Sheep worrying, called someone out on social media. I'm sure I wasn't BU but usually don't get involved.

[needastrongone]

So someone I'm 'friends' with on FB put an 'amused' comment today about her dog disappearing today, then reappearing about 10 minutes later chasing a pack of sheep....and wishing she'd videoed it...

12 people were amused by it...

I rarely make comments on FB but couldn't stop myself commenting that the sheep could have aborted and the dog been shot and that really wasn't funny....all very politely....

I know I'm not BU but I'm astounded folk thought this was in any way amusing or acceptable.

Seriously, was I BU? Was I?

Report it to the police, and send them the link to her FB post.

I've been lurking tonight on this thread and I just have to post.

I knew sheep worrying was really bad but I didn't honestly know just how awful for the poor sheep in detail until I saw it and it's enlightened me.

OP please report this to the police. I cannot believe that people are so fucking irresponsible as to let their dogs loose around livestock and especially on someone's private land!!

When I had a dog I never, ever let him off anywhere near a field or livestock because I knew he would probably be an idiot and get himself killed or terrify some poor animal, let alone the fact we would be trespassing. I just cannot believe someone would do that and also think it's fucking funny!!

I'm absolutely furious after reading this. Those poor ewes. Some people are fucking disgusting. Times like this I really wish licences for dogs would apply, I really do. Anything to stop total bloody idiots owning a dog.

Here in Devon they take it all very seriously and the police here will act. I'm sure they will do the same your way OP.

I wonder if she’s stupid enough to let her dog run about in a cow field? People have been killed round here walking through cow fields with dogs.

I believe farmers can shoot dogs that are actively worrying sheep. I think anyway.

I know someone who lost both of her dogs this way - they got loose on a walk and legged it. She was gutted, but knew the farmer was within his rights.

@Scrowy that's so shit! We take a lot of trouble down here (Wiltshire downlands) to find out where the sheep are and avoid them.

scrowy. I do fully understand. We are in a village location. Our pony is kept at the local farm, has been for years. My dd has been friends with their dd since birth. We are at the farm twice daily. It's more cattle, but I see the work put in and sometimes the lack of respect shown.

I've tried to figure out where exactly she lives from Facebook but I'm not sure. I never really knew, as I said it was a mutual interest we shared a couple of years ago.

I don't know what else I could do without this information?

The dog is a loon, she puts photos on of it having ripped up all her cushions, which she thinks is 'spirit'. I'd say stress personally...

Scrowy I hope you said no to the tow.

All over our local FB there are heroic accounts of farmers clearing the roads. But the gratitude doesn't last long. Farming folk know the value of community but a lot of people just see the countryside as a playground and sheep as decoration.

We would have loved to say no to the tow (could that be the agri version of say yes to the dress )

But, it's a single track road that only leads to us. If they stayed stuck in it then we wouldn't be able to get past them ourselves. Only two of the cars actually got stuck in snow drifts there though, the other three all decided to carry on driving into our (private) farm yard to try and turn round, and got stuck in the ice rink of a yard instead. The last thing we wanted was a load of cold cross dog walkers hanging around all day getting in our way. We have no mobile phone signal in the yard so it's not like they could have rung anyone else for help either without coming in the house.

They are all local, they will all be be back all year round walking their dogs and as annoying as that is we want to stay on the right side of people because we don't want to lose the support of the nice well behaved dog walkers (of which there are many) or any shreds of understanding and respect from the ignorant. We see any opportunity to interact with the ignorant as a chance to politely educate them. Mostly it seems to have a positive impact (DP doesn't get away from the farm much, he's starved of social interaction so boy he can talk if he gets going!)

It just makes me cross that people are so self centred and wrapped up in their own lives that they can't see the bigger picture that in weather like this you stay safe and off the roads so you aren't getting in the way of people who do actually need to be there. That goes for everywhere not just farming communities.

Just like in lambing time walking their dog exactly where they usually do is apparently more important than the safety of our sheep. Just go somewhere else for a few weeks! We move all the sheep off the fell for lambing so there's literally 1000s of easily accessible empty acres for them to use during those weeks but they just won't.

Anyway, thankfully things are starting to thaw slightly here and so I'm being treated to having a day inside 'doing the accounts', to see if we can afford to replace the tractor that blew up yesterday.

OP if you just pass the screenshot on to the police that might be enough. They have access to information that we civilians don't so if they are inclined to follow it up they will.

for your tractor Scrowy

ShiftyMcGifty I am a vegan and the irony of this thread is not lost on me.

Sigh

Not all sheep go for lamb chops

We cross breed a Blue Faced Leicester (BFL) sheep with a Swaledale Sheep to create a North of England Mule Lamb.

Mule 'gimmer' (female) lambs are pretty much the breeders of the sheep world. People travel across the whole of the rest of country to buy them in the North of England in September. Between April when they are born and September they are treated like princesses on this farm. All 600 of them.

