Please use the countryside responsibly- so fed up

[jacks11]

On a rare day off from my day job, I have once again spent the day dealing with a series of thoughtless and/or completely entitled idiots behaving totally irresponsibly on our land. I had thought the one (very small) silver lining of this awful situation would be that this lambing season would see us free from so many problems from people out for a walk etc. But still having issues.

Today I stopped no fewer than 7 families traipsing through either the yard, our garden (one family stopping to have a seat on the picnic table/bench in our garden) or the lambing sheds to have a look. One family also stopped off to admire the lambs in one of the fields then preceded to take there youngish children (under 10) into said fields to see them closer. Several gates left open, people climbing over gates etc. I caught someone feeding our old pony apples and a doughnut! We’ve had rubbish being dropped. Dogs off leads etc.

What I cannot understand is how so many are getting to us- they must be breaching the guidance to only exercise locally or walking at least 7 miles from the nearest village. Which I doubt with the ages of some of the children.

When DH politely approached the family in our garden they were really rude, citing their “right to roam”- not even slightly apologetic when pointed out they were in our garden so they had no right to be there. Ditto several other people- don’t seem to realise right to roam does not apply to private gardens or land used for commercial reasons- I.e. yards/lambing sheds and you must behave responsibly (e.g. close gates, don’t let dogs off leads near livestock, don’t leave rubbish, don’t worry livestock, don’t walk across crops etc).

When you add in the situation with Covid, you’d think people would be careful about touching gates etc unnecessarily- but no. Lots of people have vulnerable family members and this is just an added headache- having to constantly be aware that people may have touched the gates/railings/doors etc.

Please use the countryside responsibly- some of us live on the land you are using as a playground. You are putting our livestock at risk- please don’t feed livestock/horses for that reason- and sometimes yourself in danger. There is no excuse for leaving rubbish.

Rant over!!

Eventually farmers can sell up if they own the land.

Who do they sell on to? How does who exactly owns a piece of land make any difference?
Maybe all our farmers should sell out to massive agribusinesses which might be able to enforce compliance with big ugly fences or suchlike. Or keep all the stock indoors, like many of the huge milk and beef factories in the US. Or they could sell to housing developers, so the rights of way can start from people's front doors and wend between domestic gardens?
I'm sure those aren't the 'solutions' anyone wants!

It says to wash your hands after touching livestock. Touching and feeding other people’s livestock is not recommended at any time. So a notice saying not to touch or feed the horses at any time would have been sensible and better.

People stupid enough not to realise that they shouldn't touch livestock, and if they do handle animals they should wash their hands, might pay more attention if they think they might catch CV, even if there's no specific evidence about how long it survives on animals. I'd guess the 72 hours was just taken from general advice about persistence on surfaces.

Think the farmers should be catching these dogs and refusing to give them back, along with phoning the police. Police can then give the morons a good lecture followed by a fine. A box of dog biscuits should lure them, they have stupid owners, they are unlikely to be trained well.

I mean they are allowed to shoot the dogs if in with livestock. I think just capturing them is being nice. Can't believe people are having picnics in other peoples gardens though, that's insane.

A dog in the middle of chasing something is highly unlikely be lured by a dog biscuit. Unfortunately at a distance, shooting may be the only method of actually stopping a dog from harming the sheep.

And of course in most cases there won't be a farmer anywhere near until after the damage is done to the sheep. They have better things to do than lurk around trying to catch dogs. Much simpler all round for everyone to keep their dog on a lead unless they're sure there's no livestock.

I am a farmer’s daughter and my family sold up. Of course farms are sold! It’s not a given that people stay in farming. They might want to and that’s fair enough but it’s not an essential career choice if you have a farm, without consideration of other careers, and many sell up when a younger generation isn’t interested. Some farms get bigger because they buy up small loss-making farms. It was ever thus! It’s not wrong to sell a farm and I’ve seen no problems of finding buyers around me. And what’s wrong with bigger agricultural businesses? They employ people, produce food for us and it takes every sort of farmer to produce the food and landscape we value.

Of course people shouldn’t keep touching animals at any time.

Of course farmers can sell up if they want to, bubbles, I just fail to see how it helps in any way with the problem except to move it onto the next owners.

You obviously cannot sell to housing developers unless your land is designated for housing! Show me a farmer who hasn’t sold when given the opportunity to make millions £ from selling! They don’t exist.

I won’t walk through any fields that have livestock on them even if it is a public footpath.

It’s not worth the life of me,my dogs or the livestock themselves.

I did once walk through a public field, let the dogs off and was having a nice walk. Rounded round a corner and there were some sheep. Immediately got my dogs on the lead, turned round and left the field.

It wasn’t even lambing season, but sheep are too easy to scare and it’s not fair on them

Quite... so in reality a farmer fed up with people being idiots would sell to another farmer who'd have the same problem.

