2 dog walkers injured

[Princess Pooper]

I am a farmer and hiker .
I have been hiking in your county of Rutland and actually find it to be one of the best for route finding with the stiles and route ahead clearly marked with tall posts painted Yellow at the top making your direction ahead clear to see for some distance .

Yes - Leics are the same. There is a very good footpaths team which I think serves both counties. They are also very practical and farmer-friendly

 

[willy]

I am a farmer and hiker .
I have been hiking in your county of Rutland and actually find it to be one of the best for route finding with the stiles and route ahead clearly marked with tall posts painted Yellow at the top making your direction ahead clear to see for some distance .

Yes i appreciate that. I dont have anything against people using them, but they must understand they are entering the cows world. A bit like going hiking in montana and then moaning about the bears being dangerous. You made the choice to be there, so use your common sense and dont go moaning about not having signs etc....(we dont want the countryside littered with any more signs,or metal railings) so appreciate the countryside for what it is and dont make us change it. Otherwise we may aswell call it the town

 

[unlacedgecko]

Yes i appreciate that. I dont have anything against people using them, but they must understand they are entering the cows world. A bit like going hiking in montana and then moaning about the bears being dangerous. You made the choice to be there, so use your common sense and dont go moaning about not having signs etc....(we dont want the countryside littered with any more signs,or metal railings) so appreciate the countryside for what it is and dont make us change it. Otherwise we may aswell call it the town

Cowtown?

 

[wr.]

Christ College, our local private school recently had a footpath through the school grounds and playing fields closed. It was used a lot by locals and there were many objections which obviously fell on ears.

 

[Boomerang]

Yes i appreciate that. I dont have anything against people using them, but they must understand they are entering the cows world. A bit like going hiking in montana and then moaning about the bears being dangerous. You made the choice to be there, so use your common sense and dont go moaning about not having signs etc....(we dont want the countryside littered with any more signs,or metal railings) so appreciate the countryside for what it is and dont make us change it. Otherwise we may aswell call it the town

last week came across a field of potatoes when out hiking with the footpath diagonally across it . Impossible for the farmer to reinstate as per ROW regs, a perfect opportunity for the devious ones out there to accidentally fall over the ridges and sue the farmer, and in this mad world the judge would probably find in favour of the walker !!!!

 

[Pond digger]

There's just too many clueless idiots with dogs.

Bring back dog licences, and charge enough to compensate society for the cost of clearing up their sh*t and paying for any damage they cause.

It should be an offence to take a dog into a field with stock; how utterly irresponsible. Folks should keep their damn pets on their own property, and not inflict them on others.

 

[Pasty]

There's just too many clueless idiots with dogs.

Bring back dog licences, and charge enough to compensate society for the cost of clearing up their sh*t and paying for any damage they cause.

It should be an offence to take a dog into a field with stock; how utterly irresponsible. Folks should keep their damn pets on their own property, and not inflict them on others.

You say that but amount of farm dogs around here just left loose to roam is stupid. They leave them in the porch and F off. So many farmers are no better. Luckily my neighbour's dog is sweet but I personally wouldn't just leave her in the yard and clear off on a job.

 

[kiwi pom]

Surely there is enough news about injuries from cows and calves to alert people for Sandpit Farm to at least be aware that as a general group they can be dangerous esp with dogs? (They can be dangerous without dogs too, it's called maternal instinct). Farmers are aware that there is a fine line between politely warning of dangers and then being held liable for an accident. It's a bit like having a sign up saying 'cross this road at your own risk' and then being sued if someone is run over. Hence a slight reluctance to put up signs. ANY animal weighing half a tonne + and with 4 feet and a brain is potentially dangerous, just as ALL dogs can be potentially dangerous, there is a difference between 'potential' which is what would apply to most cattle, and KNOWN to be dangerous - eg has previous form. In many cases farmers would much rather not have cattle in fields with footpaths but other than not having cattle at all sometimes they have no option.

