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?

Hahaha. That made me giggle

Maybe they think that the field by them should be for their own use/pleasure. Proper townies.
I grew up around farm animals, I have a healthy distrust of cows as they are nosey beggars and push and shove to get a look. I wouldn't care if they are in the fiend next to my house, I wouldn't be going into that field while they are there. To be honest I don't walk on any farmers fields unless it's an actual public footpath and then stick close to the edges of the field.
I'd watch incase they think they are going to take over and get arsey.

I mean I grew up in the country, I have a very healthy respect for large animals... it makes far more sense to be scare of the risk/power from a horse or cow than a spider or mouse.

However never have I been attacked by a cow in my garden etc... most cows/horses are kept behind fences. You have to be really rural to be in a sheep grazing village (there are some here on the penines though) but it would be pretty obvious when you cross the cattle grids and see sheep on the road.

What put me off any idea of ever living in the countryside was a stay in Wales near a dairy farm. Cows were far enough away I couldn't see them but the noise at night! No no no - that guy is in for a shock!

Geese are great, stand your ground and they back off. We have some round a public lake nearby. Trouble is people like to feed the rats birds with bread as they can't read the signs...

No idea why scared people would move somewhere that they won't like. Probably liked the sound of it more than the reality!

Not sure if this trumps the OP or not. I once saw an episode of Four in A Bed, that's B and B owners visiting and critiquing each others' properties, and one couple filled in the feed back form complaining about the noise of gulls. At the seaside 😂

As to access to farmers' fields, even if it's a public footpath I regard it as a privilege and if there are cows in the field will generally avoid until they've been moved. Had an unnerving experience one time and am now wary of them. I think the running of the farm tops my desire to take that route. Fortunately there are several different fields to choose so it's not a problem and just makes more sense.

They are meant to be fed, if they aren’t then the neighbour does have a point.

They’ll just have to stay on their side of the fence away from the cows. It’s the flies I hate about cows. They’ll like that surprise

Geese are lovely and absolutely wonderful. Won’t have a bad word said against them. I’ve got loads of them.

It's quite sad that so many people have no idea about livestock and farm animals. So many children grow up without knowing that the meat and eggs they eat are courtesy of animals.
When I worked as a TA I was amazed how many children didn't believe that a chicken produced eggs.

I'd really very much like to though... it's my favourite!

Another "from social media" reply, but I've seen a couple of videos of people with lots of animals "falling over" to see which of their animals come first.

More often than not, it's the geese!

Mind you, whether it's to make sure you're OK, raise alarm, or eat your corpse before you rot, I have no idea!

We moved from town to a rural village abroad,
I always roll my eyes at the other expats who have done the same but take extreme measures to build fortresses around their houses to keep nature out, you see it all the time on the fb expat groups...'how can I keep out all the snakes/wasps/mice' whatever.
If you're so petrified of nature why move to the middle of the countryside then? 🙄

I'm amused by the husband's "There better not be" response - really? What the heck does he think he's going to do about it? Too bad - they shouldn't have moved to the country! 😂

If the field has no public access I don’t get why it’s of any concern to the new neighbours. And even if it did have a footpath they could just not walk through it.

im sure they will be really fond of the cows and say it’s important agricultural land that simply shouldn’t be lost if anyone ever comes forward with a plan to build on it!! They probably don’t get that the reason why it hasn’t been built on already is because it’s grazing land!

Hehehe, yes. I sense this one will run and run. Rather like the bovines. 😉This sort of batshittery rarely stands alone.

I've just had a stream of unpleasant messages from someone because I've objected to the public display of category f4 fireworks 100yards from 150 pregnant ewes.

Apparently I've caused to distress to her by my objections she's so upset she's 'crying and shaking' (Must be on MN if that's happened)

It's not even unusual. Get loads of complaints that people can't walk their dogs in our fields due to the cows.

