The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: kaz on February 05, 2013, 07:26:56 pm
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Checked on my shearling rams this morning and found that one had quite bad injuries to one of his back legs which looked consistent to have being bitten.
We brought him into the shed and gave the area a good clean. He had multiple puncture wounds to the inside of his leg and also the outer part of his leg. I called the vet and he came later and confirmed that he had been bitten by a dog and gave me an array of medicine to give him along with instructions to keep the wounds clean and of course keep an eye on them. Now hoping that he has no muscle damage.
On closer inspection we found his companion had a chunk of fleece missing at the base of his tail only with a nasty scratch about 6 inches long.
What also alerted me that something was wrong was that the alpaca had jumped the fence, something he has never done.
I have dogs myself, but I wish people would not walk their dogs near livestock if they cannot be trusted. Their failure to control their dog/dogs could cost me a good ram not to say vets costs.
My pregnant ewes are not too far away from the field they were in. I just hope whatever did this to him doesn't come back.
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Agree with you there Kas - I have a GS, lovely people dog but not to be trusted with stock and a sort of working collie who is not allowed to play with the goat kids.
Hope your ram makes a full and quick recovery :fc:
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I had a similar problem a couple of weeks ago. Horiffic tearing to to the poor old girl's rear end. Very stressful for the ewe and totally unnecessary.
The other similarity with your case is that I had one that was badly hurt and another that was 'just' scratched. I suppose the dog just the easier target of the two.
Hope your chap makes a full recovery...
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I'm worried for this exact reason when I turn my ewes and lambs out! I bought a sign from ebay to put up on the gates saying Your dog could be shot if found amongst sheep.... It was only £1.95! My help make people think!
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We have a footpath right through our paddock and adjoining field and we get several people who just will not put their dogs on a lead. One couple allowed their collie x to run right up and around my sheep and when we went out and asked if they could put the dog on a lead, they gave us a load of abuse. Luckily it is not a hugely popular footpath, but whenever it is in use it seems to be by people who have no idea of the countryside code. If only all dogs behaved like my lurcher Zair - photo attached!
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Karen, sorry to hear about the ram. I hope he makes a full recovery :fc:
Zak, lovely picture of your dog. I wish mine could be trusted like that. I always keep him on a lead around my sheep, or anyone elses for that matter.
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I'm worried for this exact reason when I turn my ewes and lambs out! I bought a sign from ebay to put up on the gates saying Your dog could be shot if found amongst sheep.... It was only £1.95! My help make people think!
sadly notices like this are deemed a threat apparently and you arent supposed to put them up,anyone who then shoots a dog is less likely to be deemed to have acted under the animals act exemption for shooting sheep worriers. Madness, I know..........
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So very upsetting. We had a lamb destroyed following an attack by 2 loose german shepherds before xmas, one of his flock mates had a superficial injury to the ear so seems he got off lightly in comparison that day!
Recent news article showed that 7 lambs were killed by loose dogs 2 miles up the road and seconds from where the dogs who killed my sheep came from. The farmers here are too nervous to shoot some of the loose dogs for fears of repercussions from the notorious owners, even the police recommend avoiding this method. Rock and hard place >:(
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I'm worried for this exact reason when I turn my ewes and lambs out! I bought a sign from ebay to put up on the gates saying Your dog could be shot if found amongst sheep.... It was only £1.95! My help make people think!
sadly notices like this are deemed a threat apparently and you arent supposed to put them up,anyone who then shoots a dog is less likely to be deemed to have acted under the animals act exemption for shooting sheep worriers. Madness, I know..........
You can, however buy signs (possibly from the NFU) that simply state the law - you should still be ok to shoot dogs worrying sheep with them up.
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I'm worried for this exact reason when I turn my ewes and lambs out! I bought a sign from ebay to put up on the gates saying Your dog could be shot if found amongst sheep.... It was only £1.95! My help make people think!
sadly notices like this are deemed a threat apparently and you arent supposed to put them up,anyone who then shoots a dog is less likely to be deemed to have acted under the animals act exemption for shooting sheep worriers. Madness, I know..........
You can, however buy signs (possibly from the NFU) that simply state the law - you should still be ok to shoot dogs worrying sheep with them up.
thats very true - you can have those ones that make dog owners aware of the livestock and state the law to keep the dogs under close control. Personally i think if it is a field of sheep then the law should be that unless it is your own field any dogs should be on a lead, it would be much clearer and simpler for the public and less heartache all round.
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:bouquet: Hope the poor thing makes a good recovery.
I can't understand why people refuse to put their dog on a lead through any stock. ??? I would always do so even though my lad is fine around all stock ..... that way I'm in the right.
Zak - he is beautiful. Got a soft spot for lurchers. So noble. ;D
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We have no public right of way through our fields, so this dog has obviously jumped or come under the fence. :rant:
The ram is a bit brighter in his self this morning, but not using that leg which is hardly surprising, if it was me I don't think I would either.
If I catch the culprit................
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People are so inconsiderate (to put it mildly) :rant: . A warning sign would be worth it to try and make people 'think' about the consequences. Hope Ram recovers well and by the sound of it, he's on the mend.
