Conservation or Bad Farming?

[Frank-the-Wool]

While checking around livestock yesterday I found the inevitable dead sheep, already half eaten by the local wildlife.

Now I had already seen a Black Kite flying around, two Buzzards and a Red Kite that was also feeding on the carcass and then two Marsh Harriers which were not feeding on it.

Under the many rules we have I am supposed to clear up dead animals as soon as possible and pay a fortune to have them taken away.
Surely I am helping all of these threatened species by letting them feed on this Carrion after all I am expecting the White Tailed Eagles to arrive soon and a dead sheep is preferable to a live lamb.
Do the rules need changing and we get paid for deadstock rather than being charged to have them taken away. Must be a much better carbon footprint to do this?

 

[cattleman123]

While checking around livestock yesterday I found the inevitable dead sheep, already half eaten by the local wildlife.

Now I had already seen a Black Kite flying around, two Buzzards and a Red Kite that was also feeding on the carcass and then two Marsh Harriers which were not feeding on it.

Under the many rules we have I am supposed to clear up dead animals as soon as possible and pay a fortune to have them taken away.
Surely I am helping all of these threatened species by letting them feed on this Carrion after all I am expecting the White Tailed Eagles to arrive soon and a dead sheep is preferable to a live lamb.
Do the rules need changing and we get paid for deadstock rather than being charged to have them taken away. Must be a much better carbon footprint to do this?

I have thought the same many times...a dead sheep helps the wildlife survive...no we have to pick them up ...I expect in a few years someone will have a idea and start feeding these birds some raw meat...well as numbers increase its the only way they are going to survive....just let nature be natural I say, what a great post Frank

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Red kites arnt natural. They have been introduced and hand fed at feeding stations , they have become a pest for the same reason they were culled in the 1800s

 

[Northeastfarmer]

What about incinerating them in the farm boiler and making hot water instead of excavating and burning nasty fossil fuels

 

[Bury the Trash]

Or even just to be able to bury with a digger in a suitable place at a suitable depth.
To help us lower costs.
I suppose Brexit might bring an easing of the rules

 

[Danllan]

While checking around livestock yesterday I found the inevitable dead sheep, already half eaten by the local wildlife.

Now I had already seen a Black Kite flying around, two Buzzards and a Red Kite that was also feeding on the carcass and then two Marsh Harriers which were not feeding on it.

Under the many rules we have I am supposed to clear up dead animals as soon as possible and pay a fortune to have them taken away...

Many people only discover fallen stock when there is nothing left but a few bare bones.

Red kites arnt natural. They have been introduced and hand fed at feeding stations , they have become a pest for the same reason they were culled in the 1800s

They can be a pain to some, a pleasure to others, but it wasn't 'natural' to wipe them out. Ban the stupid feeding stations and problem solved, numbers will reduce to a natural equilibrium.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

We are all going to have to work WITH nature in future instead of fighting it. The rules will have to adapt to facilitate it.

 

[Whitepeak]

While checking around livestock yesterday I found the inevitable dead sheep, already half eaten by the local wildlife.

Now I had already seen a Black Kite flying around, two Buzzards and a Red Kite that was also feeding on the carcass and then two Marsh Harriers which were not feeding on it.

Under the many rules we have I am supposed to clear up dead animals as soon as possible and pay a fortune to have them taken away.
Surely I am helping all of these threatened species by letting them feed on this Carrion after all I am expecting the White Tailed Eagles to arrive soon and a dead sheep is preferable to a live lamb.
Do the rules need changing and we get paid for deadstock rather than being charged to have them taken away. Must be a much better carbon footprint to do this?

Interesting idea, but I can only really see it working in the very extensive area like hills and moorland where stocking densities are low. In more intensive areas you will have too much stock to get rid of that will lie around for too long. Plus this won't look good to the general public, unless you still move dead stock to a specified area well away from public access. We would also still need knackermen to get rid of larger carcasses, as we don't have enough top predators in this country to effectively clean up a cow carcass for example.
Its more common in most other countries for example I've worked in Australia where the farm had a pit hole for fallen stock, in Canada where dead stock were buried in the Muck heap or left for the coyotes. I've even heard of farms in florida putting dead stock in rivers for the alligators to eat!

 

[Danllan]

Interesting idea, but I can only really see it working in the very extensive area like hills and moorland where stocking densities are low. In more intensive areas you will have too much stock to get rid of that will lie around for too long. Plus this won't look good to the general public, unless you still move dead stock to a specified area well away from public access. We would also still need knackermen to get rid of larger carcasses, as we don't have enough top predators in this country to effectively clean up a cow carcass for example.
Its more common in most other countries for example I've worked in Australia where the farm had a pit hole for fallen stock, in Canada where dead stock were buried in the Muck heap or left for the coyotes. I've even heard of farms in florida putting dead stock in rivers for the alligators to eat!

Interesting, did it have an escape ladder?

