Why would you move to the middle of farmland if you are scared of farm animals?

[RocketPanda]

I live in the countryside, surrounded by fields and until recently my nearest neighbour was a distant speck.
There was a derelict house that has been bought and renovated and I met my new neighbours yesterday. There's a big field between our houses and they asked was it used for animals. I said yes in the spring it usually has cows and calves in it. The husband said There better not be because he and their children are terrified of cows and big animals and can just about cope with hearing my donkeys.

Why on earth would you choose to move here then?

That reminds me of the occasion DH gave neighbours an egg carton (with eggs inside). She said to him, ‘what are these’ to which he replied sensibly, eggs.

she looked at him as if he was nuts.

As life long country kids, my oldest ones have all been genuinely gobsmacked at uni peers who really dont seem to get that meat, eggs and cheese are not all just made in a factory (ok....yes yes but you know what I mean). DD1 had a housemate who didnt know that dairy cows are all female. The most worrying part was that this young woman was studying for a degree in medicine. No, she didnt make it out of the first year, thank fuck!

We had a health visitor insist I lock my dogs outside in the garden in the pissing down rain because she’s scared of them and she wouldn’t come in the house until I had. I put them in the kitchen and shut the door

Sympathy to the health visitor. I had a career as a social worker and dogs were the total bane of my life. The equation "the bigger and worse behaved the dogs, the more difficult the owners" holds true. I had a rule - if you want me to help you, you keep your dogs out of my way. I gave out this information before every visit.

It's nothing to do with town or country.

And ask them what they think the fields are for! Parkland?

even better get spreading the farmyard muck and mowing the fields at 10pm at night.🚜

City centre pissheads are worse than cows...

Several charities have pet food banks too, it's worth checking if you're struggling to feed your pet.

Actually the farm animal that scares me most is geese - they are bloody evil. I wouldn't go in a geese pen without a very large stick!

I used to work in the community too and am a dog lover. I would never, have never required anyone to shut their dogs (or cats or parrots) outside and mostly it would be fine. I would speak calmly, move slowly and, if the animal wouldn't come and be friendly, at least they would relax and I could get on with my job BUT if your dog isn't well behaved around strangers for whatever reason, would you not want to keep them safe? Additionally, I have been bitten several times, never badly, and also picked up fleas on several occasions. The only thing I will say is that in my experience its the little terrier type dogs who I never trusted!

Actually that's not true (except in the case of chickens). The mammalian livestock population in the UK has dropped over the last 30-40 years. The cattle population has dropped by a third since 1974 as dairy herds became more productive. The sheep population is only 5 million more than it was in 1875, having dropped by 10 million over the last 30 years. We've lost about 3 million pigs too, since the 1980s.
researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN03339/SN03339.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjC48eg6ayJAxXbTkEAHdjcOpYQFnoECB0QAQ&usg=AOvVaw2YZOdHCMRmdbDQRAw8-nfQ

Hmm, that is interesting. I stand corrected!

There was a bonded warehouse just outside Glasgow that used to used geese instead of guard dogs. Geese can be vicious. I don't know if it's still there or not.

I could weep at everyone going about vicious geese. We bought geese specifically to be guard animals, they run screaming at the sight of people! We must have the most useless geese on the planet.

The kids are only 'scared' of animals because their wimp of a dad is teaching them that.
Hopefully the kids grow up loving seeing your animals and realise how great they are.

Might be worth keeping an eye on the wussy Dad though, could he cause harm to the animals to try and get you to move them elsewhere?

Not true (in the uk at least). You can have cows, you can even have a beef bull. You just can’t have a diary bull

Is he sensible to be terrified of cows grazing in a securely fenced off field, to the extent of wanting to stop the farmer using her own land to keep the cows on?

All sympathy but 😂

@Singinginthespring the countryside is a workplace, not just somewhere nice to walk. If you don't like cattle, don't walk that field. Until very recently I was a dog owner and I used to gently curse when the polo ponies were in the field the footpath went through because I didn't trust my dog, even under tight control and I'm out of practice with horses.
That said, the ponies had more right to be there than I did. I turned round and walked a different route.

That might be what they're worried about, especially if they have a dog after that recent headline about the dog and their owner being attacked.

yep. Our local farmer has sheep and cattle on the walking routes near us. Dog is on lead, headphones are off, and I stay alert. If I see sheep I warn them we’re coming if I see cows I take another route or go back the way I came. It might make for a boring or extra long walk but I’d rather that than any alternatives.

Really it comes down to countryside awareness. Many people are so closed off from the realities of the countryside and how their food is produced. It’s disheartening really. But unless there’s an apocalyptic event where having even a basic knowledge of this stuff could make the difference to survival, there is unlikely to be any more will to learn than there is now!

Did you just get geese though? Because really you need at least one gander if you want them to be formidable 😅

I mean, you CAN "milk" a bull, but you wouldn't want to drink it.....

And the bull might not enjoy it very much.

Our house cow could get temperamental if you didn't milk her (we hand milked her) in the way she liked. She had a way with tossing her horns (usually a lovely placid Jersey).

We have a gander and they are STILL bloody useless! They do, however, regularly beat up our pet sheep and torment the yard cat and her kittens to the extent that our rather elderly ewe feels the need to step in and head butt them. But they won't go near people and only honk when some one has LEFT our yard. How did we end up with such useless geese?!

😂 We live in a rural village, but over the last few years x3 new build estates have popped up, cue lots of new people that are not used to the country, on local groups we’ve had moaning about
*Having to walk their £1200 pram through horse poo, why wasn’t it cleaned up? Disgusting!
*Having horses on a field with a public right of way (too scared to walk through so land owner shouldn’t be allowed to keep them there)
*countryside ‘smells’ offending their nostrils
*countryside noises offending their ears
*why won’t takeaways deliver out here?!
*church bells are annoying
The list is endless…the mind boggles

@krustykittens

"How did we end up with such useless geese?!"

They certainly sound like useless geese.

Maybe a change from turkey for Christmas dinner this year?