Recent threads on four legged garden visitors reminds me to ask about sheep.
This is a garden not a field and may have poisonous plants in it. If sheep
walk in through my open gate off the main road, I'm not responsible for
their safety am I? If they are effectively cutting my grass for me thats
fine by me. If I think it is sensible to shut the gate so they can't get out
into the traffic again is that legally a bad idea? Am I stopping them from
returning home or worse, have I stolen them?(!) How am I supposed to find
out who they belong to even if I am probably not obliged to do so? If I ring
the police to find out, does that get the farmer in trouble?

T. (yes, I'm in North Wales)

"tahiri" wrote in message
...
Recent threads on four legged garden visitors reminds me to ask about
sheep.
This is a garden not a field and may have poisonous plants in it. If sheep
walk in through my open gate off the main road, I'm not responsible for
their safety am I?

If they are on your land ...... yes.... but, if you do not want them on your
land, it is YOUR responsibility to keep them off. However, read on ;-)

If they are effectively cutting my grass for me thats
fine by me. If I think it is sensible to shut the gate so they can't get
out
into the traffic again is that legally a bad idea?

Could well be if on emerging from YOUR land they cause an accident ;-(

Am I stopping them from
returning home or worse, have I stolen them?(!)

Yes

How am I supposed to find
out who they belong to

I would guess that you 'know' who your neighbours are ;-)

even if I am probably not obliged to do so?

"In the interests of neighbourlyness" ;-))
You have to live with your neighbours and whilst they might not be as
perfect as you, you have to live with their idiosyncrasies, I do ;-)))) with
mine. ;-)

If I ring
the police to find out, does that get the farmer in trouble?

Could well do as it is the Farmer's responsibility to keep his cattle in
;-)))

See what I mean? Six of One and Half a Dozen of the other ;-)) ????


T. (yes, I'm in North Wales)

Mike
Yes I am in the Isle of Wight :-))) and our Police are just as bad as yours
on the Motorist :-((

--
------------------------------------------------
Royal Naval Electrical Branch Association
www.rnshipmates.co.uk
International Festival of the Sea 28th June - 1st July 2007

On Wed, 5 Jul 2006 16:09:56 +0100, tahiri wrote:

This is a garden not a field and may have poisonous plants in it. If
sheep walk in through my open gate off the main road, I'm not
responsible for their safety am I?

As you know that some of the plants may be poisonous then it would be
irresponsible to let livestock in. Keep the gate shut.

If they are effectively cutting my grass for me thats fine by me. If I
think it is sensible to shut the gate so they can't get out into the
traffic again is that legally a bad idea? Am I stopping them from
returning home or worse, have I stolen them?(!)

As you are not intending to permenantly deprive the owner of the sheep
you can't be done for theft. Stopping them mixing with the traffic again
is a good thing IMHO. Hitting a sheep can do a lot of damage and kill a
valuable animal.

How am I supposed to find out who they belong to even if I am probably
not obliged to do so?

They'll be marked, the blodges of colour on their fleece. Our neighbour,
Robert, uses a blue upper case R on the left flank. Another neighbour has
a red blodge on the right rear quarter, another blue right front quarter.

If I ring the police to find out, does that get the farmer in trouble?

Our local police have a little book of all the marks in the area and the
owners. Sheep get out, fact of life, provided the farmer is taking steps
to keep 'em in there shouldn't be a problem.


--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

In article ,
Janet Baraclough writes:
| The message
| from "tahiri" contains these words:
|
| If I ring
| the police to find out, does that get the farmer in trouble?
|
| No. But the normal practice is to ring the local farm(s) and leave a
| message. It's not hard to learn which farm keeps which breed, and what
| their mark is. I would only ring the police (right away) if there's a
| road traffic hazard from straying animals.

If the North Wales police got uptight about straying sheep, they would
die of heart failure before the year was out.

If you can't find out which farm they come from, ringing the police
(not on 999!) to ask which it might be would be sensible. But, as Janet
says, try the obvious ones first.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message
ll.com...
If I ring the police to find out, does that get the farmer in trouble?

Our local police have a little book of all the marks in the area and the
owners. Sheep get out, fact of life, provided the farmer is taking steps
to keep 'em in there shouldn't be a problem.

Useful comments both of you, but that last one of yours implies I can just
ring the police to ask for the phone number of the farmer with such and such
marking - good. Because although I know who owns the field either side of
me, I don't know who the owner or tenant is across the road. (Down the road
is a distinctive one, he numbers his sheep!)
Thanks
T.

"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...

In article ,
Janet Baraclough writes:
| The message
| from "tahiri" contains these words:
|
| If I ring
| the police to find out, does that get the farmer in trouble?
|
| No. But the normal practice is to ring the local farm(s) and leave a
| message. It's not hard to learn which farm keeps which breed, and what
| their mark is. I would only ring the police (right away) if there's a
| road traffic hazard from straying animals.

If the North Wales police got uptight about straying sheep, they would
die of heart failure before the year was out.

If you can't find out which farm they come from, ringing the police
(not on 999!) to ask which it might be would be sensible. But, as Janet
says, try the obvious ones first.

My local farmers don't seem to do 'obvious'.
The owner of the one on my left has a farm several miles away, on my right
only a few miles, neither of them have any of the adjacent fields round
these. I needed their contact details so I can tell them if another car has
gone through the fence and not stayed there. On previous occasions sheep
have come some distance along the road, bothered by traffic, and bearing
different marks to those I see about. I make one phone call and let the
grapevine work. They got collected very early in the morning!
The sheep who prompted my message are wearing recognisable markings for a
change and are a surprisingly amenable pair, quite happy to be escorted next
door. I almost feel like telling them they can come again as they are so
well behaved. Perhaps not!
Thanks all of you.
T.

How am I supposed to find out who they belong to

It's quite easy ... every sheep or goat has to have ear tags by law ...

These identify where it comes from ...

Catch one and read off the holding number (the first part of the code) and
flock number ... you get a different flock number for each type of animal -
I have a separate number for my sheep and my poultry, but the same base
holidng number.

Phone up you local agricultural office - e.g. in Scotland its SERAD or the
local State Veterinary Service office and let them know the number and thye
will be able to point you in the right direction. If you are in England, the
local equivalent of SERAD is DEFRA.

All you have to do is catch one and note down the tag !

Top tip - go for one with horns, they are easier to handle.

Top tip - go for one with horns, they are easier to handle.


Advisable to wear ear plugs then? ;-)

Mike


--
------------------------------------------------
Royal Naval Electrical Branch Association
www.rnshipmates.co.uk
International Festival of the Sea 28th June - 1st July 2007