Sheepdogs stressing sheep

[Neal 1,915]

Just been listening to a topic on Jeremy Vine's show on Radio 2 on which some complete fool, obviously living in a bubble, was claiming that sheepdogs cause stress to sheep when working them and should be banned. He claims shepherds should use flags instead. I kid you not! Fortunately the counter arguments came from good old Robin Page and not one person who phoned, texted or emailed in was in favour of his ludicrous ideas.

[Malt 379]

Sheep dogs are meant to stress sheep, that's how they move 'em! It's the sheep's fear of being eaten that makes them move, what else they going to do, ask them to move along politely? :laugh:

[riohog 5,893]

theres always some f k idiot trying to reinvent the wheel

 

where do they come from!!! pluto

[JPTfellterrier 65]

flags, fecking flags....how you suposed to hurd sheep with union jack?.....they may have well just suggested that we stand in the pen tap our knees and say "here sheepie sheepie sheepie"

 

thats made my day wish i had heard that

[JPTfellterrier 65]

Sheep dogs are meant to stress sheep, that's how they move 'em! It's the sheep's fear of being eaten that makes them move, what else they going to do, ask them to move along politely? :laugh:

get babe the pig on the job

[Guest JohnGalway]

There's currently an issue with this in abatoirs in New Zealand, just replace PETA with Tesco, yep Tesco. I'm not overly familiar with how they rin things down there but from what I gather most abatoirs are adjoining large sheep outfits and dogs are routinely used within it's confines to move sheep from place to place. The Tesco buyers have objected to using dogs in this manner and want the process banned. As anyone here will know, once there's a small ban introduced into some activity it's a very slippery slope that leads nowhere good.

 

As Malt has said dogs work sheep very well due to direct controlled stress. They've been around them all their lives and often get rounded up for many things, dosing, shearing, vaccinating, hoof care, moving fields, into pens and trailers, gathering on hills so on and so forth.

 

If human beings didn't have the stress factor of possibly getting fired and being on the bread line, where's the incentive to work? Controlled amounts of stress can be beneficial. Hard of thought attacks on processes that've been used successfully for hundreds and hundreds of years are what give me and others unhealthy levels of stress.

[Guest JohnGalway]

All farmers would have to be like Linford Christie to chase them waving their flags

 

I'll be on the Irish Olympic relay team for the next Olympics in that case

 

I wonder will they ban red and yellow flags eventually, aren't they a danger sign in nature

 

Damn flags, a danger to all.

[Guest SJM]

Well said Maltenby By God there is some tree hugging loonies out there

[mackay 3,497]

flags, fecking flags....how you suposed to hurd sheep with union jack? .....they may have well just suggested that we stand in the pen tap our knees and say "here sheepie sheepie sheepie"

 

thats made my day wish i had heard that

 

 

Get a grip, you wouldn't use the union jack, that would be racist.

[Tis TM 8]

Well what the hell next? I cant see that they could stop sheep farmers in general using dogs...

 

I can however believe that they will try and stop the use of working dogs in abattoirs.... Any amount of stress in an animal that is about to be killed has an undesirable effect on the meat, both in texture and appearance (depending on level of stress)

Alot of animals are rested in lairage before slaughter to improve the meat quality... I guess if they stop the use of dogs (however efficient they are) they might be able to improve through put, and cut down on work created by the penned resting animals?

The abattoir I trained at had a pet sheep, that would lead lamb, ewes, etc, off lorry ramps and into holding yards, and pens. It was amazing to see, and there was little or no stress involved as the lead (pet) sheep, just ambled along, with no worries, "showing" the way. It had a direct calming effect on the the slaughter animals, as the flock had a steady and unruffled leader.

Also, dogs aren't that welcome around any plant providing a source of food.... Dogs aren't supposed to enter a milking parlour, and if they do they advise wash down and disinfection of the site the dog has been...

I'm all up for improving animal welfare, but idealistic idiots dreaming up impractical practices ............

[Neal 1,915]

The barking mad loon from PETA even claimed that evil humans are adding to the stress of the poor sheep by forcing them to have unnatural multiple births.

 

One person emailed in to say that "One Mann and his Flag," probably wouldn't take off as prime time viewing.

[Guest JohnGalway]

One person emailed in to say that "One Mann and his Flag," probably wouldn't take off as prime time viewing.

 

:clapper: :clapper:

[whippeter69 88]

I reckon they should use Pigs.

Babe did it ok so i dont see why the shepards cant use them ?

[macberran 2]

And who'll pay for men with flags...........Tesco's no way. It'll be passed onto the farmer/producer. Though nice too make such a enviromentally friendly and considered stand. Not like the wild salmon....(the only thing being wild is the description),Madagscar prawns(chemically peeled and shipped from Scotland) ,fresh trout(from a tub) S.American beef(during f+m)....... nice one.

[littlefish 588]

There's currently an issue with this in abatoirs in New Zealand, just replace PETA with Tesco, yep Tesco. I'm not overly familiar with how they rin things down there but from what I gather most abatoirs are adjoining large sheep outfits and dogs are routinely used within it's confines to move sheep from place to place. The Tesco buyers have objected to using dogs in this manner and want the process banned. As anyone here will know, once there's a small ban introduced into some activity it's a very slippery slope that leads nowhere good.

 

As Malt has said dogs work sheep very well due to direct controlled stress. They've been around them all their lives and often get rounded up for many things, dosing, shearing, vaccinating, hoof care, moving fields, into pens and trailers, gathering on hills so on and so forth.

 

If human beings didn't have the stress factor of possibly getting fired and being on the bread line, where's the incentive to work? Controlled amounts of stress can be beneficial. Hard of thought attacks on processes that've been used successfully for hundreds and hundreds of years are what give me and others unhealthy levels of stress.

 

 

Hey John - is that our Tesco from Britain going over there buying lamb to import back here? Surely it would be more in their line to buy British and support the local economy and give the local farmers/processors a decent living? Or maybe that is a different rant/thread altogether, anyway....?

 

On the subject of sheepdogs 'down under', I remember seeing on TV how the dogs - Kelpie types - run along on top of the backs of the sheep as they move through move through the pens. It must be great to have dogs helping to move thousands of sheep around like that, it's hard to imagine how they would manage otherwise.