Ewe mysteriously disappeared?

Massey675

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Bristol
Got a few swaledales in with my usual sheep none of the others have gone anywhere accept 1 swaledale cannot find it anywhere at all checked the hedges and no where at all

Anyone have any ideas as to whether she could be, and how would I explain this in my movement records/to the authorities
IMG-20191123-WA0022.jpg
 

Sheepfog

Member
Location
Southern England
I think you have to record it as “Black loss” in your movement book. Then if she reappears record that she’s back on.

Quite common on hill farms for sheep to disappear, and then sometimes reappear.
 

Spartacus

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Lancaster
Did you ask this on Facebook yesterday? Always have the odd one go missing, just put it in the movement book as missing, if it ever reappears then you just say it's back in the movement book.
 

Massey675

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Bristol
Did you ask this on Facebook yesterday? Always have the odd one go missing, just put it in the movement book as missing, if it ever reappears then you just say it's back in the movement book.
That's it, I did actually post on facebook, its really really baffled me, not sure if it'll ever even come back ??‍♂️
 

Spartacus

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Lancaster
That's it, I did actually post on facebook, its really really baffled me, not sure if it'll ever even come back ??‍♂️
If it's just fields rather than on an open hill theres always a chance it might have strayed into a neighbouring field or wooded area and might come out at some point. I have lost swales and had them reappear, hazard of the breed!
 

Y Fan Wen

Member
Location
N W Snowdonia
When Dad moved from being a lowland dairy farmer to being a mountain sheep farmer it wasn't long before he started worrying about numbers not matching. This was long before tagging started. He started keeping a note of every carcass and grave he found and then comparing it with the Autumn gather when every one was marked afresh. Over several years he found that between 4 and 5 percent of the flock disappeared never to be seen again. That means a flock every 20 years.
 
Took me 6mths to catch a bm swale that went feral in trees . I could spot her with binoculars but every time I tried to get near for the dogs to have her she was gone , she was seen on the neighbours hill a mile away occasionally and we finally got her to come in with the neighbours sheep by cutting off her escape routes , The odd swale when gathering my hill would suddenly appear out of a gulley high up after I got all gathered in and looked back with binoculars
 

Estate fencing.

Member
Livestock Farmer
I had a ewe disappear last March (was one missing on the count when hep). She turned up in July with a par of tup lambs. The only way I knew it was her because she wasn’t shorn and the lambs weren’t rung.
I have no idea where she went for 4 months, my sheep are the only ones for miles and are surrounded by 7000 acres of arable land.
 
Last edited:

Smith31

Member
Bought daughter some Jacobs several years ago when she was young, they went missing thought they had been stolen.

A week later the wife spotted a post on a local village Facebook page, some lady had spotted 3 brown unicorns eating flowers in her garden.

Had to go and collect the unicorns later that day, bloody sheep:confused:
 

Estate fencing.

Member
Livestock Farmer
Years ago I was gathering sheep to be dipped and moved away on a 100 acre scrubby hill. One decide to fop when gathering but I didn't have a trailer so ran the rest down to the pens and left her for a minute. Came back with a trailer and I could see her on the top of the hill, preceded to go and get her and she was gone, spent 2 hours looking for her but never found.
Put the sheep back up there the next summer 6 weeks later the scruffy old ewe appeared again. Every time they had to gathered she disappeared until one day she stopped turning back up again!!
 
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