I don't find playing with cattle very amusing, although as a country-dweller I do like to take photos of them when they stick their heads over the fence. They did eat my bloody Montbretias one year though, and I swear she was smiling as she swallowed the last one :-)

"the farmers are just making a living"

Don't deny that at all. It's just their claim to be guardians of the countryside is total, er, bullshit. They kill anything that they perceive to be a threat (1), and if it's not leave it(2).


(1) Any indigenous flora or fauna regardless of conservation status, vulnerability or anything else for that matter.

(2) Vast swathes of invasive plants (i.e. Himalayan Balsam, which farmers seem to love), rusting machinery, lots of rubber tyres, piles of junk, vast composting piles of remittances from the EU for their huge subsidies.