h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Fences are NOT for climbing over/through ... if they are you will be a given a stile/gate.

Having spent the best part of the summer repairing fences/walls due to wear and tear and the "grass is always greener" ethic adopted by most farm animals, seeing someone prying wires apart to squeeze through, standing on wires to climb over and generally disturbing stabs and staples to get into a field where there is a gate all of a hundred yards further on is enough to drive any farmer to drink. Drystone Walls may look sturdy but trust me it doesn't take much to dislodge one stone and before you know it 3 metres of wall need rebuilding.

Gates tend to be chained shut for a reason but if you must climb over them, do so near the hinges.

Likewise, Electric fences aren't merely put up by evil farmers bent on keeping "townies" off their land, but usually to protect the fences and dykes that keep their livestock in from being squished by said livestock. If there's an electric fence and it's turned on, there's usually a reason.

Stick to footpaths, again there's usually a reason why they are where they are ... farmers aren't going to take too kindly to you trapsing through their barley. The weather does enough damage ...

As has been said elsewhere, don't leave uneaten food, rubbish, lying around ... livestock are dumb and greedy and will happily eat anything be it a bacon sandwich, crisp packet or cling film ...

And just to reiterate ... Leave gates as you found them ... and enjoy!

A few points:

Those unwanted kittens or cats. People seem to think they'll just drop them off at a farm lane and they'll have a nice warm barn to live in. Think again! You drop them off at the edge of the highway, and they get hit by cars. If they do make it into the yard, chances are the farmer already has more cats than his barn will support, and cats can eat a fair amount of dairy pellets if the mouse population is down, or even if its not. And big barn cats just love to kill unattended kittens. Use your head! Have your cat fixed.

If you're out walking in the country and need to drop in at a farm for a drink of water or directions, take your manners with you. I've never known a farm wife, or farmer, who wouldn't help a hiker out if they're polite and don't cause any problems in the farmyard. Remember, you're interrupting their day, and you weren't invited. Watch out for the dog, a farmer keeps a dog for a reason! And geese can be better than any guard dog.

If you have a pack of canned drinks with you and they came with a plastic collar joining them together, break it, or cut it up - cut all the loops open, and take it home with you. Or better still, separate the cans, cut up the loops and throw it in the garbage at home. Ducks get their heads stuck in them, animals swallow them, and they're just plain dangerous.

Also make sure you have permission (when riding horses or whatever else is ridable) to ride over the farmer's property before you go hacking off and leaping over stone walls. And if your horse (or you I imagine) doesn't clear the wall and knocks even one stone out of place, immeadiately dismount and replace it so it looks the way you found it. Those walls are not are sturdy up top as they look, and I doubt the farmer wants to take the time from his/her busy life to change a pile of rubble back into a wall.