Latest news with #NationalSheepAssociation
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Dog attack on lambs sparks plea for lead usage
A dog attack which left a number of lambs seriously injured has sparked a warning from Surrey's deputy police and crime commissioner. A lamb had its top lip torn away in the attack earlier this month at a farm in Dorking, which previously lost almost 30 sheep in a single attack. After visiting the farm, Surrey DPCC Ellie Vesey-Thompson urged dog owners to keep pets on leads. "Surrey is home to many responsible dog-owners who deeply cherish their pets. But even the most trusted of dogs can behave in surprising or shocking ways," she said. Vesey-Thompson warned of the "traumatising" effects of livestock worrying, which is a criminal offence in the UK and includes barking, chasing, biting and killing. She said: "While I'm pleased that the lamb is recovering well, others that were more seriously hurt remain critically unwell, and, despite excellent care and treatment, sadly may not recover. "This is an absolutely horrific incident that could so easily have been prevented by the simple action of putting a dog on a lead." The National Sheep Association (NSA) said it was also important to ensure dogs were secure in the home or garden. "Dogs straying from their own homes is another common cause of devastating sheep worrying attacks, potentially leading to sheep prolonged suffering until the impact of the incident is discovered," a spokesperson said. Follow BBC Surrey on Facebook, on X. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@ or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250. Reports of dog attacks are at a seven-year high Surrey Police Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Dog attack on lambs sparks plea for lead usage
A dog attack which left a number of lambs seriously injured has sparked a warning from Surrey's deputy police and crime commissioner. A lamb had its top lip torn away in the attack earlier this month at a farm in Dorking, which previously lost almost 30 sheep in a single attack. After visiting the farm, Surrey DPCC Ellie Vesey-Thompson urged dog owners to keep pets on leads. "Surrey is home to many responsible dog-owners who deeply cherish their pets. But even the most trusted of dogs can behave in surprising or shocking ways," she said. Vesey-Thompson warned of the "traumatising" effects of livestock worrying, which is a criminal offence in the UK and includes barking, chasing, biting and killing. She said: "While I'm pleased that the lamb is recovering well, others that were more seriously hurt remain critically unwell, and, despite excellent care and treatment, sadly may not recover. "This is an absolutely horrific incident that could so easily have been prevented by the simple action of putting a dog on a lead." The National Sheep Association (NSA) said it was also important to ensure dogs were secure in the home or garden. "Dogs straying from their own homes is another common cause of devastating sheep worrying attacks, potentially leading to sheep prolonged suffering until the impact of the incident is discovered," a spokesperson said. Follow BBC Surrey on Facebook, on X. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@ or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250. Reports of dog attacks are at a seven-year high Surrey Police Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner
BBC News
28-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Dog attack on Dorking farm sparks plea for lead usage
A dog attack which left a number of lambs seriously injured has sparked a warning from Surrey's deputy police and crime commissioner.A lamb had its top lip torn away in the attack earlier this month at a farm in Dorking, which previously lost almost 30 sheep in a single visiting the farm, Surrey DPCC Ellie Vesey-Thompson urged dog owners to keep pets on leads."Surrey is home to many responsible dog-owners who deeply cherish their pets. But even the most trusted of dogs can behave in surprising or shocking ways," she said. Vesey-Thompson warned of the "traumatising" effects of livestock worrying, which is a criminal offence in the UK and includes barking, chasing, biting and said: "While I'm pleased that the lamb is recovering well, others that were more seriously hurt remain critically unwell, and, despite excellent care and treatment, sadly may not recover."This is an absolutely horrific incident that could so easily have been prevented by the simple action of putting a dog on a lead."The National Sheep Association (NSA) said it was also important to ensure dogs were secure in the home or garden."Dogs straying from their own homes is another common cause of devastating sheep worrying attacks, potentially leading to sheep prolonged suffering until the impact of the incident is discovered," a spokesperson said.
Western Telegraph
02-05-2025
- General
- Western Telegraph
Pembrokeshire flock finds way to fill void left by Brexit
Mother and son, Eirlys and Stuart Jones, run the Maes-Glas flock of Hampshire Downs. From a flock with modest beginnings in 1995, 2024 cemented its status as one of the country's top Hampshire Down flocks when a shearling ram sired by a Maes-Glas ram won a supreme championship in Argentina and the Jones' captured the breed championship at the Royal Welsh Show with a ewe lamb, part of a group of three that also made the final shortlist in interbreed championship. More Stories Eirlys and her husband, Barry, who passed away in 2017, had bought seven ewes and a ram from another Pembrokeshire breeder after they bought their 70-acre grassland farm at Wolfscastle in 1993. Until then they were rearing bucket calves to sell as stores, predominately Hereford and Aberdeen Angus cattle, on a rented farm at nearby Croesgoch. There were no suitable buildings on the new farm for cattle and Eirlys also experienced ill health involving major surgery at that time so the decision was made to exit beef production and to generate an alternative income from sheep. Why Hampshire Downs? It was a breed that appealed for numerous reasons, says Eirlys, but principally because of their ability to thrive on poor pasture. 'They are pretty and docile too,'' she adds. After making inquiries with the Hampshire Down Sheep Breeders Association, the Joneses contacted Alan Davies who was selling his Solva flock to diversify into alpacas. The ram in the group of eight they bought from Alan was 10 years old but he did not disappoint. His name was Concorde which was appropriate as he had spent time in England, France and Holland before making his way to Wales. By retaining ewe lamb replacements, numbers grew and peaked at 180 ewes but after Barry died the flock was scaled back to around 100 plus followers. To maintain the bloodlines, seven different rams are used at tupping and that requires seven separate fields. Male and female progeny that don't make the grade as breeding stock are sold fat direct to slaughter and those that do are marketed through the breed association sale in Shrewsbury in May and the National Sheep Association ram sale in the autumn. It was 2002 when the Joneses first started to show their flock and they have since won multiple awards. 'We still hold the record at the Royal Welsh Show for the best pair in the show with lambs owned and lambed by the same person, and that person also having the lambs' mothers and grandmothers,'' Eirlys explains. Before the UK exited the European Union, sheep from the Maes-Glas flock were exported to France, Spain, Ireland and other countries. Brexit put an end to that market, says Eirlys, citing the sheer volume of paperwork and blood testing that this process now entails. 'We had three or four quite significant orders from Spain just before Brexit, we had taken the deposit and everything, but had to send it back. That was heartbreaking.'' Their export market for embryos and ram semen has however grown, also an arduous process but nevertheless financially rewarding. It involves a TB test, in the same way that cattle are tested, because the health requirements in some countries are even higher than in the UK, and export is preceded by three blood tests of the animals providing the genetics, to screen for other diseases. Whether for export or not, it is a requirement of the breeders association that all registered rams must be DNA tested. This costs £27 a time but Eirlys is in favour of it. 'Some breeders are against it because of the cost but there are benefits. 'It is seldom that we buy a ram but when we do we at least can be sure of the genetics. Every flock can have an accident, a sheep jumping a hedge or sheep getting mixed up. With DNA testing you can be absolutely certain that what you think you are getting you actually are.'' UK farmers are increasingly recognising the value of using Hampshire Down genetics. The breed is a good feed converter which means they need less feed. 'Years ago, farmers might have been put off them because they were seen as fat and dumpy but that has been bred out of them,'' says Eirlys.
