29/05/2023
First the best parts of farming - new life. On Thursday, a lovely litter of 9 Oxford Sandy & Black piglets and our 10th and final calf of 2023 - Dorianne, a lovely black heifer calf.
Secondly, the point of this post - please, please unless your dog’s recall is 100% keep your dog on a lead when you are in new unfamiliar surroundings.
And finally, the story for those that have time to read.
At 8.30am this morning the door bell rang. A hysterical young woman told me that her dog was being killed by my cows (horned highland cattle). Having ascertained that the cows had not escaped and the dog was in the cow's field I set off to retrieve the dog. A friendly, gentle dog I was told.
I have never known the cows so vocal and agitated. The 8 cows in the field had formed a protective circle around their 8 calves (aged 1-2 months old). The dog was circling the cows. My brave, stupid, livid, protective husband was in the field and eventually shooed the dog out of the field back to it's owner.
The field is fenced with wire netting to keep the cows in and other animals out. There is no public access to our farm. How the dog got in is a mystery. The dog's owner was ‘very sorry’. She hadn’t walked her dog in this area before!!!
And the cows - well we let them calm down and then spent the rest of the morning carefully checking them over. The calves are fine, the cows protected them. Rose, my husband’s favourite cow, had blood on both ears. Her plastic ear tag has been pulled out, tearing her ear and she has a bite on her other ear. The other 7 cows appear to be fine.
Rose will hopefully make a full recovery. The consequences of this young lady being unable to control her dog could have been a lot worse. Many farmers loose livestock to dogs each year.
