Living by a farm

[JE678]

We have found our dream house but it is literally opposite the milking sheds of a dairy farm. There are all sorts of farm machinery in the field next to the house too belonging to the farmer. Just in case that wasn't enough they also have a huge silage tank within 20m of the house. Would I be mad to go ahead with it? I have lived in the country before and close to farms but never quite this close. The smell was present when we viewed but not horrendous but that may have been a good day. Talk me in/out of this, please?

Ah in that case it's not the same place. It's not on with Savills, has only been marketed recently for about 5 years and is definitely in the catchment of the good school (there is only one school for miles). That was nearly a very small world experience.

Noise, smells, no bother. BUT I had nightmares for weeks when a dairy farmer friend told me about an incident where two calves fell in the slurry pit (neither was saved).

I know of course than many children are raised on dairy farms - but I couldn't live with that fear.

I don't know whether you should move there or not but I'm desperate to know where it is

As others have said there will be noise and smells, but have a few more visits at relevant times (the sound at afternoon milking will be the same as the morning, near enough). Milking is usually just the low hum of the vacuum pump really. The cows don't make much noise during milking. You will probably get used to the noise and smell over time. When I moved here I heard the neighbouring lorries leave the haulage yard at 3am every morning. Now I never notice them.

One thing I did pick up was the proximity of the slurry lagoon. I cannot emphasise enough farms are not playgrounds. There are machines, animals and other dangers, such as chemicals. The farmer will hopefully have ensured that no one is able to fall into the slurry accidentally but everyone must be taught that it is a dangerous place. It isn't just the depth of slurry but the gases produced which are lethal. If you respect it, it will be fine but don't imagine you can send the children out like a famous five book

This video is pretty good in terms of kids + slurry pits: www.farmsafety4kids.net/the-slurry-pit.html

Also, OP - how are you going to feel about the fact that some of the animals will be taken off to slaughter? It's not all going to be cow bells and Maria skipping over hills.

Also, OP - how are you going to feel about the fact that some of the animals will be taken off to slaughter? It's not all going to be cow bells and Maria skipping over hills. OK I'll bite. The OP is wondering whether it's a good idea whether to live next to a dairy farm. She's not responsible for the ethics or practices of dairy farming.

Of course she's not, but she doesn't want to find herself clutching at her pearls and wailing when faced with the realities of farming.

If she's new to the country she might not be aware of how meat gets to ocado.

This has brought out lots of food for thought and answered lots of questions. I am not going to involve myself in the dairy farming so what goes on there is none of my business. I eat meat and drink milk so I'm aware of what's involved in the food chain. My concerns were purely about the noise/smells as superficial as that sounds. We currently live next to a major A road and I had concerns about that when we moved here. It's always useful to hear other people's experiences. The house borders the southern Highlands. That sounds slightly misleading as it really isn't what you would picture for the Highlands but it is a great place. We were due to move somewhere even more remote but closer to family but it fell through. I suspect we have now found the right place. My uncle is a dairy farmer in western Ireland but we hadn't spoken for a few years. I gave him a call from outside the house today and as a PP suggested the only thing he really was concerned about was the slurry pit. Fortunately I think our DCs are wise enough to steer clear but we'll make sure to educate them on the dangers. This thread has been quite telling on the impression of 'townies', 'incomers', 'nimbys' etc. I can assure you we aren't naive about this move.

Just to clear up a few of the farming misconceptions here.

OP: what do you mean by a silage tank? Silage is grass that has been cut into small pieces and is then stored in ‘clamps’, usually three-sided structures with black plastic and old tyres on the top. The grass is effectively picked to preserve it and proper silage doesn’t smell bad, rather sweet and fresh. Silaging usually happens in May/June in the UK. Now, a slurry tank on the other hand is one that contains slurry, which is not the same thing as silage.

Hirpies: ‘probably slurry when fields are cut for silage’ – slurry has nothing whatsoever to do with silage. Slurry is semi-liquid manure and farmers don’t tend to spread that when they’re silaging…

Origami: ‘Farms can get very messy if the owner isn't the tidy sort, and under planning laws, they can leave equipment lying about, they can erect barns, build cattle sheds, site slurry tanks, store silage under tires, all without any consultation if it is in the course of their livelihood.’ I don’t know where you get this idea from. Farmers have to comply with planning laws just like anyone else. They certainly can’t build cattle sheds without proper planning consent.

