Kitchen Garden Forum

This morning I looked out of my window to find a herd of just short of 200, yes two hundred, cows in my garden. They were only in there for a few minutes before the neighbouring farmer chased them out, but the lawn is in a right mess and the borders are pretty bad too, but funnily enough, not as bad as I expected. They appear to have stepped over a lot of plants.

I wasn't best pleased.

All I need now, I suppose, is for the manure they left to be contaminated by Aminopyralid

Advice needed please as to the best way to repair. Will a roller do it, as the farmer suggested, or do you reckon it will have to be ploughed and reseeded? Most of the hoof prints are about six to eight inches deep.

Regards,
Gerry.

I know just how difficult it is getting manure delivered these days but your method of cutting out the middleman and getting it direct to your door seems a bit extreme to say the least

Its difficult to imagine just how roughed up the ground is, but I assume it is the farmer who has to meet the cost of suitable reparation to return the area to the condition it was.

Hi Gerry
Sorry to hear about your trouble.
My understanding is that anyone who keeps livestock is responsible for keeping them in the field. If they escape then you can claim against them for any damage that's caused. It looks as though you will be faced with a lot of expense in putting things right. I would check up on this one. Don't go along with any quick fixes suggested by the farmer.
Regards
John

Hi again Gerry
There is a lot on Google about this one. The law seems to vary a bit so make sure you are checking English law.
Found this:
To avoid liability under the common law, the farmer must have taken reasonable care to prevent the animal straying which would involve steps such as ensuring all fences were in stock proof condition.
which is a good place to start.
John

John wrote:The law seems to vary a bit so make sure you are checking English law.
John

Being in West Cork, Gerry will need to check up on Irish law on this one

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1985 ... print.html

I always thought it was a rather grey area. Depends on who is responsible for the fence they broke through. If they broke into a garden from a field it could well be the garden owners boundary responsibility but if they got onto a road and then broke in it could be different. The trouble is we are talking Ireland and the law is most likely to be pro-farmer.
Repair is difficult to advise. Depends if it is posh lawn or nice patch of grass. I suppose fork the depressions as much as possible then top up with soil and seed.

Thanks Geoff
Didn't notice the Irish connection.

John

Thanks everyone,

Pa, do you think I should offer to pay the farmer

The cows were being driven along the road. On my entrance there is a cattle grid and also a spring wire which the farmer should put across when moving cattle. The cows came across the grid (they are well used to walking on grating these days in the milking parlours). The wire wasn't put on and had it been they wouldn't have come in. The farmer said that sometimes he puts the wire on and sometimes he doesn't and this was one of the doesn't.

Forking the holes isn't an option as the lawn is about half an acre and there is hardly a square yard that isn't affected.

I think I will get a landscape gardener to advise me. I'm fairly sure that the farmer is liable but will of course check this out.

Oh and by the way there were two bulls with them so I wasn't too keen on going out side to try to get them out.

Thanks for the advice and concerns.
Regards, Gerry.