A sheep farmer in Co. Kerry has said that he is still worried for his flock almost three weeks after a dog attack which resulted in the loss of five animals.
Patsy Randles has kept mountain sheep in Kilgarvan for the past 40 years.
The flock is grazed on both private land and commonage ground.
The farmer told Agriland of the pride he takes in his stock and the effort he puts into good breeding.
“I try to buy the best of the rams that are in the sales. I’ve €2,900 given for rams. I’ve €3,000 paid for rams,” he said.
Sheep attacked
On Friday, June 17, the farmer returned home to find two dogs among the sheep – he knew something wasn’t right.
“I just came home and there were two dogs inside with the bunch of sheep,” he recalled.
“There were around 120 sets of doubles in the field, so there would have been around 320 head of sheep in the field in total.
“I had two lambs with broken legs and a lamb with a hurt back in the field that evening. The following morning I had a dead lamb in the field.
“Three days later then I had to inject a couple of ewes who were after getting a touch of pneumonia. I’m after losing four of them since,” he added.
The farmer managed to catch one of the dogs and bring him out of the field; however, the other dog ran off.
The farmer said he later handed the dog over to gardaí, who passed the animal onto the dog warden.
He said that the stress on the flock in the aftermath of the attack is very apparent.
“That’s what I would consider to be a big problem. It’s three, four, and five days down the road that the problems with the livestock start to arise.
“The stock are not a bit happy on the ground because they are restless. You’d be inclined to try stay away from them to see if they would settle down again. It’s easier said than done.
“They have the whole thrive lost in them. They’re not happy in the block of land. It’s like they are on alert the whole time now. They can’t just relax.”
Given the timing of the attack, he said he is hopeful that the incident won’t impact the breeding season later in the year.
“It shouldn’t affect them for that, but the problem is: Will these dogs will be back to me again?” he said.
Worry
The incident has clearly not only impacted the sheep, it has also had a profound effect on the farmer himself.
“The biggest worry, to be honest, is my own worry. Everyday I come down the road now, [I’m] looking into the field to see if there is something inside with them.
“People seem to forget that it is very stressful for the people involved. Nobody wants to come home and look in over the ditch into their field and see two dogs running around after a bunch of sheep.
“It’s a nightmare to be honest.”
Patsy said that the legislation around dog ownership “would badly want to be tightened up”.
The farmer said that every dog should be microchipped, which will help to identify the animal’s owner in the event of livestock being attacked.
Unfortunately, this is not his first experience of a dog attack; his flock was attacked around five years ago. The dogs responsible for that incident were never found.
“I lost seven sheep on that occasion, they were drowned in the river while running away from the dogs,” he recalled.