Footpaths that lead across farmers' fields

[welsh dragon]

I have a public right of way across my land. Only a handful of people use it each year as its in the wrong place. People tend to walk down the road, then enter my land and use the footpath, only to find themselves going back the way they came.

I don't have a problem with people using the footpath, just as long as they keep they're dogs on leads as I have chickens and a duck.

 

[young Ed]

i'm not too clear on the exact law on any of this TBH and i doubt most farmers are either but speaking in general for MOST farmers
if the footpath if unuseable then we are quite happy for you to walk around the edge of the field trying to cause minimal damage to crops etc. if there is no choice and it is not possible to walk around the edge of the field then if you do decide to carry on on the foot path rather than rerouting then walk across the field in the shortest possible route avoiding trampling crops if possible and if in a group single file one behind the other is a must! and no kicking crops, snapping crops etc is not fun/funny in any way shape or form but is simply money down the drain for us. how would they like it if we went into their wallet grabbed a fiver of theirs and tore it up and threw it in the air and laughed whilst doing so?

as for footpaths being a bit muddy or covered in shoot, it would take many hours of our time and put wear and tear in our machinery and cost a lot of money in diesel and supplies to drain just the footpath so it is dry all year round (it would be basically impossible!) so if it is too muddy for you to use dimply don't use it. we have to walk across them all year so we manage. and as for shoot covered, you try driving a big tractor and trailed muck spreader and you have to spread every bit of the field apart from a 3 foot wide footpath running down the length of the field, another impossible task!
Cheers Ed

 

[Deleted member 23692]

Letting you walk round a field is in no way the magnanimous gesture they might believe it to be. The majority of farmers are well aware of the legislation, and also well aware of how it works and what they can get away with

Why should a low abiding person be disadvantaged because the landmanager is either too too lazy to fulfill their legal duty and keep the definitive line clear of crops and or too greedy in that believing that the extra sq meter-age of crop they get by growing a PRoW is worth anything?

Failure to clear crops is one of the few successful enforcement actions I've undertake in the past, but by the time the default works can take place the crop is ready for lifting anyway, so nothing is gained. The following years the chap was far more compliant

 

[young Ed]

@young Ed Whilst I fully agree with your comments, the counter argument is that those rights of way were there long before you were so you simply have to accept it, and accept that you have a legal duty to keep them open and available. Added to that your're quite happy in accepting public money in the way of single farm payment and all those ELS HLS grants and other such schemes, so why am I being prevent in legally accessing you land to see what it's being spent on? Cross compliance is quite a handy word when dealing with the non-cooperative element

Having said that I find the majority of landowners are perfectly fine to deal with, and enjoy doing so. I can't normally say that about the network users

fair enough with things suck as the SFP etc and that good, honest, genuine people might like to see the big shiny new tractor we've bought with their money but i am on about low life scum that use public footpaths as a method of scouting out what they could come back and nick from our yards. i know farmers who are sure footpaths running through their land have been used to scout out what their yard contains and seen people doing this and poking there heads about and even with cameras and notepads etc! and then not long after had everything from hand saws and power tools right through to tractors, trucks and even livestock nicked!

surely people should simply accept they can't drink and drive and shouldn't do it, surely they should accept they aren't allowed to speed etc etc it really is a case of a few people who simply ruin it for every one so that in the end it simply isn't worth or precious time and effort to make footpaths usable, most farmers aren't simply stingy old buggers who don't care about anyone else and only do something if it means more money for them. but at the same time we don't sit there with our feet up with nothing to do when we could spend all that time fixing footpaths, we are VERY busy people generally so devote our time to things that seem more worth while and won;t get abused and destroyed/damaged by the public very quickly

oh and i'm not implying that you ever said that farmers are any of the above but i know there are many people who do think the above
Cheers Ed

 

[Tanis8472]

That could have happened with or without the PROW there.

 

[MikeW-71]

I'm keeping an eye in here as my cross-country tour will be making use of bridleways, a lot of which will cross farmland. From looking on good old Google Earth, they all look to be crossing pasture and not cropland and seem to be reasonably visible. It's handy to know what I might come across.

Signage of these routes is not always clear however, I did follow a local bridleway recently and came to two fields with gates. It was not that obvious which field the bridleway continued into. Mr Farmer had helpfully put a smaller gate on the correct one and had fenced off the BW route.

At least most of the time there will be an alternative road route if I'm not sure. I have no desire to cause damage after all.

