Neighbours have moved 2 sheep into back garden!!

diystarter7

longleggedhair said:

Update-thank you for all the interesting replies! Had a cordial chat with the neighbours & explained that it wasn’t acceptable. They are apparently holding them for a friend temporarily, which is a big relief.

Thank you for the update as I've noted many don't bother. Better still, a great outcome that most of us never thought of.
I just hope they don't become sheep lovers, lol.

RobM99

You won't lambast them then.

diystarter7

RobM99 said:

You won't lambast them then.

Joking aside, not sure what a full-grown sheep is worth, ie relatively young but fully grown is the meat is better - with food prices soaring someone could kidnap the sheep is there was side/back access and maybe make a few hundred quid?

Section62

RobM99 said:

You won't lambast them then.

Sounds like they know they mutton do it again.

youth_leader

I wonder if they have been stolen and are 'too hot to handle' at the moment.  I'm in rural Northumberland, my daughter's friend has special breeds, worth fortunes.  Alternatively, I think they are for the chop for Eid. 

theoretica

diystarter7 said:

RobM99 said:

You won't lambast them then.

Joking aside, not sure what a full-grown sheep is worth, ie relatively young but fully grown is the meat is better - with food prices soaring someone could kidnap the sheep is there was side/back access and maybe make a few hundred quid?

About £60 live at auction at the moment for a grown lamb according to the internet - obviously lots more by the time it is in chops in the supermarket.

Jude57

diystarter7 said:

RobM99 said:

You won't lambast them then.

Joking aside, not sure what a full-grown sheep is worth, ie relatively young but fully grown is the meat is better - with food prices soaring someone could kidnap the sheep is there was side/back access and maybe make a few hundred quid?

Anyone unfamiliar with adult sheep might think they are docile animals and easily captured. Anyone who has lived around and/or worked with sheep knows how wrong that assumption would be. Sheep are stubborn, not easily moved unless by experienced stockmen/women and their equally experienced and trained dogs. Anyone who has sheared sheep would know how heavy an adult sheep is, especially with a wet fleece (and the beggars are always wet at shearing time). It's important to understand that there's a difference between domestication as in farmed animals, and domestication in companion animals. Farm animals aren't the compliant creatures we might imagine them to be.

Despite what Shaun the Sheep films would have us believe, you can't just pick a full grown sheep up and carry it under your arm. To steal a single sheep would take at least two strong adult humans, assuming they could catch it, and the sheep, not to mention the rest of the flock, would be very vocal the entire time. Organised rustling is just that - organised. The criminals use dogs, four-wheel bikes and lorries to carry off the live animals. That's only worth doing if you're after several sheep and you need them alive. You can tell when it's been done by inexperienced criminals because their dogs attack the sheep and the criminals can't stop them killing some, which are left in the field. A dead sheep is a dead weight they won't be bothered to carry. An adult sheep would need slaughtering, butchering and jointing, all for the meat which, even today, doesn't sell for great prices on the black market. It's just too much effort for the opportunist urban thief.

As to foxes, they're solitary, opportunistic hunters and they're cowards. They'll go after lambs, certainly, and they'll eat a dead sheep but even a large dog-fox is no match for a healthy, full-grown sheep, and certainly not for a flock. I've never seen or heard of a fox taking an adult sheep. The size and power differential alone makes it unlikely, let alone that in an urban environment there are richer, easier targets to enjoy. As someone pointed out above, as well as the detritus of take aways and bins, humans put food out for hedgehogs and foxes can certainly feed well from that.

I was brought up in the country and the worst thing about sheep was, when walking the 3 miles to school on a dark morning along unlit country lanes, suddenly from behind a hedge, there'd be a cough, sounding for all the world like an old man with a 60 a day habit. I knew what it was, knew the sheep huddled against the hedges at night and it happened at least once every day but that didn't stop it being frightening to a lone 10 year old! Sheep? Not a fan.

diystarter7

theoretica said:

diystarter7 said:

RobM99 said:

You won't lambast them then.

Joking aside, not sure what a full-grown sheep is worth, ie relatively young but fully grown is the meat is better - with food prices soaring someone could kidnap the sheep is there was side/back access and maybe make a few hundred quid?

About £60 live at auction at the moment for a grown lamb according to the internet - obviously lots more by the time it is in chops in the supermarket.

still an easy 120 quid, lol. Thanks

pinkshoes

Well at least if it's temporary, you won't need to baaarate them too much.

Did they offer EWE any ear plugs for the noise at night?

Merlin139

Someone may have said this but are they called Tom and Barbara?

(Edit) Just seen its been said twice already today.

Maybe nip round and talk to the sheep, I have it on good authority you need to say,

Baa-ram-ewe! Baa-ram-ewe! To your breed, your fleece, your clan be true! Sheep be true!