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A sheep is missing from a flock in Co Louth after an attack over the weekend. The flock belongs to farmer Damian Hanratty, Dunleer, who had 50 sheep kept in a rented field in the Togher area.
His son Adam told the Irish Farmers Journal: “Myself and my father fenced up the field on Saturday morning (14 December) and put the 50 ewes in the field with two rams later in the afternoon.”
He said that they received a phone call from the landowner the following morning, telling them that there had been an attack on their sheep.
Missing
“We got to the field and all the sheep were huddled in a corner, very afraid. We discovered that five were missing and there was wool everywhere.”
Adam and Damian eventually found four more sheep that were showing signs of acute stress.
“They would run everywhere, through ditches or anything to get away,” he said.
One of the sheep was missing a huge amount of wool, while scrapes and cuts were visible. The other sheep never returned, despite the pair’s best efforts to find it.
Gardaí and the Co Louth dog warden were alerted and they are investigating the incident. There were anecdotal claims that loose dogs had been seen in the area before the incident.
Secure your dog
Adam, who is also the training and development officer for Macra Na Feirme, has asked that all dog owners know where their dog is at all times.
He has also encouraged everyone to think of farmers at this time of year, as lambing season is a particularly vulnerable time for sheep and livestock.
He said: “We had 14 acres of catch crop in that field, now the sheep can’t go back in there, so that is 14 unusable acres for us now. It’s much more than just loosing sheep, it’s all about the bigger picture.”
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