Most dogs are vaccinated against lepto and the main risk to cattle from dog muck is neosporosis for which there is no vaccine (in dogs or cattle). However, as part of our farm assurance (Red tractor) requirements, we have to prove that we worm and care for our dogs and cats and it seems ludicrous that any dog can be walking through the main food supply for our animals with no health checks.

I seem to remember a walker killed a few years ago was a vet, hard to be more informed than that.
Surely what you've said above makes fencing off footpaths essential if you have stock in a field so you can protect your stock from the great unwashed and their pets.
I agree the law needs changing but until it is your stuck with it, maybe everyone should band together and push for some funding for the cost of fencing or try and think of a way to make money out of ramblers.

 

[unlacedgecko]

You say that but amount of farm dogs around here just left loose to roam is stupid. They leave them in the porch and F off. So many farmers are no better. Luckily my neighbour's dog is sweet but I personally wouldn't just leave her in the yard and clear off on a job.

That's f**king unbelievable. A dog should be supervised, in a kennel or on a chain. No excuses.

 

[Old Boar]

Someone round here has come up with the brilliant idea that a volunteer could adopt a footpath and keep it clear etc. There was no concept that someone already actually owned the land the footpath was on!

 

[Princess Pooper]

I seem to remember a walker killed a few years ago was a vet, hard to be more informed than that.
Surely what you've said above makes fencing off footpaths essential if you have stock in a field so you can protect your stock from the great unwashed and their pets.
I agree the law needs changing but until it is your stuck with it, maybe everyone should band together and push for some funding for the cost of fencing or try and think of a way to make money out of ramblers.

You could also say that farmers are killed by cattle and they should know better. Acidents happen wherever there are livestock. Our farm is only 2 fields wide but a very long 300 acres. The footpaths run loosely diagonally through it, which would mean fencing 12-acre fields into 2 x 6 acres as triangles. We run a ley rotation so many of those fields would have cattle in after silage but will also grow wheat some years. Practically unfarmable if we had to fence it. Moving the paths to field edge would cost us thousands. What it does need is a proper information campaign but unfortunately many people with dogs would take no notice (and I speak as a dog owner).

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Don't make a lot of odds if dog is on lead or not, he will run to the owner when it's scared

 

[Headless chicken]

Is there any legal requirement for the width of a footpath? As in could you just be a bit awkward and set the "proper" foot path at say half a foot wide or an alternative route at 6ft wide to encourage use else where

 

[Pond digger]

Is there any legal requirement for the width of a footpath? As in could you just be a bit awkward and set the "proper" foot path at say half a foot wide or an alternative route at 6ft wide to encourage use else where

There are minimum legal widths.

 

[fieldfarmer]

yeah ,round here a foot path has to be a minimum of 1 metre wide cross field. got one dog walker round here {3 big dogs} who complains about crops over hang on to path and keeps reporting it as 'the partial obstruction of a public right of way' fine you think so we clear more crop, then pass their house to find they still park 2 cars on the pavement. all 4 wheels up on the pavement. what about that right of way I ask? = ignored.

 

[linga]

Is there any legal requirement for the width of a footpath? As in could you just be a bit awkward and set the "proper" foot path at say half a foot wide or an alternative route at 6ft wide to encourage use else where

Think there is a specified width... at least a metre I should think.
The trouble is that many ramblers have no common sense and seem to have a desire to be awkward so they want to walk on the route of the "proper" footpath come what may. Its their right after all !
It may go through someones house or yard but its on the map and thats where they want to go , never mind that the owner might have provided a better, safer, more scenic route just a little bit off route.
I have a right trumps all over considerations in their minds.
If only common sense could be applied to the matter the problem could be mostly solved.

 

[Pond digger]

I watched a Rambler standing next to an official foot path sign, looking at his out of date map ( the path used to run diagonally across the field about 30yrs ago ). He ignored the sign and sett off following the old route, walking around the two bloody great ponds that had been dug on the line of the old path. Then instead of exiting the field at the designated point, which had never changed, he ignored his map and the sign, and made a different exit.

I wonder; if a motorway had been built over the old foot path, would he have just walked straight across it? Some Ramblers are just plain stupid!