AIBU to be fed up with walkers trespassing on our land?

[Pricelessadvice]

We have a family farm that, unfortunately, has a footpath that runs through it.
The footpath turns and goes into some woods and off our property but many people ignore the turn and just carry on around our land. This is mostly dog walkers. They then let their dog crap on our fields and just leave it. We take a crop off the land- some years a hay crop, some years beans, others wheat- but people just don’t seem to care.
I am always polite when I see someone trespassing. I ask them if they know they have left the footpath and I point them back in the direction of it. 9 people out of 10 get really arsey about it. I get all the excuses in the book- “it’s just fields/I always walk here/I can do what I want/it’s just grass/other people do it”
Ive had off lead dogs chasing my liveries horses (who have permission to ride the headlands), sheep being worried, the list goes on.

There are plenty of signs telling people where the footpath is and where it isn’t, but they get ignored.

When I try to explain to people that they wouldn’t like it if I walked my dogs in their garden every day and let them poo everywhere, they just argue that it’s not the same coz “these are fields”
SIGH
The Covid year was a bloody nightmare with people wandering everywhere.
When did people get so entitled? AIBU to think that people just think they can do whatever the hell they want nowadays?

We have the right to roam here in Scotland, and I hope that the majority of people who regularly roam across the countryside are respectful.

https://www.outdooraccess-scotland.scot/access-management-guidance/signs
The OP might find some of the signage which has been developed by farmers up here helpful -
eg https://www.outdooraccess-scotland.scot/sites/default/files/2018-09/Risk%20of%20the%20spread%20of%20disease%20in%20livestock%20from%20dog%20faeces%20-%20Briefing%20note%20for%20Access%20Authorities.pdf and https://www.outdooraccess-scotland.scot/sites/default/files/2018-01/SOAC%20-%20Publication%202018%20-%20Important%20information%20for%20dog%20owners.pdf

One thing op - have you thought about putting a couple of bins along the route people walk? I am not a dog fan myself & think far too many people have them these days, and I appreciate you shouldn't have to, but if you really do just want to limit people leaving mess, a lined bin might reduce poo left near your animals & crops.

If its a prow you might even be able to request a council bin.

Who's going to empty those bins?

I'm with you @Pricelessadvice . People have become very entitled. Speaking from the north where people on the route there think nothing of leaving their shit on the byways and sideways. It's a mess.

That was going to be my question.

At this point where the paths turns i would put a gate/chain/peguin bollard.
Having to go through something physical when trespassing is much more difficult on a psychological level for people, so they may stay on the public path......plus do not make it easy.
I walk my dog sometimes on a local field but always stick to the signed path and keep her on the lead. And taught my teens to do the same. Its nicer than the pavement with cars rushing past so we are lucky to have it and respect the rules.

OP huge amount of sympathy from me with bloody dogs and their owners. I very nearly got tripped up by a dog in a restaurant the other day which was on a long lead so right across the aisle between tables, could you keep that dog on a short lead I asked the owner. She got up, stuck 2 fingers in my face, turned her back and walked off! It's not 'just a few' it's the majority now and the rest of us are expected to stuff it.
To answer you OP, I thought farmers were allowed to apply to change footpaths that were inconveniently placed on your land? Otherwise, fence the fields though I know that's an expense. Can you lease some of the fields to a boisterous set of young cattle, that puts people off. Can you spray the fields with liquid human manure as a fertiliser or something equally smelly and nasty? If people won't do as asked or be polite then don't be nice. Good luck.

She got up, stuck 2 fingers in my face, turned her back and walked off! It's not 'just a few' it's the majority now and the rest of us are expected to stuff it.

While there has been an increase ignorant dog owners, I really don't think the majority are arseholes.

The problem is that many people do not exercise this right "responsibly" in Scotland. I live in a small island Community where in spring and summer on any given day, the tourist population out numbers locals. Many of these tourists, often ironically English, behave in an appalling entitled manner, paying no heed to the outdoor access code you quote, and there is basically nothing anyone can do about this.

Fields, with baby livestock in them are fair game for dogs to run off the lead, shitting where they please and upsetting the animals, oh and actually that also applies to the humans too. I regularly have to bury shitty toilet paper left blowing about the beach beside my house by so called "wild campers". I wouldn't hold Scotland's right to roam up as any sort of example of a great system. For those of us who actually live in the Scottish countryside it is a fucking nightmare at times.

