cdboy2002 Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 There's a sheep and lamb which seems to have got free from its field and wandering outside my house for the past couple of days - not that unusual for Shetland, I know, but I live just off the main south road which they can now access. Is there anyone I can tell? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shetlandpeat Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 The police would probably be the best. Make sure you note the farmers markings on the animals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostrider Posted May 12, 2012 Report Share Posted May 12, 2012 Make sure you note the farmers markings on the animals. That, could well be "fun", best go armed with a pair of strong binoculars. Good Luck! OP, do you know anyone who owns any of the fields nearby, if so ask them as they're very likely to know who has the field in question. That said, anyone with sheep with young lambs, unless they're hill sheep, should be paying them more attention at this time of year than not know they're wandering all over for days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muggins Posted May 12, 2012 Report Share Posted May 12, 2012 The police would probably be the best. Make sure you note the farmers markings on the animals. cut the lugs off n keep them in your pocket til the pigs come Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unlinkedstudent Posted May 12, 2012 Report Share Posted May 12, 2012 Make sure you note the farmers markings on the animals. That, could well be "fun", best go armed with a pair of strong binoculars. Good Luck! ... Not a jar of mint sauce then eh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DizzyKipper Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 I love seeing the lambs but I hate it when they escape. First spring here there was a lamb that was in field with its mother, we saw the sheep go over the brow of a hill and the lamb couldn't find it. It curled up by the fence. The next morning we saw someone walk down the hill swinging a lamb by the legs, it had died. That was awful. The follow year we rescued a lamb that was caught in the fence quite a way from the other sheep. There are lots of fields that belong to different people. We told everyone we could think of and no one seemed bothered. After we untangled it it just lay in the rain in the grass - wasn't looking good at all. So we climbed over, and carried the lamb to our porch where it was warmer and rubbed it with a towel - luckily it perked up. We rang round again as we didn't know who it belonged to (though we were pretty sure which field it had come from). We waited and waited and the lamb was hungry... we had no clue what to do with it, so we just carried over to the field we thought it was from and put it over the fence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shetlandpeat Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 Farmers here each use a different colour/mark for their livestock. I know you are getting on GR (seen ure pic) but opticians may be needed and a corrective eye wear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostrider Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 Peat, old man. People who live in glasshouses.....and all that malarkey. I've seen your pic too, and besides, I know you're only a handful of months behind me in the getting on a bit game. Other than that, my comment went right over your head I think.....Try actually getting near enough to a stray sheep to accurately read lug marks and/or tag numbers, and the penny may drop.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shetlandpeat Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 I also think you may have missed something. Many farmers here as well as the mandatory tags, paint identifying marks on their animals. A blue mark on rear right rump or a green mark front left shoulder. The police have a list of these in case of any escaping animal. The caller is asked to give that if they can see it. This then identifies the farm they come from and the farmer can be contacted and bring appropriate labour and transport. Thus saving police time. The police will attend if there is a danger to road users.It is common to where animals share fields or very large areas. http://www.coxagri.com/identification-non-tags/1/priorityascending/catalogue.html I found this too, for info only.... Huge link reduced to this, it will ask you to open a RTF file which is ok Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostrider Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 I also think you may have missed something. Many farmers here as well as the mandatory tags, paint identifying marks on their animals. A blue mark on rear right rump or a green mark front left shoulder. The police have a list of these in case of any escaping animal. Really?!? I think http://i460.photobucket.com/albums/qq330/Redneck_Hillbilly0504/Bovine_Excrement21.gif Paint marks are intended for temporary and/or internal farm I.D. purposes only, god knows what antics folk may get up to with their sheep in Englandshire , but hereabouts such marks are meaningless to anyone other than the owner, and there is no list of those anywhere. Principally because there's nothing to stop more than one farmer using the same or similar paintmark next door to each other. There is only one surefire way of identification (assuming its fully up to date), ear tags have the code number of the owning farm printed on them, those are held in a central register, but not by the Police, by SGRPID, or their English equivalent DEFRA. Still doesn't alter the fact that whatever mark you want to identify on any animal, you have to get close enough to read the damn thing. Besides, paintmarks as a longer term means of identification aren't much favoured especially for pure Shetland sheep, on account of so many of them losing much/all of their wool naturally, and any paint mark with it, rendering them unidentifiable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shetlandpeat Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 I love ignorance, it can be so blinding. Tis true though island bumpkin. The police in these rural parts of the country do keep a list of markings. If you need to look at an ear tag to find out if a sheep is really a sheep, you are in trouble. The markings can last for a while. For your love of objective argument, nice graphic, not your own though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulb Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 been on the croft coming on 6 years now i think. memory gets murky with age. but ive not been aware of that. im sure that the folks around us dont. there are some that use id numbers to track the lambs but thats it. poor farmers that would allow them to remain on the road. we have stopped before to untagle and put back in. even in a wrong field is better than a dead mum and lamb. we dont mark as ours are coulored and are all named at birth by our daughter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostrider Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 I love ignorance, it can be so blinding. Tis true though island bumpkin. The police in these rural parts of the country do keep a list of markings. Relevance? Shetlink is a Shetland site, the OP presumably is posting about sheep that are in Shetland, and its how the Shetland Police do things that matter. Why need we care what antics folk get up to in Lancashire? The Arabs hold ritual sacrifices of sheep, should we consider that too?!? If you need to look at an ear tag to find out if a sheep is really a sheep, you are in trouble. Speak for yourself! But to find a sheep's owner you need to either physically read the flock number on its ear tag(s), which is in characters under 10mm tall, or have an electronic reader for the chipped one. The markings can last for a while. Not on the majority of pure Shetland sheep at this time of year they don't. For your love of objective argument, nice graphic, not your own though. Cheers, I never stated it to be my own. "Stolen" from a copyright free site on the web as best as I can recall, and hosted on my own PB account. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unlinkedstudent Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 I love ignorance, it can be so blinding. Tis true though island bumpkin. The police in these rural parts of the country do keep a list of markings. If you need to look at an ear tag to find out if a sheep is really a sheep, you are in trouble. The markings can last for a while. For your love of objective argument, nice graphic, not your own though. Do folk on here seriously tell you how to do your job? Seriously now. (Makes mental note, tell SP tomorrow how to re-arrange his road cones, preferably by using a cherry-picker without a ticket ) WHY do you so insist on telling those on here within the crofting community on how to do their tasks? For the love of God, SP, you can't catch the bleeding blighters and get close enough with a scanner to ascertain as to whom the owner is! The likkle blighters have got four chops; sorry, legs! (Just in case it is you that needs to go to Specsavers, they usually have four of 'em). And less of the "bumpkin", you townie you! The correct term is 'yokel'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulb Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 well no its not easy to catch them trust me we have done it. however sheparding them to safty is not a big job even on the main south road. thou its a lot easier with 2 or a dog. the police really don't care. there were some at the scalloway turn off it took the council advertising that the would be desposwd of if not removed to get them gone. did shetland not have animal pounds for straying livestock in the past. getting off topic we came across a cow walking down a very busy road in lancashire. so i called the police they treated me like an idiot. i would dread to think of a small car running into it at speed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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