Personally I think if a footpath runs through a field of livestock it should remain for people only & dogs should automatically be banned.

Please PLEASE update this when he tells the farmer that she'd 'better not put cows in the field'...

I have to hear how that goes.

We had a family move in near to friends farm, the bloke turned up one day at the my friends door to inform him that he could ONLY be cutting his hay (and various other crops) during office hours, as cutting through the night was 'ridiculous' and 'disturbing my sleep'...

Friend pointed out that stuff is harvested when its ready and this is dictated by the weather, not stroppy little men from Birmingham... so then the bloke asked if he could cut it all with the lights off.

'Sure, if you'd like to risk me missing a turn and coming through your patio doors...'.

Apparently my friend is wildly unreasonable and a twat... he told the whole pub so and the laughter didn't stop til he was halfway down the road, tail between his legs.

I am joining this post as I'd like the updates. You say it's quiet for a few months but that's to you, who is used to it. I bet this family are going to have all kind of shocks!

How dare the countryside have animals!!! What did they expect to find? Wall to wall cinemas and regular public transport?
I’ve met people who complained about the noise sheep make and the size of farmers’ fields. They were too big, apparently, and should be small, pretty and have hedges 🙄

I live in a village next to lots of farm land. Over the last few years quite a few people have moved here from the city that's not too far away. A few of them are frequent posters on the local facebook page and regularly try to get locals to start petitions about things. Some of the things they want to get banned/enforced are:

• No cows to be taken across the road on weekday mornings (this has been happening for decades, probably centuries in the same spot at the same time). Since it is exactly the same time each day, the obvious answer to anyone delayed by this is to travel at a different time but according to replies on FB, suggesting this is selfish
• Farmers to keep cows and horses out of a number of fields closest to some new houses after someone's dog was scared by them. Apparently the owner lets their dogs out to run around the field rather than walking them.
• Farmers to post regular FB updates (with maps) on which fields large animals will be in so that parents know which are safe for their children to play in (all private land)
• We MUST have a local shop. I'm not sure where they think they would send a petition about this, or who they think could be forced to run it. The village shop closed years ago because it made no money and everyone uses the supermarket in the next town. A few people have suggested a non-profit community shop run by volunteers but the people complaining don't want to get involved

There are also loads of complaints about the fact that there is no secondary school in walking distance, and sob stories about children needing lifts to school so they don't have to wait in the cold for the bus. I do have sympathy with this (I have spent many years as taxi service to my DC) but surely you look at that sort of thing before buying a house?

Growing up the farmer used to pop his young Herefords in the field behind our house over the summer. It used to be quite sweet seeing their heads pop over the back fence/hedges. I suspect that this was why we grew blackberries all along that fence. They never came into the garden.

We're getting to that time of year when our local cricket club puts chicken manure/fertiliser on their field; now that really is something to whinge about for a couple of days (it stinks).

I moved from a big city to a rural area, and it never ceases to amaze me how much the LOCALS complain about things that are entirely to be expected in the countryside, eg the smell of muckspreading, straw on the roads, lack of local amenities. As others have noted, few of the people complaining are prepared to put up their hands and volunteer for stuff, they think someone else is magically going to sort it all out.

I moved to the countryside because I like nature. Unfortunately, nature is pushed to the margins by all the domestic animals. There are so many more cows, sheep and chickens in the UK and Ireland than there were thirty or forty years ago.

And pigs. But we never see them any more, like most chickens, because most of them live their whole lives indoors. I suppose at least the cows get to live outside.

We used to live in a farm cottage which backed on to the yard and DD used to love visiting the lambs and the cows (when they were in the barn). I would not in a million years walk across a field full of cows. I also kept the windows firmly shut when they cleaned the barns out.

I was driving into our nearest town one day when I saw a herd of cows running down the main road. They had escaped from their field and eventually turned in to the golf course. The farmer eventually got them back into the field but I can only imagine the conversation in the clubhouse that morning!!