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!!

I’d be making some signs OP,

“This is private property, all trespassers with be shot” :)

I've printed off and pinned these posters round the gates to the yard. No doubt they will be ripped off in a few days, but it might make a few think first.

The law is that if a child can get into your field and go up to your horses and gets kicked, you as the owner are liable because it is possible for the child to get to them. Silly i know but thats the law.

I thought they were better worded that the nfu ones. You can download them from their twitter page if you want.

Really good! We've made our own but they are better. Thanks.

I share your frustration. I live in a farming area with an area of beauty which has been closed to the public. It still doesn’t stop people driving into the village, parking their cars on the verges and wandering around in the roads or riding bikes 3 abreast, blaring out music and generally being wankers. The speed limit is 30. Just because there are less cars on the road it doesn’t mean you can speed down at 60.

😡

Fortunately the pub is closed and no longer sells chips otherwise I would be going round p88ing on them all

Tabby - of course people have fought for years for the right to walk . People always want something that doesn’t belong to them . If you had people camping in your garden because it was beside the public footpath, are you seriously saying you’d just smile at them and tell them to carry on ? You’d be going ape and posting fecking stupid diagrams on here asking for advice .

Scotland should collectively lock all the gates with padlocks until this is all over ( and maybe even after ) . If you all do it what can the authorities do ?
Start a campaign on social media now . I’d support it .
And dump the dung too.

Purpletigers bloody hell, you're rude. I consider myself a sensible and considerate walker and exerciser of my dogs. I keep them out of and off growing crops, control them very closely around stock, never litter (pick up other people's at times -and their dog shit sometimes, too), leave gates as I find them. I never wander into or through yards or gardens without permission or unless a footpath goes through (and I'd think twice about that at the moment and probably wouldn't). I consider things like release pens and ground nesting birds when walking the dogs. And then along you come, essentially telling all walkers to fuck off if they're still walking on farmland.

Makes me wonder why I bother. Oh, yeah, that's right: I care about farm animals, crops and wildlife, and have friends who farm.

Tbh even considerate walkers might want to consider walking elsewhere at the moment.

Toyaster - would the parents not be guilty of neglect if they let their child go into someone else’s field ? I have never heard of a child being hurt in this way and hope there never are .

Adults are fair games though . Could farmers put up stats on their property like they do at hotspots on dangerous roads
4 attacks by cows with calf at foot ( only 50% needed a hospital stay)
1 fatality by bull ( but that was years ago and Samson isn’t as cross as Lucifer)
5 dogs shot for chasing sheep
2 dogs killed by horses’ kicks

I'm a walker and I'm not surprised @Purpletigers is fed up.
I would absolutely block access at the moment. People should be sticking to public land during a lockdown - not putting farmers and their livestock at risk.

Grumpy - I am being incredibly rude , I make no apologies either . The ridiculous situations the posters are talking about are not remotely funny . Walkers are not wanted atm , even the responsible ones . Your friends are too polite to tell you the truth . They don’t want you on their land either . They don’t have a choice .

Footpaths are public land - they do not belong to the farmer!

Honestly, all these entitled twats roaming round bloody farmyards, wtf? I’m delighted to have my horse off the public paths now. I was once told people could do as they like when I caught them throwing carrots at the horses.

Despite having no footpath across the field-it runs between 2 fenced off fields-a bloke decided to take his dog through a field. The geldings didn’t like this much and the guy had to pick up his dog and throw it over the fence, then dived over himself. There’s a perfectly good lane between the fields.

This is something unknown to me, as I'm not from around these here parts. . . are there public footpaths across private land?

You can't win at the moment round here if you have dogs to exercise. Drive to public land where half the car parks are shut and get bollocked for driving, walk to the playing fields and get bollocked for going with your horrible dog where everybody else is going, or walk on the footpaths and get bollocked for that.

I can completely understand why farmers besieged by clueless walkers with cockerpoos chasing their lambs are terminally pissed off, but we're not all like that.

OP, note down all their car registrations and report to the police. I'd be absolutely furious if I caught anyone doing this. It's selfish at best and dangerous at most- itll be your fault if any of the stupid bastards get hurt, too.

dear farmers, please feel free to shoot any off lead dogs that you see on your land. Let poochy-woos owners take you to court afterwards, they will be laughed out.

perhaps put up a sign, but I wouldn't worry.

dogs need to be on leads. They don't die from not being able to run free. Livestock die if they do and so can people from the associated accidents. Dogs need to be on leads on roads at all times, that's the LAW - road traffic act 1988 for the poochy-woo types who don't believe it.

it is only a dog and unless it is a service animal, it matters less than people.

@MogeatDog actually the footpaths do belong to the landowner. The public only have a right of way across it, so no stopping to feed the livestock or having a picnic. You only need check the Land Registry to confirm. They are not "public land" in any way!

I can completely understand why farmers besieged by clueless walkers with cockerpoos chasing their lambs are terminally pissed off, but we're not all like that. Just keep your dogs away from livestock at the moment. It's a strain on all of us. We all have to adapt.

mboznz yes, there are. There's a whole network and because of their historic purpose, a lot go through farm buildings. Some are much more used than others and, obviously, some walkers are more considerate than others.

@GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman

You can't win at the moment round here if you have dogs to exercise. Drive to public land where half the car parks are shut and get bollocked for driving, walk to the playing fields and get bollocked for going with your horrible dog where everybody else is going, or walk on the footpaths and get bollocked for that

Maybe stop driving places to "exercise" your mongrels? Take them a regular walk around town like everyone else. Use your garden. If you don't have a garden that really shouldn't be anyone elses issue to deal with. Certainly not farmers who are still trying to work with all this going on.

I don't know how farmers cope in England with all these entitled prats taking over their fields as soon as the sun comes out. I'm glad none of our land has these lanes- we can just tell them to get to fuck. It absolutely infuriates me how people who literally don't own or rent the land want all the positives of it?

Ummm, no. Buy a field if you want one. Otherwise, back to your town you go.

derxa agreed.

This is why the countryside code should be mandatory teaching in all schools.

If I've ever been walking and have had to cross the farmers land I felt very uncomfortable doing so or I've turned back.

Why do people without a garden or space to exercise dogs get dogs ? If you have a dog go for a walk around your local area like a normal person.
We don’t have a problem with unwanted walkers here in NI . They’d probably get shot . I’m only half joking 🙃