'Motorists can abuse us all they want - we're going to keep doing it'

A Manchester famer has blasted motorists who called up and abused her staff, outraged over a 60-year-old tradition.

Margaret Lees runs Park Farm in Walmersley, near Ramsbottom, which was set up by her in-laws in 1958. Since then, twice a day between April and October, cows have crossed Manchester Road to reach their pasture.

Despite the 50-strong dairy herd's five minute journey being well-known in the Bury village, the 53-year-old says she was gobsmacked to receive a call from an irate driver - incandescent at the disruption to their commute.

The brief pause in traffic at 8.30am saw the motorists call up her farm shop and rage at her employees about the rural practice. After she posted about the incident on social media, she was "overwhelmed" by support from her community and vowed to keep up the long-standing tradition.

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Margaret said: "We have been overwhelmed by the public's response, and the support from the community has been immense. It's not what we expected. At the end of the day, it's our work as well and the cow's work.

"They're going to graze in the field and if you wanted to avoid them, just get off a bit earlier."

Mum-of-four Margaret and her husband John, 58, took over the farm from his parents - with her sons now also working on the estate. And she said locals had become accustomed to them striding out into the road with a stick at 8.30am and 4.30pm each day to stop traffic and move their herd.

So they were surprised by the angry reaction they received from the grumbling motorist last Tuesday after their morning crossing. Margaret said: "We wave the traffic down, the traffic stops, the cows go down the road, and they walk up to the farm shop and into the field. The main road comes through the farm, so it's a tricky task on the best of days.

"But a lot of the residents in Ramsbottom know that this is going to happen because it's a regular thing. This particular morning, it mustn't have suited this guy, and he basically took out his frustration on a lady in the shop who just answered the phone.

"He basically said that it's 'inconsiderate of us' crossing the cows over when its rush hour and people are 'trying to get to work.'"

Margaret said her staff and family had not been put off by the criticism and she said the age-old tradition would continue. She added: "Most people know, and take photos of them going across, and it's a tradition that's been happening for the last 60 years.

"My father-in-law started the farm back in 1958, and we've delivered cows and milked cows since then, basically. We want to keep on the tradition of farming and producing milk as long as we can."