Out of interest, just how high CAN alpacas jump :o .
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I'm worried for this exact reason when I turn my ewes and lambs out! I bought a sign from ebay to put up on the gates saying Your dog could be shot if found amongst sheep.... It was only £1.95! My help make people think!
sadly notices like this are deemed a threat apparently and you arent supposed to put them up,anyone who then shoots a dog is less likely to be deemed to have acted under the animals act exemption for shooting sheep worriers. Madness, I know..........
If the sign was to say "your dog WILL be shot if found amongest the sheep" would be a threat but as my sign says "could be shot" it is then deemed as not a threat as the sign is just stating a fact. Your allowed to shoot a dog under that act if the owner is not in sight and/or not in control of the dog.
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So long as you can prove you were shooting a dog that was ACTIVELY worrying/attacking sheep you have legal defense. The signs are a grey area. I won't put one up here.
Long conversation with our local police following the attack on our flock. I was told we had the option to shoot the dog outright or shoot above them to scare them off, the dogs could not be retreating when they were shot but had to be attacking and causing serious injury or threat of. We could ask a neighbour with shotgun to do it for us if we didn't have one.
You have to report a shot dog within 48 hours to the police.
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Owners should be in trouble just because their dog is out alone never mind anything else. :rant:
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We have terrible trouble here. The public footpaths are the bane of my life. I wont have Suffolks anymore as they seem to be more bothered by the dogs than any others. I wont get a gun for the simple reason I wouldnt stop using it. The amount of people that let their dogs run in amongst the sheep and horses is unbelievable. We have a stallion that kills any smallish animal that goes in his field so its only a matter of time before he gets a dog and I will have zero sympathy. Last month we had a bloke with a mastiff standing and watching it chase the sheep. "I didnt know there were sheep in here" was his reply when I asked hmi why it wasnt on a lead - bear in mind there are 50 sheep in there and have been for 4 yrs, you cant miss them. "He wont hurt them." That would have been a candidate for a bullet even though its not the dogs fault.
This week we even had a lamb that had had the entire skin off its skull removed in one piece. Rest of the body intact. The skin was on the footpath and the lamb at the other end of the field in with the herd. God knows what had happened to that.
People should not be able to have dogs if they cant control them.
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That is interesting what you say about Suffolks, moony - our killed lamb was a suffolk. I often wonder if he wandered over to see the dogs, being intrigued as to what they were and him being so tame?
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I went for a walk a few weeks ago on the disused train line, I noticed some Soay? sheep, only 4, my dogs were not even remotly interested but I called them and put them on the lead and went to the gate and ALL 4 ran up to the gate for a treat or somethng, they were so sweet...I walked off before our dogs even saw they were on the way to see me.....I would not trust any dog but especialy in a pack......up to now I have never seen our dogs interested and do aviod sheep areas....thats why the train line is out unless I know there is no live stock......my dog trainer has a big tup that he will let you take dogs in with if you have a problem...I have not done that yet..may do on my next visit!!
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It might also be worth mentioning to people that don't keep their dog on a lead that they will have to pay for any losses you suffer and that 'worrying' includes just frightening ewes at this time of year when they can lose their lambs. It doesn't matter if the dog is just playing if the sheep don't see it like that.
Try talking to your local police too. It might be because we are in a very sheep dominated area so our local police take this very seriously, but when our neighbour caught a dog that had killed some of his sheep the police insisted the owner pay for the losses or they would immediately sieze and destroy the dog - no need for our neighbour to take the owner to court or anything.
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if u shoot a og that is actively worrying sheep with a shotgun then i guess u will also shoot the sheep!
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Try talking to your local police too. It might be because we are in a very sheep dominated area so our local police take this very seriously, but when our neighbour caught a dog that had killed some of his sheep the police insisted the owner pay for the losses or they would immediately sieze and destroy the dog - no need for our neighbour to take the owner to court or anything.
I wish they'd take it seriously here. When we phoned up we were told to sort it out by ourselves with the owner and to mention it to the dog warden!! It was only when I put something on Twitter mentioning our local police force that they tried a little harder (not my usual tactics but local farmer has just lost 8 sheep to dog attacks and its getting worse here)
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Our local police are a joke here. I think they have to be pried out of the police station. As this attack was not seen they were not interested. :rant:
One week on, he is making progress. His wounds are healing well and he finished his course of vet. medicine today. He is not putting a lot of weight on that leg and has had a tendency to knuckle his foot under, but I have bandaged that joint to stop him hurting that area.
He now has his mate in with him, so that has cheered him and it is encouraging him to walk more as he now has a straw pen and a run. Room we really needed for lambing, but we'll get by.
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Kaze - try some Manuka honey on his wounds - it is superb stuff, getting rid of infection, stops proudflesh forming and heals wounds in excellent time. It also helps with the regrowth of hair from the wound area.
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Kaze - try some Manuka honey on his wounds - it is superb stuff, getting rid of infection, stops proudflesh forming and heals wounds in excellent time. It also helps with the regrowth of hair from the wound area.
Will give it a try. Thanks.