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?

I wonder what they'll make of the sounds of horny hares and frisky foxes.

Oh this needs to be an ongoing thread - I feel we need updates throughout all the seasons please!

This.

Couldn't agree more!

It's going to be pretty quiet from now til around February except for tractors so I think he will be lulled.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Some people the kids probably couldn't give a shit. I would rather have cow's nearby than some of the neighbours I've lived next door to.

Ireland so a bit of a moo(t) point.

However what if that was the only field available?

This gave me a good chuckle. Some people really have no idea about the countryside/nature/animals in general. My neighbours vacuum their garden daily (sometimes twice a day) because "those leaves are falling down again". Yet they are the ones who bought a house next to a line of trees.

But surely even if they don’t like cows, if they are in the next door field they are not going to have to interact with them much? If it’s not their field then why would they be thinking of going into it?

I’m hoping they aren’t planning on coming into your garden or any other garden in the village either - why would a field be any different?! Unless they are so ignorant about the countryside that they saw the empty field next to them and thought it would make a nice extra space for their dc to run around in away from the road, like a park that’s been handily left their for their own enjoyment without the need to to buy it or even ask permission to go in?!

You maybe need a scarecrow or three for visual interest

This is probably exactly what they were going to do!

I totally appreciate that the countryside should be used for grazing. However, as someone with a fear of cows but who loves and genuinely respects the countryside, I would feel safer if there was a path fenced off by the side... I'll admit that I am a city dweller!

I'm so scared of cows that I will find an alternative route, possibly trespassing in the process, in order to avoid walking through cows (particularly if there are calves). I'm sure I'm not alone in this.

I'll often talk to a cow from the other side of a stone wall! They can be lovely creatures (when not with their calves), however, as PP stated they are big and dumb!

Well I hope he will educate himself and his family - the idiot.

Of course, all animals need to be treated with respect - I would be wary of walking a dog where there are cows and calves. I was going to say that's just common sense, but that's becoming rarer and rarer these days.

What an arrogant attitude, though. He needs to stay in the suburbs where big scary cows won't frighten him.

There is one farmer near us who does just this and it’s great. Keeps the feckless public from his cattle, keeps the public from trying to jump over various walls to escape nosey cattle. Win win.

I think that's fair enough. It's one thing to admit to being scared of cows, but quite another to expect the farmer or landowner not to put them in the fields which were created for them!

Can I check nowhere has the Op said that the field is a pubic footpath or has she?

This! I wouldn't move to the country as I hate the smells associated with it and I also have terrible hay fever. I wouldn't move there and then complain though!

Bloody idiots. I pity the farmer who is going to be getting lots of complaints.

Cows are scary though.

I moved from urban London to rural Ireland and there are usually sheep in the field next door (sometimes pushing down the fence). I love it, all the benefits of seeing the animals and hearing them baa away without having to look after them! I find them really calming.

This man sounds like a right idiot. Of course large animals are dangerous and he needs to keep himself and his kids out of the field. If he has a real phobia as in he can't even look at them, well they will have to move, won't they? What does he mean by "there better not be"?! He won't have a say!

Echoing those who said PLEASE do update in spring!

I think you just have to laugh at them. You own the field, not them. And there’s a fence, I assume. You could explain to him how a fence works, maybe?

It’s people like your neighbours who give townies such a bad name.

I would so be hiding under his window and jumping up with a cow mask!!!

MOO!!!

I had a run in with a goose, well a lot of running really as the bastard chased me. Hate them with a passion

Thank you @RocketPanda this thread is really cheering me up. And making me realise that I’m a sensible grown up, not a blithering idiot like your neighbour. Where is the brain in some people?!

Such a pity the field doesn’t need a good spray of shit/slurry in order to have thick,lush grass for next years stock.!