Aibu to think I should be ok to exercise my well behaved dog wherever I like in fields

[Scrowy]

I'm not BU because my dog is a farm dog and the fields are my fields.

Sadly however the local dog owners seem to think that our fields (some with footpaths, some without) are fair game and that they have an equal right to use them as they see fit.

This week we have politely asked 6 people with loose dogs to remove themselves from the pasture we have just separated some lambs into. There is no footpath in that field but it has a nice view.

During lambing time this year we lost 4 lambs and 1 sheep to sheep worrying. About 5 years ago one dog killed 24 lambs in one go. Every week we are aware of minor incidents of sheep worrying, fortunatly most don't result in death but do always result in stress on the animals.

Also this week we have sent some older sheep to slaughter. Out of 30 of them 24 of them were condemned due to Echinococcosis, a disease passed on to sheep from dog poo and only identifiable at slaughter.

Neosporosis is another disease passed on from dog poo do cattle. It causes the cattle to abort their calves.

Letting your dogs poo on farmland is directly putting farms out of business.

Letting your dogs 'play' with sheep causes death, even if your dog doesn't actually maul something at the time.

You wouldn't walk into a shop, knock down a display and break stuff without expecting to have to pay for damages. Why do people think that the countryside is fair game?

I'm all for live and let live, I want people to enjoy the countryside and support it. I also want people to realise that it's not just there for their amusement, that some people are trying to make (an increasingly small and desperate) living from it.

Any lamb and sheep we send for slaughter goes to ABP.

They are an Irish company who only take Farm assured produce.

From their website about their slaughter processes:

At ABP Food Group animal welfare is a cornerstone of our business – so we’ve invested heavily in ensuring that our customers can be 100% secure in the integrity of our processes.

Farm Assurance ABP Food Group source farm-assured cattle from throughout the UK and Ireland, which is accredited to EN45011 and independently audited and certifieed

We’ve worked closely with bestselling author and world-renowned livestock-expert, Temple Grandin, to design and plan our facilities and procedures.

abpfoodgroup.com/about-us/what-makes-abp-different/

Counter, if you are talking about halal slaughter then that is (pardon the phrase)'a very different animal. Many of us uk vets are opposed to it, and there are many movements petitioning the government about it. Its not relevant to this thread.

Temple Grandin is a very interesting person by the way if anyone hasn't come across her name before.

Eh? What waffle in an attempt to pull the wool over our eyes. Do they claim to magically slaughter without pain or suffering?

Give over and admit you don't give a hoot for the pain inflicted on these animals after you have done your job of fattening them up.

Where does that 20% figure come from? At the last count (2011 census) , less than 5% of the British population were Muslims and a very small number were Jewish. And far from all were strictly observant. Are you racist as well as everything else?

NO-ONE here is advocating inhumane slaughter - in fact, the reverse. What do you know about attempts by farmers to set up small, local, humane slaughterhouses, for example??

What do you you think would happen to a sheep that got into a bog, or stuck on its back, or trapped in brambles - that's been going on since Biblical times (story of Abraham and Isaac) - if a farmer did not help it? I'll tell you. Crows would come and peck out its eyes and feast on its brain. Then buzzards would eat the rest of it. An old sheep or cow, lame or with tooth problems (they happen), might starve to death. Is that better than humane slaughter by the most up to date modern methods?If the farmer was not there to stop dogs attacking animals - which very many dogs, by instinct, would rather like to do to do - just how do you think the sheep would escape horrible injury?

I would love to hear your practical suggestions counter, but I imagine they go no further than singing born free whilst moving sheep from a farmers grazing to a nature conserve.

Meanwhile it's like playing chess with a pigeon. Doesn't matter how well we play, you'll just shit all over the board and strut about like you've won.

"Where does that 20% figure come from?"

*How much is the industry worth?
The industry body Eblex has estimated the value of the halal meat industry to be around £2.6 billion a year.

Its latest report into the halal meat market is Britain also suggests that while Muslims in the UK represent just three per cent of the population, they consume around 20 per cent of all the lamb sold as well as a growing percentage of beef, most of which is halal.*

and

*Halal consumption increasingly crucial to UK sheep industry
Jack Yates
Wednesday 21 December 2016
Halal lamb and mutton sales will be increasingly important to the UK sheep market as the country’s Muslim population rises."

