Farmer donates ewes to bolster savaged flock
19th October 2014
A positive result of the hard work NSA and Farmers Guardian has been doing to raise the profile of sheep worrying is an incredibly generous gift of an NSA member in Shropshire of ewes to replenish a flock decimated by a dog attack.
Farmers Guardian has ensuring sheep worrying has remained a hot news topic with its Take The Lead campaign, supported by NSA. While NSA’s dedicated web pages at www.nationsheep.org.uk/dog-owners use case studies of dog attacks on sheep to encourage responsible behaviour in rural areas.
Del Knowles and Daryl Brown of Wrotham, Kent, saw their entire flock of pedigree Kerry Hill ewes and a new stock breeding ram savaged in the attack earlier this month, losing three ewes. On reading their story in Farmers Guardian, Tony Morris from Ludlow, Shropshire, got in touch and offered them ewes from his own flock free of charge. Mr Morris donated four yearling ewes and the pick of two ewe lambs from among his 20 Kerry Hills.
Mr Morris said: “They’re fellow breeders, and what are friends for? It’s a hell of a thing to happen and if it happened to me I think I’d just want to dig a big hole. I’ve been running sheep since 1985, but they’ve not been at it so long, and when you’re not established these things hit you harder.”
Mr Morris is in full agreement with the NSA and Farmers Guardian campaign work calling for dog owners to keep dogs on leads around livestock and practice responsible dog handling in rural areas. He says: “I always tell people walking dogs on my land to get them on a lead. You can’t risk having dogs off leads.”
Mr Brown has thanked Mr Morris for his support, saying: “We have been overwhelmed by the amount of support and kind wishes from the farming community since people heard about the attack. I think it shows how farmers really pull together.
“We are extremely grateful to Mr Morris for donating the ewes and we’re looking forward to seeing how they perform next year.”
