on Facebook and found a whole pile of these people complaining about the 'traffic jam'. Somebody explained why, and one now deleted response was 'but then why were so many people there if he was only a farmer!' Mind boggling!

As for what you should do:
Castrate at least a few ram lambs. In the field. At breakfast time.
Any sore feet or other health care also needs to be done in the field at breakfast time.
Buy a goat. But basically the Houdini of the goat world. Encourage goat to eat ndn flowers, plants, etc.
Lots of geese, and a donkey.
Spread much slurry.
When sheep out of field, errect a sign saying warning field has been sprayed and may contain toxic chemicals.

And look for a sign like the one I have. We have middle of the night trespassers, due to an ongoing issue with DPS ex in laws. It says (in more legal terms) that I am not responsible for any injuries or damage you suffer if you come onto my land without my permission and act like a twat. It says something like need my express consent every time and that trespassers would be prosecuted. I don't know if it actually covers me legally, but I figure they wouldn't know, and that it would be enough to put them off. I also started talking about my imaginary large breed guard dogs that I can only let out at night and have to padlock away during the day. I really should name the imaginary beasts.

This is superb.

I had a friend in a similar situation. Farm had been there for decades and some very wealthy people moved in next door and complained about EVERYTHING.
This went on for ages until my friend had had enough of trying to be a nice neighbour. So there was the tractor and trailer full of manure that "accidentally" broke down outside their front drive the same night as their very lavish garden party for their many, equally awful friends ;) and many other similar events that just started to happen... including the emus that suddenly got loose and stampeded through the garden....

I’m currently being kept awake by a shouting fox, can you deal with that too while you train your sheep to only poo when no ones looking??

Next time they complain about animals disturbing there meal smile sweetly and ask what they were eating , if they have eaten any kind of meat look mortified and exclaim thats where Daisy / buttercup / Miss Piggy went and walk away weeping . if there is no mention of meat then get in a huff and say its the likes of you that mean farmers are struggling to survive.

Am finding this thread hilarious....😂. Shagging sheep putting him off his breakfast...he really must be a special kind of stupid.
Re horse poo, my dad used to keep a bag and a shovel in back of his car and shovel up horse shit. He was a very keen gardener. I actually quite like the smell....

I can believe this thread, I've seen threads on MN suggesting that riders clean up after their horses

Yes, I’ll just jump off my 17hh normally very well-behaved horse that you’ve spooked and shovel up his shit....oh no, wait, I have neither shovel nor do I give a shit!

Sorry, but I'm just picturing the OP trying to potty train her sheep 😂.

But yes to peacocks, they are gorgeous so I bet your neighbour will be happy about the view right up until they start making an awful racket. Heard a screaming contest between a few peacocks and a parrot/ cockatiel- bloody hell the NOISE.

Can you put up some temporary and really ugly screening that blocks his view of YOUR field entirely?

Then when he moans "his view" is ruined, tell him you put it there because he complained about what he could see in YOUR field.

It would be too OTT ask him menacingly if he saw this article about someone who objected to looking at a working farm. www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5847375/Pictured-Millionaire-expat-British-executive-shot-outside-French-home.html

This is happening in local social media groups? I suggest you set up some kind of award e.g. Craziest complaint of the month. The prize is a day of work experience with a farmer.

You have my sympathy OP. It drives me nuts. I have nothing against people who move to the country from an urban setting and have little knowledge of what it is like to live rurally. Many are perfectly normal, sensible people - but there is a minority (a significant minority, and growing) who have literally no concept of what it means to live in a rural area, but also believe that everyone/everything ought to be changed to suit them.

We have much of this sort of idiocy too. We've also had complaints from a similar breed of nitwit regarding sheep and cattle being "too noisy/smelly/messy" and so on. One newcomer complained several times that the tractors working through the night at harvest time was disturbing him.... yes, I understand that it may do so, but you should have thought of that when buying a home overlooking fields where crops are grown (and were there at the time you bought it). And no, they can't stop work as the crop needs to be brought in at the right time. Oh, and complaints re muck spreading... yes, it doesn't smell great but it's not that bad and it doesn't last long- has been going on for many years before you arrived... So get over yourself or move. I hope he does....

Or the newcomer who wanted to have the beautiful, and very old, trees lining the lane into one of the local villages cut down (back road and not into the village itself) as his house on the edge of the village had: 1) lots of leaves blown into the garden (surely not a country-side only phenomenon?); 2) the crows and birds made noise in the morning and "it's a pain" and 3) the birds droppings on his driveway and car are annoying. Of course, it was never going to happen but why would you want to do that?

