Farm Animal Welfare

In opposing cattle grazing on Blacka Moor this blog also has reservations about the grazing of sheep on the Blacka Moor pastures. There are a number of reasons for this but the one that is uppermost at the moment relates to the welfare of the animals. A recent case in the news brings this into focus. The farmer in question had sheep very close to Blacka. He seems to have made no effort to look after his animals and much suffering ensued. My observation suggests this situation is not uncommon. I'm sure that most farmers are humane and hate to see their animals in distress, but a larger minority than I would have expected sees sheep as little different to any other units of production. Such people are probably scornful of the cloying sentimentality of 'townsfolk' who they might see as being far too interfering in matters that should only concern the 'real' country folk. As an ex farm-worker I can see some aspects of this that I might sympathise with, but the farmer I worked for was a principled and caring man who saw each of his animals every day and worried if any was unwell. Not all are like that. A few years ago the RSPCA was called to the sheep pasture on Blacka Moor because of the large numbers of dead and dying animals seen by walkers to the site. That farmer no longer has anything to do with Blacka but I still wonder how often the present farmer inspects his sheep. An occasional animal gets ill and is allowed to die a miserable death on the hills, something I find unacceptable. A field near my own home has had a dead lamb in it for four days at least. I wonder how much of this attitude is down to the practice of buying in sheep to fatten up for a few weeks before selling them on. Those animals that spend their full lives on one farm surely have a better chance of being well looked after.