A farmer based near Nurney, Co. Kildare is worried that cows in his herd may have aborted their calves after a dog attack.
Speaking to Agriland, Paul Deering, who runs a 75-cow dairy herd, said that two dogs attacked his herd on Saturday morning (June 22) and drove them (including a bull) through fences and into the farmyard.
“On Saturday morning I was at home, and my wife had gone shopping so I was minding the kids. My sister lives on the farm as well and she rang me frantic saying there were two dogs out chasing all the cows and the cows were getting back in through the yard,” he said.
“Her husband came down and I got in touch with my father to come down. My sister came up so I could get down because obviously I couldn’t leave the kids, they’re only three and one,” Deering added.
He said that his father, who is aged in his 80s, was supposed to be in the yard that morning at the time, but luckily had been elsewhere during the dog attack when the cattle were driven into the yard.
Deering continued: “When I got there one of the dogs was off down the field and had gone away from the cows, but my father and brother-in-law were standing on the lane between the [other] dog and the cows, trying to get [it] to go away.
“I don’t own a gun. My father has a licence but the gun hasn’t seen the light of day in I don’t know how many years, and he doesn’t live on farm, so there was no point in him going to get it when it hasn’t been shot in years,” he added.
Kildare
According to the farmer, he called the gardaí but it was a period of time before they arrived at the location in Co. Kildare.
The dog eventually left the area when it came in contact with an electric fence and got a shock.
“That was the only thing that stopped him. He was in no way afraid of the three of us shouting, and my father had a stick,” the farmer said.
This is the second dog attack on Deering’s farm this year, following another incident in March, in which two animals were attacked by two dogs.
Following the most recent dog attack at the weekend, the dog, according to Deering, has still not been found.
Although none of the animals have any physical sign of injury arising from the incident (although the bull is slightly lame since), there has still been an impact, for the herd and Deering himself.
“I’m down over a litre per cow per milking at the minute. And then there’s me as well. I haven’t been right. I’m still shaken thinking about it. My father’s not right over it. He keeps thinking what if he had been in the yard. If he had been in there [the cows] would have trampled straight over,” he said.
Deering is also concerned over the potential of lost calves, saying: “Naturally enough, the time of year it is, the bull probably would have been pulled this week or next week from the cows, because I was trying to keep myself to February or March [for calving].”
“It’s too early to scan the majority of them so I don’t know where I am at. They’re not going to show because some of them would only be a month gone. You’re not going to see anything, so I don’t know,” he added.
“It’s the damage I can’t see that I’m worried about. I’m only a 75-cow herd. Anymore than three or four cows empty…is going to hurt me financially. But I’m not going to know until I get a proper scan done.”
Deering continued: “It’s too common now. There’s a friend of mine has sheep, and I do hear of attacks on sheep. But when it hits on your own farm and when you see what a dog can do or what it’s willing to do… It’s one thing a dog going after sheep or calves, something of similar size, but to go after 75 cows and a bull, and for it to have no fear, it’s a worry, a big worry.
“Two attacks within the space of two or three months is a worrying trend. I have small kids in the house. A gun was never on the cards. But my hand is being forced now… Do I walk away and let the dog do damage; do I stand in front of the dog and let it damage me; or do I get my licence and shoot the next dog?” he added.
The Co. Kildare farmer said: “None of the options are a good option, but I don’t know what I would feel if I shot a dog. I don’t know if I want to know that feeling.”