We’re rather proud of our beautiful countryside, and it’s for the most part thanks to our farmers that it looks so well-ordered and in such good nick. So while you’re here, we’d encourage you to learn a little more about our rural way of life, with this easy-to-do multiple answer quiz.
Write down your answers, a, b or c, as you go along and check how well you did at the end.
1 How many times a day are most cows milked?
a) More than once
b) Once
c) Twice a week
2 What is a ewe?
a) A female cow
b) A female sheep
c) The opposite of me
3 What tool does a bodger (woodsman) use for cutting and splitting wood?
a) Saw
b) Pole-lathe
c) Billhook
4 What is a grouse?
a) A bird
b) An insect
c) A medical condition
5 Where does milk come from?
a) Supermarket cartons
b) Cows
c) The milkman
6 What type of fuel does a tractor use?
a) Four-star
b) Diesel
c) Unleaded
7 If you found an orphan hoglet (baby hedgehog), what must you never feed it?
a) Dog food
b) Goat’s milk
c) Cow’s milk
8 How many tonnes of toads are squashed on UK roads every year?
a) 0.5 tonnes
b) 2 tonnes
c) 10 tonnes
9 What is a farrier?
a) Someone who shoes horses
b) Someone who rears cattle
c) Someone who drives a tractor
10 What does a farmer use first in the year?
a) Matches for stubble burning
b) A combine harvester
c) A plough
11 Where do conkers come from?
a) An oak tree
b) A conker tree
c) A horse chestnut tree
12 What is the name for a young hare?
a) A leveret
b) A rabbit
c) A cub
13 How many udders does a cow have?
a) 3
b) 2
c) 1
14 What is silage?
a) Cow excrement
b) The contents of a silo
c) Winter feed for cows
15 Where does bacon come from?
a) Pigs
b) Sheep
c) Cows
16 When does the grouse shooting season begin?
a) The glorious twelfth of August
b) The fabulous fifth of July
c) The shooting seventeenth of September
17 What do you call a tree that keeps it leaves in winter?
a) A Christmas tree
b) Evergreen
c) Deciduous
18 Where would you find hummus?
a) On a menu with taramasalata
b) In the top soil
c) In a farrier’s tool box
19 Where do acorns come from?
a) Squirrels
b) Oak tree
c) Acorn trees
20 What is a sheepdog?
a) A dog and sheep hybrid
b) A dog used to herd sheep
c) An old male sheep
21 What is thatch made from?
a) Slate
b) Mud
c) Reed or straw
22 What is the difference between straw and hay?
a) Hay is cut grass; straw is the crop stalks
b) Hay is crop stalks; straw is cut grass
c) Hay isn’t something you’d put between your teeth
23 Where does a badger sleep?
a) A burrow
b) A sett
c) A four-poster bed
24 Where does wool come from?
a) A wool plant
b) Sheep
c) Cotton worms
25 What does a gamekeeper do?
a) Protect and look after the habitat of game birds
b) Appear as a character in Harry Potter
c) Takes care of the X Box
26 What is a ford?
a) A crossing point across a river
b) The first car for many farm hands
c) Something many farmers can’t do when they want new equipment
27 What is a ha-ha?
a) A small joke
b) The noise made by a bittern
c) A sunken fence or mound which acts as a barrier for farm animals
28 What is the bright yellow crop you see in the countryside (if it’s not mustard)?
a) Oilseed rape
b) Linseed oil crop
c) Oil of Ulay
The answers: 1 a, 2 b, 3 c, 4 a, 5 b, 6 b, 7 c, 8 b, 9 a, 10 c, 11 c, 12 a, 13 c, 14 c, 15 a, 16 a, 17 b, 18 b, 19 b, 20 b, 21 c, 22 a, 23 b, 24 b, 25 a, 26 a, 27 c, 28 a
Over 20: Congratulations, you’re a born countryperson. 10-19: You may need to spend more time in the countryside and less listening to The Archers. Under 10: You’re a real Townie!
