limping sheep

joyfull

This bothers me,. Living in the country I often see sheep limping and hobbling around the fields. One yr I spotted a young lamb limping badly, so left a very polite note for the female farmer, even giving the sheeps number. Nothing was done, to my knowledge.

Other animals, horses come to mind, would be given mefical attn to relieve suffering.

I can only assume money is at the root of this.

Any thoughts? Any farmers or shepherds care to comment.

pinetree

Hi yes ive also noticed this, there was mention of a hoof prob that sheep can get on the prog Countryfile (adams farm) but I cant remember what is was. I think regular hoof care trimming etc and vigilant farming could solve the prob maybe someone more knowledgeable will comment.

olias

Foot rot or infectious pododermatitis (google it) - very common, particularly when the ground is wet and muddy. Sadly there are a lot of farmers who don't give a to55, the sheep is likely to be going for slaughter before too long, so they don't want to bother spending out on them. Bit of a generalisation I know, but I have lived most of my life rurally, so am going on experience.

Olias

joyfull

olias wrote: »

Foot rot or infectious pododermatitis (google it) - very common, particularly when the ground is wet and muddy. Sadly there are a lot of farmers who don't give a to55, the sheep is likely to be going for slaughter before too long, so they don't want to bother spending out on them. Bit of a generalisation I know, but I have lived most of my life rurally, so am going on experience.

Olias

I did Google it, photos included. Not nice at all. Poor things. Certainly some of the sheep im seeing from my front room are for breeding, so are around for maybe a few yrs. Why is this allowed? if someones pet poodle was in this condition and was reported, it would be classed as cruelty.

Which, no matter which type of animal, it is.

rising_from_the_ashes

If it's a regular occurrence then report them!

Most farmers I know check their sheep regularly and will deal with any problems like this

hethmar

Well, I wonder if the RSPCA would do anything???

Itismehonest

Foot rot or could be joint ill or, well, any of several things including being born that way.
Schmallenberg usually kills them off completely, I think, but whether it leaves some alive but deformed I'm not sure.

joyfull

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

If it's a regular occurrence then report them!

Most farmers I know check their sheep regularly and will deal with any problems like this

Ive been v ill and dont have the strength to look into reporting it. My one experience of reporting animal neglect to rspca resulted in them paying a visit to the pet owners, and then animal died of neglect anyway soon afterwards. I dont have much faith in them.

carebabe

Joyful, you say that "nothing was done, to my knowledge". It would take the farmer or vet only 5 mins to attend to the animal. Recovery could take a few days with symptoms still evident. Worse case scenario an animal may have to be put down if a limb is beyond repair.

joyfull

carebabe wrote: »

Joyful, you say that "nothing was done, to my knowledge". It would take the farmer or vet only 5 mins to attend to the animal. Recovery could take a few days with symptoms still evident. Worse case scenario an animal may have to be put down if a limb is beyond repair.

We noticed the lamb still limping badly even weeks after alerting the farmer. This is why it appeared to me that nothing had been done.

By the way, the above lamb incident happened a couple of yrs ago and many miles away from where Im now living and seeing 2 or 3 sheep hobbling about in a flock of about 50 or so next to my house. So this would be a different farmer involved.

pawsies

Tbh it's more likely they would shoot it than spend money on vet bills.

Sorry to say.