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.

On the plus side, if those ignorant fools who know fuck all about the countryside are busy spouting their selfish and woefully misinformed opinions on here, then at least they aren't out damaging the countryside.

Totally with you @Scrowy

We farm next to hugely popular Delamere Forrest in Cheshire and constantly have dog walkers in private fields. They know full well they shouldn't be there as clear off pretty quick when approached.
We don't have any footpaths thank goodness but a farmer five miles away has managed to get the footpaths on his land officially closed to protect his cattle from parasites.
I can pm you details if you like.

YANBU.

If I had a fiver for every time me and DH have gone for a walk around the woods at the back of our village and had someone's fucking mutt run at us, jump up us, knock us over, cover us in mud, or growl at us, I could buy a new car outright!

Half the people who have these dogs have zero control over them, and they hardly ever go back to them when they call.

Obviously not the fault of the dogs, but I wish people wouldn't HAVE dogs if they can't control them!

I didn't know about dog poo causing issues for the animals so thanks for sharing that info

I've seen National Trust signs for 'stick and flick' but never did that anyway as small children will tramp everywhere ime.

As for those of you so quick to give up common land to profit-making farmers; shame on you for letting down our future generations and their enjoyment of green spaces

This would be funny if it wasn't quite so ignorant.

Most open land would quickly revert to overgrown scrub if it wasn't grazed. The open heathland of places like the New Forest is there precisely because of grazing. It would quickly be covered in bracken, gorse, brambles and birch if it wasn't grazed. This is why the Ashdown Forest AONB has introduced a grazing programme.

Land that has been consistently sheep-grazed for centuries provides a habitat for all sorts of rare species: chalkhill butterflies, skylarks, burnt and early spider orchids and gloworms to name just a few. Ceasing grazing would result in massive loss of habitat and biodiversity.

Every morning, I mentally thank the local farmers for protecting the land that makes it possible for me to enjoy the skylark's morning song.

Family have put up big signs and actually fenced off the footpaths as they luckily run around outside of fields that have them.

YANBU. I thought farmers were allowed to shoot dogs that worried sheep. Put up notices saying this (even though you probably wouldn't) and I expect the problem might be solved.

People like @SarahVegan and @CounterPoint are the reason people hate vegans and vegetarians.

I am a vegetarian (and have been for many years, long before it was 'fashionable,) and I feel embarrassed for them.

I can only imagine they are very young. I don't mean to be patronising towards the young, but I don't know any vegans or vegetarians over 30 who have an attitude like this. It's always people mid 20's and under...

Vegan here.

Yes the OP is farming animals, that's not going to stop any time soon. But the life of a sheep on the fell is going to be a lot worse if they are being chased and mauled by dogs.

And dog owners have a responsibility to pick up their dogs shit at all times, vegan or not.

It's going off topic a bit, but in most places open ground / heathland/ moorland is not the natural state, and not particularly biodiverse. In most places if there are no trees there is some sort of overgrazing going whether that is sheep or deer or intensive grouse moor management.

Mummyoflittledragon

'The major damage for livestock is organ condemnation at slaughter.' - parasitipedia.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2575&Itemid=2857

Echinococcus does very little noticable harm to livestock in their day to day life. Most do not even know the lamb is infected till it goes to slaughter, Echinococcus just really fucks up the farmers profits.

It's true what you say about the damage that crop farming can do to the natural habitats of rabbits, moles, mice ect but I personally find that preferable to the slaughter of 2.6 million cattle, 10 million pigs, 14.5 million sheep and lambs, 80 million fish and 950 million birds in the Uk every year for human consumption.

www.hsa.org.uk/faqs/general

@sarahvegan the obvious answer to your point about

the slaughter of 2.6 million cattle, 10 million pigs, 14.5 million sheep and lambs, 80 million fish and 950 million birds in the Uk

is that without "human consumption," none of those animals would have been conceived or born.

Oh how I'd of loved to see the look on your face when you found out that 83% of the lambs you sent off to have their throats slit were 'condemned' due to dog shit they'd been eating on common land

Imagine being the type of person who finds enjoyment in an animal suffering

I've got nothing useful to add except to be absolutely incredulous at the fewposters being vile to the OP about farming. Do you have to put up with this kind of shit regularly??

YANBU it's a fucking ridiculous situation.

Love MN Ads. Got one right now for a dog food containing only British meats.

Always with the passive aggressive

GiantSteps

So no fish, birds, sheep or cows would be concieved if we stopped eating them? I don't think you've thought that one through have you?

JacquesHammer

Please actually research the effect of echinococcus on livestock. The idea that those lambs were suffering is rubbish, the OP would of had no idea that those lambs even were infected with it until they had began slicing them all up.

So if we all became vegan, and therefore didn't need cows and sheep, you honestly think farmers would spend their days inseminating cows, as most don't have the ability to breed naturally now... sheep might just manage to survive in the wild, possibly... but not in large numbers...

I've seen National Trust signs for 'stick and flick' but never did that anyway as small children will tramp everywhere ime.

Yes, and these piss me off too. We live rurally. The countryside is not just used by dogwalkers but by people on the school run to the village school. Please just pick it up.

AmberLav

No I wouldn't expect anything of the dispicable individuals that breed animals purely for slaughter and exploitation. But there are plenty of conservationists that would be more than happy to help preserve and devlop a sustainable population of cattle and sheep. Just like with any other species of animal that is struggling today due to the damage humans have inflicted upon them for centuries.

sarah so who is paying for the upkeep of all these pet cows and sheep that will exist in your utopia? Or will they revert to being wild?

We already have too many ponies with no economic value, because they breed and yet aren't in the food chain, nor are there enough people with the money and experience to keep them for pleasure. So we still kill them anyway, and unlike farm animals there are far less regulations about how they can be kept and how they can be slaughtered. When you've managed to find a solution to that, you can add farm animals to the list of big expensive herds that can be maintained as pets.

Please actually research the effect of echinococcus on livestock. The idea that those lambs were suffering is rubbish, the OP would of had no idea that those lambs even were infected with it until they had began slicing them all up

Somewhere there's a vet chuckling to themselves right about now.

YANBU. I thought farmers were allowed to shoot dogs that worried sheep.

Yes, you're allowed to shoot dogs who are worrying livestock. However, it isn't a decision made lightly for most farmers. From my POV I love my own dogs and sometimes with the best intentions accidents happen - I would hate to have to shoot someone's family pet, it is also not the dogs fault- it is the owners however you can't shoot people, mores the pity.

Secondly there is the case of proving it was worrying livestock and there is a danger of your shotgun licence being called into question, which puts a lot of people off - you can't be seen to be trigger happy.

Your username Sarah reminds me of that old joke "how do you know if someone is a vegan? Don't worry, they'll tell you"