You know, we (including me) should probably stop feeding the trolls...

But according to the RSPCA most of the UK meat sold as halal is actually stunned first, just like any other animal. So to suggest that 20% of animals are killed in an inhumane way is not correct.

"The RSPCA said it estimated that 88% of animals killed for halal meat were stunned before slaughter."
www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2014/may/08/why-does-supply-halal-meat-outstrip-demand

That article also has a link to the full RSPCA data.

For what it's worth, according to The Guardian, the 'scare' story originated in the Daily Mail.

I agree, Jam. I've got better things to do.

For clarity, is it the farmers or their wives posting such bile? I am a farmer and have a husband who is not a farmer. I'm not a man. You live in a very clicheed world.

For clarity, is it the farmers or their wives posting such bile?

Neither in my case. I do have a relation whose parents were farmers and bred/trained horses herself, but I class as a "townie". Don't have a dog either & never have owned one, though again plenty of friends with dogs including Crufts class winners & working dogs.

For clarity, is it the farmers or their wives posting such bile?

For clarity, do you always assume that Farmers are men? I'll have to let a farmer friend of mine know. Then she can tell her husband.

For clarity, is it the farmers or their wives posting such bile?

This is your most ridiculous post so far. Everyone knows that the farmers wives are far too busy collecting eggs and baking scones to have time to argue with idiots on the internet.

I buy local lamb. Never from the supermarket. Hate halal slaughter and don't want any part of it. The stunning is one thing but I also don't want a prayer said thanks.

Why are you all assuming that using the term 'farmer' automatically refers to a man?

""The RSPCA said it estimated that 88% of animals killed for halal meat were stunned before slaughter."

Estimated means it doesn't know.

Regardless, that still leaves thousands and thousands of animals being slaughtered in one of the most inhumane ways known to "man" (used loosely).

"The stunning is one thing but I also don't want a prayer said thanks."

Oh, so you're only concerned about your own 'sensitivities' towards "prayers"? I think it would be the least of the worries or pains the animal is facing.

For those objecting to the mention of slaughtering with regard to this livestock-topic thread, please stop burying your heads in the sand as to what eventually happens to the little sheep on the hillside.

For those objecting to the mention of slaughtering with regard to this livestock-topic thread,

Why mention that? I haven't noticed anyone objecting to the mention of slaughtering at all, an awful lot of people have used this term which means to kill (animals) for food (Oxford English Dictionary) so is a correct technical term.

Why are you all assuming that using the term 'farmer' automatically refers to a man? Some of us have said we're women farmers. What that has to do with the price of fish I don't know.
Anyway back to dogs. To qualify for farm assured status, working dogs on the farm are wormed regularly.

Not all farmers and men, not all farmers raise livestock for meat. Chase my sisters horses at your peril. Horses legs can break very easily - by if your dog gets a hoof up the backside it's your own fault if you allow them to chase animals or are daft to walk through a field with them (they can be unpredictable - as can dogs around other animals).

Hate halal slaughter and don't want any part of it. The stunning is one thing
Stunning is not what makes it halal...

For those objecting to the mention of slaughtering with regard to this livestock-topic thread, please stop burying your heads in the sand as to what eventually happens to the little sheep on the hillside.

We know farm animals are slaughtered.
Do you realise that all animals die, though? And slaughter using modern methods is not the worst way to go.
Old age can be a worse bitch.

Counter, I think you've just moved on to Halal now because you've realised how little you understand about the realities of UK farmers, their animals, land, practices, ethics, use of antibiotics, gender and sexual orientation. What next?

Thanks for continually bumping an otherwise very interesting and informative thread though 👍

At worst you could, maybe, say that it the field is one with public footpath all dogs should be on a lead, so there is never any dispute if one dog were to go for the other. On private land though it's totally up to you what you and your dogs do. It may be worth looking at some walking groups and organisations though as some of them have changed guidance for dog poo. Some now say to just make sure it's clear of public footpaths and rights of way, I assume this is to try and cut down the number of disgarded bags of poo you see hanging from hedges.

"Counter, I think you've just moved on to Halal now because you've realised how little you understand ..."

On the contrary, It was a natural progression of the discussion whereupon some were espousing how humane fattening animals for slaughter happens to be.

I agree, it's idiocy of the most unbelievable proportions.