Not a flipping chance no! People can take their own 💩home. Who is going to pay for these bins? And empty them? Oh and pay for the waste to be disposed of - because it’s not domestic waste it won’t be taken by the council!

Honestly the entitlement of some people!

I’d disagree with that. The number of decent respectful folks are most certainly in the minority once silly season has begun.

I can only sympathise and agree that it's an absolute horror. The usual story of dogs not being managed properly and the disrespect of the environment and the residents. Awful. If only you could bill them for damages!

Even if you can’t fence/hedge it all in can you do enough to redirect people at the 90 degree turn?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjw8vz1jze0o
More of the same. Poor Highland cows, but also the other wildlife is being disturbed as well.

A TikTok phenomenon, or animals as entertainment.

Where I live there is fencing around a grassy hill in front of a railway line. People are constantly smashing the fence apart. It’s built back and someone smashes it down again. Also wooden bridges over little boggy streams keep getting smashed apart. They have been replaced with really strong wooden bridges that people are now trying to set on fire!

I was not going to post, as a potentially grumpy old farmer, irritated by the just put up a fence or some signs brigade.

But, this evening, a knock on the door, would I please open the gate on our farm
drive as Mr Knob and his daughter had been ‘exploring’.

I pointed out that there was no right way of or public access, that all PROW were marked and accessible, that we welcomed, encouraged and enabled people to enjoy using them. I would open the gate, but suggest he used many of the apps available to plan his routes.

His reply was that I was a ‘fucking snob’

I will not start on dog shit, stressed ewes, litter.

People are shocking aren’t they. You have my sympathies.

There have been news stories about people cutting the fencing along railway lines so they can walk across the track where they want to, rather than going to a bridge or level crossing. If they want to fry themselves on the live rail or get flattened by a train that's their lookout, but I object to having my journey disrupted by these morons.

For the sake of the wildlife, farm animals and farming incomes I for one pray that it doesn't happen. They are having to amend Scottish laws to protect areas from ignorant people causing damage and leaving litter (eg Loch Lomond shores) so I simply cannot see it working in England, a far more deny
populated country.
We have miles and miles of unused footpaths. Walkers should use those and stop destroying people’s livelihoods.
Too many people have chips on their shoulders and want to do and be what they want with no thought for others; Covid has just exacerbated the arrogance.

I agree 100%.
These dog walkers will get arsey with you when you direct them back to the footpath, they will pull down signs not just ignore them, they will remove coping stones from dry stone wall to place on the floor to avoid getting their white trainers muddy.
They will cut stock fencing to allow for ease of trespass.

They will allow their dogs to approach livestock (he’s only saying hello!) They will allow dogs to pee up water troughs or over your animals hay you have put out for them and bring ball launchers to meet up with their multiple dogs friends while they use your animals grazing like a dog playground/toilet.

I especially despise the ones who pick up their dogs crap and stuff the bag in the dry stone wall crevices- just WHY?!
They will feed the horses all sorts of crap and then ARGUE with you why they should be allowed to do this.

I swear, there should be a massive pile of bodies buried in the muck heap, I absolutely have no tolerance left for these stupid, entitled dickheads.

So my only suggestion of a solution is to fence off the footpath, which means you will waste a load of land and make it harder for you to use it!

Solution to idiots like that is to close the gate and stick a padlock on it. It's a long walk to somewhere he can buy some bolt croppers...

YANBU. I’m not a landowner, but I have seen this entitled behaviour on numerous occasions. Usually dog walkers allowing their animals off lead to worry livestock. It’s a complete lack of respect and awareness that they are trampling over someone’s livelihood and private property. I don’t know what the answer is other than fences and signs (which will no doubt be ignored) and perhaps a shotgun if livestock are at risk. People are entitled assholes.

Quite!

To all dog owners. If it comes out of your dog’s arse it belongs to you. You pick it up, bag it and carry the bloody thing home. It doesn’t get left in the middle of the path, hanging on a tree or on a wall with the intention of ‘picking it up on the way home’. It also doesn’t get flicked into the long grass to fester along with all the other dog shit. Your dog is not wildlife, it’s a domestic pet that you chose to buy. Your dog, your shit!

This x 💯. Many dog owners just don't understand.