Horses seem to attract wandering idiots. My friend found a dad taking a photo of his young daughter sitting on her horse in the middle of the field. WTAF.

Yes, Errol. But I was really saying that if it all gets too much some farmers have an exit strategy. And a not too shabby price achieved too around me! Plenty to buy a house and start up another business of even retrain for another job with a good pension scheme and shorter hours. It makes sense for some. I accept others wouldn’t dream of it! And yes, idiots in the countryside are still there!

But that's like saying if you are a shop owner and your shop keeps on getting vandalized, you should sell up. Or if you're a nurse and you keep on getting assaulted at work, you should change job. Why not try and stop the crime from being committed rather than just moving on and passing the buck? (Which isn't always so easy to do anyway).

Can't believe people are having picnics in other peoples gardens though, that's insane

I've posted about this before on mumsnet over the years. We have this happen every year, we have a few large trees on a banking/ orchard area in our garden.

It's right next to a popular walking route and the trees are probably the first shade for a few miles on hot days. Every year many people leave the footpath to come into our garden to sit under the trees to eat their dinner, looking straight into my kitchen window. Most seem genuinely surprised when you go and point out to them they are in your garden. If people asked we probably wouldn't have a problem but it's just so rude to go and plonk yourself down in someone's private space.

People have just completely lost sight of the fact that the countryside and every green space in it isn't a public free for all.

A lot of farmers just want subsidies gone now because it seems to give some people the view that they somehow pay farmers wages and can do what they like.

Shop owners sell up for all sorts of reasons. Nurses give up for various reasons. If you think the irresponsible behaviour genie can be put back in the bottle, great. I don’t. We don’t have enforcement of good behaviour as this thread shows

I would sell up in a heartbeat if I found it too much. No one is obliged to carry on in a job they don’t like. Loads of corner shops have become homes. Of course people have sold and moved on.

Not a farmer but live well out in the sticks in an AONB. Over the last couple of weeks local fences, stiles and hedges on/adjacent to footpaths have been festooned with full poo bags. Who the AF does this? (Answer: thoughtless idiots.)

jacks11 I'm so pleased to see this as I'd contemplated starting a similar thread myself. Do we know how long the virus can survive on gate fastenings or wooden stiles etc?
I fret that when my DH opens his own gates he can pick up an infection and (as you say) there are no hand washing facilities out there. We also get families in the lambing sheds, feeding the horses and dogs when in fact the footpath does not actually go through the yard.
Actually dog poo left lying in the open will degrade eventually, but of its in a plastic bag and hung on a hedge ..... err no.
Lambs don't like 'playing' with dogs.
An angry ewe can knock a child over.
An angry cow can KILL a man, we have sucklers (cows with calf at foot) so some of the mothers are very aggressive and if they see a dog all hell can let lo

OK walk along the footpath which runs through the field, bear in mind it does not mean 'run wild all over the field with your dog off the lead', and please respect other people's gardens.

Much simpler all round for everyone to keep their dog on a lead unless they're sure there's no livestock.

Of course that's much simpler. But they aren't doing it are they? That's the problem, they are too stupid and entitled to give a crap about anyone else.

If you think the irresponsible behaviour genie can be put back in the bottle, great. I don’t.

I think we shouldn't just give up on trying to do better. Your defeatist attitude is very much part of the problem.

I'm beginning to think there needs to be a country walking license. And/or a test before you're allowed to buy a dog.

(No, I don't think it's remotely likely either of those things will happen)

Just read about 5 cows found dead this morning because someone chucked yew clippings info the field.

And a horse dead because grass cuttings thrown into the field.

6 animals dead, vets bills to pay, removal to pay, replacement of those animals to pay. Grief to deal with.

I'd lock my gates as well and block access. No one ever died, or lost out financially from not being able to walk through a field they wanted to.

I walk to work on a public footpath through crop fields. Every year, there is damage. The foot path is to get from A to B, not to mess about in the fields. The poor bloke has to deal with fly tippers too.

I always think how would people like it if someone comes into their workplace and start messing and damaging their tools or outputs, or chucking rubbish around their office.

I think you have a point, Errol. But yes, probably never going to happen.

I don't believe Hester is telling the truth. I don't believe she's been anywhere near a farm

She certainly hasn't been anywhere near a dictionary.

Why should farmers sell up if they're "finding it too much" because they were managing but inconsiderate arseholes tip them over the edge?

It's no more acceptable than a nurse giving up because they're fed up of being abused by patients. The onus should be on those behaving badly to stop.

It all feels a bit like some people have just been waiting for an excuse to yell ‘get orfff my land’ for years and now they think they have one

Did you not read the OP @Peapod29 ? The OP was talking about tresspassers.

The lockdown is difficult for everyone, in different ways. But that does not give you the right to traipse across farms, or break the Country Code. Take your daily walk in your local streets, FGS.

Stop excusing Covidiots - it doesn't make you look good.