 

[Andy_R]

As someone who uses footpaths through fields, woods, over hills etc, I can state from experience that footpaths through farmland tend to be a lot better maintained than footpaths through local authority owned land. Just saying.

 

[Deleted member 23692]

The vast majority of farm thefts are via their vehicle access track. I go to a good number of farms during the week and it's astonishing the amount I find seemingly deserted but with the back door open, keys in the machinery and high value stuff left open for all to see etc etc. The high rural theft rate is simply down to the lack of adequate security rather than presence of a right of way network.

Personally I think Ifor Williams have a rural theft dept simply to boost the sale of their trailers

 

[Deleted member 23692]

Signage of these routes is not always clear however, I did follow a local bridleway recently and came to two fields with gates. It was not that obvious which field the bridleway continued into. Mr Farmer had helpfully put a smaller gate on the correct one and had fenced off the BW route.

I could guess which district of the county this would be and offer a valid explanation as to why this might be,,, but it would be frightfully unprofessional of me

 

[young Ed]

Not strictly true.

Dairy bulls over 10 months of age are not allowed in a field crossed by a right of way at any time. Any beef bull is allowed in a field crossed by a right of way, but if it is older than 10 months, it must be accompanied by cows/heifers.

I'm far more wary of cows with a calves these days than bulls. The vast majority of land managers are well aware of the legislation regarding bulls and are simply not daft enough to flout it. However even the most placid cow can, and will, turn psycho if it thinks it's calf is threatened.... in the vast majority of cases it's the presence of a dog that triggers it

there is not a single bit of this post a disagree with, you couldn't have put it better really

having worked with cows of all ages, sexes, breeds, with and without caves etc etc on various farms with different approaches to handling the animals and organising i can say that just about any cow of a deccent size can kill and will turn on you in certain situations. so far i haven't been charged at by a cow and i hope not to be bad i have been knocked over and trampled by flocks of sheep before and even that is unpleasant enough! considering cow can weigh over a ton imagine having something like vauxhall corsa or peugeot 106 or 206 going at you pretty fast with the intention to get rid of you and it's not going to stop until it suddenly throws it's self at you, it's going to end pretty nasty!

having worked with them for so many hours and having herded them etc i have learnt how to treat them and what to do and what not to do so i am confident in a field full of cows these days whilst i know some people who shoot them selves at the sight of a hand full of sheep, duke of endinburgh award is good fun in this situation!


it is a case of respecting the unpredicatable beast and if you don't know what you're doing find another route. it was just a week or two ago i read that a farmer was in a field with his prize bull that was really friendly and calm but that day he decided to wear a red bobble hat the bull had never seen him in before and the bull didn't recognise him. to cut a long story short the farmer is no longer with us, due to a bull he had spent many hours with and had walked round the show ring with many times and trusted to be calm and friendly
Cheers Ed

 

[subaqua]

Lots of bridal and public footpaths around here and ive used lots of them.farmers seem quite happy to leave a metre or so along the edge of fields.. tho i do take note of private land signs..

is there a groom way ?

 

[MikeW-71]

I could guess which district of the county this would be and offer a valid explanation as to why this might be,,, but it would be frightfully unprofessional of me

The only point being that if the way is clear and clearly marked, I won't need to be standing in the middle of a flock of sheep wondering if I'm in the right field or not. I've been up a few in the Lakes and it is usually quite obvious where you need to go. GPS is also a wonderful invention

 

[young Ed]

The vast majority of farm thefts are via their vehicle access track. I go to a good number of farms during the week and it's astonishing the amount I find seemingly deserted but with the back door open, keys in the machinery and high value stuff left open for all to see etc etc. The high rural theft rate is simply down to the lack of adequate security rather than presence of a right of way network.

Personally I think Ifor Williams have a rural theft dept simply to boost the sale of their trailers

yes the thefts are generally via an access to the yard but i am saying they use the public footpaths to scout out before hand what security there is or isn't and what machinery, tools etc there is
Cheers Ed

 

[Andy_R]

The only point being that if the way is clear and clearly marked, I won't need to be standing in the middle of a flock of sheep wondering if I'm in the right field or not. I've been up a few in the Lakes and it is usually quite obvious where you need to go. GPS is also a wonderful invention

Until the batteries run out. Map, compass and ability to use both is much better.

 

[classic33]

@young Ed, I thought there was only two sex's when it came to cattle.
Unless you count the cows "bulling" as a seperate sex!