Their brothers do go for meat. They get short but generally happy lives running around with their mothers and sisters in fields until they are killed. Ours have about 3 hours travelling to the abbatoir and are killed within 24 hours. We know this as we get an email within minutes of them being killed with their weight and grade. Any that have been bruised or injured at any point in the weeks before they are killed are basically worthless. So it's not in anyone's interests to mistreat them before this point.

Their mothers (the Swaledale sheep) are a hill breed and not bred for meat. At the end of their lives (usually about 7 years) they go 'cast' for dog food.

Their fathers (the BFLs) sell for thousands and thousands as rams. BFL females are equally valuable, and BFL wool is some of the highest quality for knitting wools.

Should we point out to the dog walkers which ones are going for meat anyways so it's ok to chase and terrify them?

Vegetarian here
It's not ironic.
Even if you ignore everything else (the fact this is a livelihood for many).
Would you rather
A- a sheep is killed quickly in a way they cannot feel, as they have been stunned or
B- a sheep miscarrying out of pure terror, then dying after being literally ripped apart by a dog?
Some, as PP describes, die later due to infection after having their faces ripped off.

Even though I disagree with consuming animals, personally and In principle, I can also say that I'd prefer option A.
Or do vegans allow their dogs to run wild on farmland, killing lambs and sheep to make a point? Because veganism init?
Animal welfare doesn't count if you're eating the animals anyway? Why not have them ripped to shreds?

Do you know what. I'd be better off selling off some fields with planning permission for house building. Then the local events would have nowhere to park their cars. There would be more sodding houses with owners of badly trained dogs. Even less of a community.

Might I point out also that I am vegan? And the OP.

I know enough though to understand not all livestock are bred to be slaughtered.

I respect that my choice not to consume animal products is my own choice alone.

I do not wish any animal to suffer the stress and trauma of being chased by an out of control dog.

I respect how hard the farming community works, and understand that farming is so much more than breeding consumable animal products.

And it's basically, above all else just a matter of basic decency to have a well mannered and behaved dog.

Well said OP

Scrowy for you and your DH I now have a vision of your DH 'trapping' hapless townies in farming conversation for hours whilst they are waiting to be towed.

YANBU

Round here there are huge signs everywhere warning people to keep dogs on leads due to lambing, but I’ve still seen a few posts in FB about dogs worrying sheep.

It happens every year

I’m lucky in that my dog has perfect recall and walks to heel unless I tell him otherwise, but I still stick him on his lead if we go anywhere vaguely near sheep. I’m not taking any chances

I've read posts on Facebook from people complaining about livestock being moved to "their" dog walking fields

Thankfully they're given short shrift.

Absolutely think you should forward the link and screenshot to the police. Even if they can't prove this woman caused suffering to a specific flock, I'd hope a PCSO might pop round to offer some friendly advice.

scrowy the wall to bang your head on is that way 👉 (you're very patient btw)

need totally in the right. I would email a screenshot along to the nfu or police. It's up to them what they do with it.

It's not very difficult is it? Livestock=leads.

It's not very difficult is it? Livestock=leads.

You'd be amazed. We have a new-ish neighbour with a small terrier-type thing and it's taken the collected efforts of the village about a year to get him to put it on a lead around our sheep and he still grumbles like mad about it. One of my neighbours saw his dog with its teeth in one of her hoggs (for the non-farmers, one of last year's lambs that has been retained for breeding), which died 48 hours later despite veterinary attention. That seems to have been the turning point, but he still complains that we're all telling lies about his dog and it doesn't chase sheep. To be fair, no-one's saying his dog chases sheep, we're saying the damn thing shouldn't be off the lead when he's walking it through sheep!

My grandmother used to work as a carer for an elderly lady in a old house in a rural area. The elderly lady had a dog, he was a daft thing usually and my sister and I used to walk him if we were staying with our gran.

He was a sheep worrier though. Had escaped the house a couple of times and if he got in the field again was going to be shot on sight.

He didn't escape again, everyone with anything to do with him made damn sure of it. To protect the sheep as much as him. Surely nobody wants to be responsible for dead or injured sheep? How can anyone think it's a good idea to let a predator run free in a field full of prey animals?

A friend of mine in Sweden has a very small flock and she keeps a llama in with them because the llama acts like a guard dog to the flock. She reasons that you can't trust idiots not to let their dogs off the lead near the sheep but you can trust the llama to scare the living daylights and/or trample them and the owners don't walk their dogs around there again.

What a load of idiots. Would they have been been 'liking' it and finding it amusing if the farmer had shot her dog dead,which he/she would be entitled to do by law?

Maybe post this link.. I know it's extreme but it's also very real. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/12187943/Hundred-sheep-killed-in-Chichester-in-worst-sheep-worrying-in-living-memory.html