In Zim most fallen stock was gone overnight via natural means, but there was a hole too - which the vultures and marabous made the most of when they could before the boys put lime on. For reasons best known to themselves, we occasionally had people try to take bits out of there - bones mainly. It was pretty deep at the far end, maybe fifteen feet, and a couple of times people got stuck , so we put a ladder down one side.

 

[unlacedgecko]

Interesting idea, but I can only really see it working in the very extensive area like hills and moorland where stocking densities are low. In more intensive areas you will have too much stock to get rid of that will lie around for too long. Plus this won't look good to the general public, unless you still move dead stock to a specified area well away from public access. We would also still need knackermen to get rid of larger carcasses, as we don't have enough top predators in this country to effectively clean up a cow carcass for example.
Its more common in most other countries for example I've worked in Australia where the farm had a pit hole for fallen stock, in Canada where dead stock were buried in the Muck heap or left for the coyotes. I've even heard of farms in florida putting dead stock in rivers for the alligators to eat!

I can remember not so long ago where every farm had a dead pit, normally in the woods out the way. In Northumberland the keepers made very good use of them with snare lanes.

 

[Clive]

While checking around livestock yesterday I found the inevitable dead sheep, already half eaten by the local wildlife.

Now I had already seen a Black Kite flying around, two Buzzards and a Red Kite that was also feeding on the carcass and then two Marsh Harriers which were not feeding on it.

Under the many rules we have I am supposed to clear up dead animals as soon as possible and pay a fortune to have them taken away.
Surely I am helping all of these threatened species by letting them feed on this Carrion after all I am expecting the White Tailed Eagles to arrive soon and a dead sheep is preferable to a live lamb.
Do the rules need changing and we get paid for deadstock rather than being charged to have them taken away. Must be a much better carbon footprint to do this?

Sounds like a classic case of those that make the rules not really understanding them

Would of course be better to leave it to feed other wildlife

 

[Bury the Trash]

Sounds like a classic case of those that make the rules not really understanding them

Would of course be better to leave it to feed other wildlife

But thats going back to the dark ages.

Some pretty bad parasitic worms get their life cycle completed by being eaten by foxes and dogs .
Salmonella is another one , badgers spread that.

 

[Clive]

But thats going back to the dark ages.

Some pretty bad parasitic worms get their life cycle completed by being eaten by foxes and dogs .
Salmonella is another one , badgers spread that.

Isnt that the thing called “nature” that everyone wants ? And seems to dislike us farmers messing with ?

Plenty dead wild animals that no one clears up - why should a dead lamb make a fat lot of difference ?

 

[Bury the Trash]

Isnt that the thing called “nature” that everyone wants ? And seems to dislike us farmers messing with ?

Plenty dead wild animals that no one clears up - why should a dead lamb make a fat lot of difference ?

Because its a lot of unatural extra food for badgers to thrive on.


Bad hygiene and dead stuff lying around wont help farmings image at all .

 

[Bury the Trash]

Another bad thing is that it helps more blowfly multiply and that means more maggot trouble next year for you or your neighbours.

 

[CopperBeech]

While checking around livestock yesterday I found the inevitable dead sheep, already half eaten by the local wildlife.

Now I had already seen a Black Kite flying around, two Buzzards and a Red Kite that was also feeding on the carcass and then two Marsh Harriers which were not feeding on it.

Under the many rules we have I am supposed to clear up dead animals as soon as possible and pay a fortune to have them taken away.
Surely I am helping all of these threatened species by letting them feed on this Carrion after all I am expecting the White Tailed Eagles to arrive soon and a dead sheep is preferable to a live lamb.
Do the rules need changing and we get paid for deadstock rather than being charged to have them taken away. Must be a much better carbon footprint to do this?

What I find a tad odd...... is a dead sheep found by someone is an end of days scenario........ but a dead deer is grand to be left to rot away to nothing......?

 

[davieh3350]

In to the compost heap with them, get it back from where it came from. Burying is a waste. Hauling for miles is a bit of a waste and the smell ain't great. Leaving them... There's enough flies going about already!

 

[Henarar]

They can be a pain to some, a pleasure to others, but it wasn't 'natural' to wipe them out.

yes it was

 

[Estate fencing.]

What I find a tad odd...... is a dead sheep found by someone is an end of days scenario........ but a dead deer is grand to be left to rot away to nothing......?

That's what I always say, how come people get so upset about a dead sheep in your own field but a dead badger can sit in the middle of the A40 for weeks.
When we had spring watch here they where saying how much the red kits/ ravens/buzzards need to eat, but when a ewe died I had come back from working else were immediately to pick it up. Would it no have pervaded them form for a week.
I have a bad raven problem (8 of the evil beggers) where I outside lamb and I ofern wonder about leaving a dead ewe for them to eat, but of course I don't do this because its illegal.

 

[Green farmer]

But thats going back to the dark ages.

Some pretty bad parasitic worms get their life cycle completed by being eaten by foxes and dogs .
Salmonella is another one , badgers spread that.

What happens to all the dead foxes / birds /mice /squirrels / rabbits and other wildlife that die naturally ? They’ve never been picked up over thousands of years and the world keeps spinning.