We also have a different problem- some who move or like visiting the countryside but haven't got a clue how to behave, have no common sense and don't even attempt to educate themselves before venturing out. Taking a picnic and then leaving the rubbish lying around, for instance- I don't get it: I want to shout "YOU TOOK IT UP THERE FULL, IT WILL BE LIGHTER TO CARRY BACK AGAIN THAN IT WAS TO BRING IT IN THE FIRST PLACE!". I have even found dirty nappies left. Orlike the parents who wandered into one of the lambing pens and were in the process of trying put their 2 small DC INTO the pens where the ewes were in with their newborn lambs to "pat the lambs" because it would be "cute". Luckily, they were caught in the act and stopped, but were most indignant about being asked to stop, huffed and puffed about how "the DC days had been spoiled"- well, it'd have been spoiled a whole lot more if they had been injured. My neighbour had similar with some of her calves in the fields.

And don't get me started on what some people do around horses. Despite signs asking them not to enter the field where we have the mares and foals, they feel the need to do so. Sometimes the mares will be fine, but they are easily spooked if you get too close to the foals or if you move to quickly or look aggressive. That is dangerous for all parties. So please don't go in- but it's not infrequently ignored. One man decided to ignore and walk his dog through the field and complained that his dog got kicked.....

Also signs saying "don't feed the horses".... ignored frequently until extra layer of electric fencing installed (has a bit of a kick)- gate and fences have signs explaining this. Though now have had a few complaints about people getting shocked if they touch the fence... tough, you've been warned, ignore at your own peril! It's not that I want to be a killjoy- it's that it can be dangerous to the horses- you might think it's "only an apple/one polo mint or whatever- but you don't know what's safe for that horse, and imagine if lots of people give "one carrot", for instance. And some people try to feed them food that is unsafe (a friend's horse got serious colic requiring surgery after one lovely family fed her greedy native pony doughnuts, for instance). Not only that it can end up in the horse developing the bad habit of expecting to be fed and getting greedy/bolshy, which means it's more likely to nip or bite. Which the owner then has to try and retrain.

Sorry for the rant, I'll get off my soapbox.

Tell him not to worry, since there is a lot of wind blowing from that direction and you’re worried about the sheep getting cold, you’re planning on planting a row of Leylandii. At least he won’t be able to see the sheep having a shag or daylight

YADNBU

I live rurally too, and have experienced some of these complaints firsthand.

We have been told it is cruel to leave animals in the field - in pretty much all weathers - sun, rain, wind, snow, etc. All our animals are checked twice daily, and brought in or rugged if struggling - but they almost never need it. One farming friend was even told by someone that they ought to rug their cows in the rain.

Another farmer I know has had complaints from people on the nearby footpath - because he has tractors parked in his farmyard, which are muddy & unsightly.

One local village used to have an access road to an equestrian centre - until the commuters moved in, and then complained about horse vehicles driving through the village (as they had been for decades), and the equestrian centre were forced to build a new road that didn't go through the village - at extortionate cost.

One yard we were at, the neighbours grew a hedge right next to one of our grazing fields, and then were surprised and cross when our livestock leaned over the fence and ate the hedging - they demanded that we fence our animals away from (our) fence.

Some friends of ours have had complaints because their fields were muddy in winter - and they really weren't that bad, as winter fields go, they were actually in pretty good nick - but their neighbours hate all animals and really just want a lawn to look out at.

A nearby village had complaints about the ringing of the bells.

Moans about horse poo on the road are really common - almost everyone I know with horses has had someone complain to them at some point.

I don't understand people, really, I don't.

Please tell me you are Farm Assured and you are going to get to file away these complaints ready to show the Farm Assurance assessor at your next inspection. We always note a few of the really daft ones down just to lighten the mood at inspection time

At tupping time this year you could get a really randy hill breed in as a teaser tup first just to extend the shagfest for a few weeks?

A creep feeder that rattles and bangs every time lambs go in and out?

Mobile pens to do all dagging, tailing, tagging and castrating etc in that field?

Farms should be banned! We should eat only plastic!

Seriously OP put up a sign telling them to tupp off!

You have to tell him how much your husband loves his wild pussy...
Don't laugh when you say it.

Wouldn’t!!!!!

Can you catch the feral cat and somehow put it in their conservatory?

It’d piss every where and the place would stink and the he would watch your sheep shagging?

You need a couple hundred