11/05/2023
😡AS IF FARMING ISN'T HARD ENOUGH!!😡
Yesterday was a terrible day!
Sorry for the long post in advance and the horrible picture (we can't share the other images) 😭 but we felt we needed to share this so people see what we have to go through.
Due to the wet weather, we have had to keep the girls in again so they don’t trample their fields.
Yesterday an irresponsible dog owner seemingly decided to take the “my dog doesn’t run off” attitude, which led to a large black dog entering our private farm yard and running through our enclosed cow shed scaring the cows!!
Of course, this big black dog entering the girls' safe space caused them to all panic and run from one end of the shed to the other.
Let us tell you 100 cows running at the same time in a panic never ends well!!!
Two of the girls fell and had to be EUTHANASED😭
One had a dislocated hip and the other a broken leg!!
Both young cows, who were fondly called Flo and Cassandra were 3 and half years old and both over 150 days in calf! 😭
So in effect that's 4 animals gone just like that because of yet another irresponsible dog owner not having control of their dog.
We are a small family farm and this has huge emotional impact on us 🥹 We’ve worked tirelessly to get where we are and finally have our own herd of cows and for this to happen to our girls, like it does all over the country with other livestock, on a daily basis is frustrating to put it politely!!!
Literally everyday we see pictures of dead livestock because of thoughtless dog owners.
It makes you wonder how these careless people would feel if we entered their property and let our animals kill their livelihood?!?!
We all know dogs are decendents of wolves; it's their natural instinct to chase something that moves but even the most well-behaved, gentle domestic dog needs to be kept on a lead around livestock. This includes footpaths near farms, as you never know where livestock may be grazing or being moved from one area to the other.
So why is this so hard for people to adhere to?!
Thank you to everyone who helped look for the dog yesterday and for your kind messages. It won't bring our girls back but it is comforting to know people care.
If you see someone walking with a dog off a lead near a farm or livestock, please remind them to KEEP YOUR DOGS ON LEADS!!
It may just save someone this heartbreak💔
