As someone who has public footpaths running through their land, I am only too aware of the dangers of dogs being off their lead around my stock.
I have no issues with people walking across the land.
My only plea — like most others farmers — is that they do it responsibly.
That means get the dogs on a lead before they enter any field with stock in, they shut the gate and they keep to the path.
Before I say any more, I would like to highlight that everyone that does walk through our land is very respectful.
However I am also aware that I’m very fortunate to not have experienced any stock worrying in my own flock.
So many dog owners think that ‘my dogs would never attack a sheep’ and ‘my dogs are 100 per cent stock proof and trained’, and yet we are seeing rising number of our stock that are worried, mauled and killed by dogs that are out of control.
The fact is no matter how much we think we know our dogs, we must remember that they are still animals with an extremely strong instinct inside of them that can, at times, be completely unpredictable.
According to the NFT, worrying cost the industry in excess of £1.3m last year. Something has to change but where do we start?
The ignorance can be astounding and as we are coming around to lambing time we really need to be pushing this message more and more.
It made me think back to an incident last year when I was putting ewes and lambs out with a farmer I was lambing for and as we approached the field gate, it was blocked by a car.
There was the car owner, walking her five dogs, all off the lead, among the stock.
I sprinted across and asked her to put her dogs on leads, only to be greeted by the reply ‘don’t worry they are stock proof’.
Five dogs, including a puppy, walking among sheep and lambs and I am told not to worry. I am sure you can imagine what that did — the anger matched the colour of my hair.
She started back to ‘move her car’ and I asked her again to get her dogs on a lead.
This is the stage that she really blew my mind. The woman was walking her five dogs in a stocked field (with new born lambs) and she didn’t even have one lead between them.
She had no way to manage a situation if it went wrong and what’s more she didn’t even think there was anything wrong with this.
She didn’t get that her dogs just running through the field, would stress the sheep unduly, never mind what could have happened if things had gone wrong.
I know so many will have similar stories and too many have suffered fatal injuries to their stock.
What really struck me was the level of ignorance that we are dealing with.
This woman lives in the country and yet didn’t stick to be footpath in the field.
This level of complacency clearly shows the battle that we face as an industry.
A battle that despite many years of campaigning and signage on gates, we are not yet winning, as we watch cases rise again.
I, personally, can’t see any other way round this except there being a change in the law, with clear guidance for how we can police it so people face charges.
Enough is enough. If people are happy to put stock at risk and have no respect for the welfare of our animals or, to put it bluntly, their own dogs, then they need to feel the full strength of the law and need to face the consequences of their actions.
My plea to every dog walker is please keep your dog on a lead whilst walking through fields of livestock and keep to the designated footpaths.
This isn’t just to protect our livestock, it’s also to ensure the safety of you and your dogs.
I promise you now that there isn’t a single farmer who wants to be in the position of having to shoot a beloved pet, but often they are left with no choice and they have every right (legal included) to do this.
The only person who can prevent that scenario from happening is every individual dog owner taking responsibility.
Even when I walk in the Lake District or up on the fells, I always ensure my dogs our on leads around livestock, even though they are fully trained sheepdogs that gather the fells throughout the year.
Why? Because we should all be setting an example and excuse the pun, be should all be ‘taking the lead’ to be an example and to encourage others to do the same.
Don’t be the person that ruins the freedom and enjoyment of the countryside for everyone else.
There is space for us all in the countryside, we just have to work together to ensure everyone and everything safe and respected.