WellErrr: ‘Farming will be far better off if we vote out, I wouldn't worry about that. And most farming land is green belt and won't be built on.’ Disagree that we will be better off if we leave the EU. And to say that most farming land is green belt – haha. Green belt pretty much only applies to fairly small areas of land surrounding urban areas. Most land in the UK is absolutely not green belt – only 13% of land in the whole of the UK is green belt.
Info on green belts

I live on a beef/mixed farm (farmer's wife) and the flies and smells can be a nuisance in the summer. Dairy farms tend to be worse for those things, but I'd still rather live here than anywhere else.

TheKing You're right.

We bale our silage.

If she's new to the country she might not be aware of how meat gets to ocado

Well fuck me, I think we have a winner for the Most Condescending Twat award

Well fuck me, I think we have a winner for the Most Condescending Twat award I could not possibly comment.

Sorry, that was a brain fart. It is a slurry tank. I had also been asking about silage separately as there are bales piled up behind the house in on Streetview but not at the moment.

The bales of silage will have been used up over the winter, but they will probably be making more soon! Actually another point to consider is that, being so far north, the cows are probably housed for a large proportion of year, so what you see today may not be representative of the routine for much of the year. Cows walking from the field to be milked, for example, might take a different route from the shed. Equally housed cows need to be fed and bedded so when they are housed there will be more machinery activity around the yard on a daily basis.

Saying all that, if you have a fairly laid back attitude i would imagine you will absorb the sounds and smells as background after w while.

I would think living next to a farm would be peaceful compared to an A road!

My one concern would be that I wouldn't find it easy to resell in the event I needed to. So whether it was a sensible purchase would depend on whether I had enough other money to tide over difficult times (ie the equity didn't represent all my investments) and that I intended staying there for a long time.

I think I'd keep looking in any event as I don't like that concern looking over me.

Can we see house please??

Lived in a small village until i was 18, opposite a small scale sheep farm, although not directly next to a larger farm. Some times smelly but better than pollution from cars.

The stuff about slurry pits is absolutely terrifying. I had no idea about this despite growing up around kids of farmers and spending lots of time on farms. Its a wonder there arent more fatalities. Scary.

TheKingAndI

www.gov.uk/planning-permissions-for-farms/permitted-development

Farmers have much more generous permitted development rights (which includes erecting new buildings up to 12 metres in height).

Thanks everyone, the decision has been made. Spoke with the farmer and a few neighbours and feel better after input on this thread too. We have submitted an offer so hopefully the house will be ours. As we'll be moving there if all goes to plan I won't put up a link as it's even more identifying than this thread. Thanks for all your thoughts and insights.

congratulations JE but I just want to see the house. I'm Scottish and a farmer. Where is it?

Dextra did you miss the post where the OP has said she doesn't want to post a linK?

And I don't blame her, someone may see it and put in a higher offer!

Dextra did you miss the post where the OP has said she doesn't want to post a linK? I know but I'm incredibly nosy.

I like living next door to a farm. I love seeing the cows (beef, not dairy) in the fields and it feels safe knowing someone's around at very strange times.
We do get tractor noise & the lanes are a nightmare when they're making silage but living somewhere gorgeous it's definitely worth putting up with.

very jealous of you!

But you will have the following to consider:

They will be walking their cattle from the fields and to the milking sheds 3 times a day, our lot do the first shift at 6am so consider noisy cows mooing at that time of the morning - all depends on where they keep their cattle though. Muck on the roads is another thing aswell 3 times a day.

Silage time will be busy, lots of tractors and trailers up and down and someone buck-raking on the silage clamp until 9/10/11pm at night.

In brief it will be noisy and (sometimes) smelly at all hours of the day and night but that's just the way it goes, you cant ask them to "keep it down a bit" after a certain time of night - its their livelihood and you cant ask cows to be quiet

But I would swap all the town noise I have at the moment for busy farm noise anyday but I'm biased as I grew up in the country and OH is a farmer

I grew up on a farm. We were never allowed nearly the open slurry tank (which was only ever opened to be emptied) so don't worry about that unnecessarily (although the dangers sadly, are very real).

Also, I am so jealous of the thought of the silage. The memories of it being dark outside but in a nice warm shed with the cows and the beautiful smell of silage.

And jumping in the round bales (and getting roared at if caught!).

Aww just lovely!