Ten sheep have fallen off a cliff after they were chased by two dogs in Ballyconneely, Co. Galway over the weekend, with another ten sheep still missing following the dog attack.
Galway beef and sheep farmer, Tommy Coneys was attending to his sheep on Sunday morning (December 8), when he noticed they were in shock, which made him believe they must have been chased.
Coneys went to change the colour of the raddle on the ram at his farm, which is located at the sea, when he saw the ram was badly injured. After putting the ram into the shed, he went to look for the rest of the sheep.
Speaking to Agriland, he said he could see an Alsatian and a Collie at the rocks and, as he got closer, he saw that a sheep had run out over the cliff which is 40-50ft high and died. He added that there was wool caught in the rocks.
Continuing his search for the missing sheep on a quad, he found seven or eight dead sheep which had also fallen off the cliff. Coneys said he has no sheep dog and therefore his sheep are not familiar with dogs.
“They just took off running and some of them went out into the sea – gone out at the sea.”
Coneys said a vet is coming to the farm today (Monday, December 9), as he fears the in-lamb ewes might be aborting their lambs, and further problems coming up to lambing due to the shock incurred.
A couple of sheep have been torn during the dog attack. The farmer said that while he could usually walk up to the sheep and pet them, today he couldn’t get near them as he tried to put two more sheep into the shed.
Dog attack
While Coneys mostly keeps beef cattle, he has about 50 ewes and hoggets, the latter of which he said are all gone since the attack: “I had lambs out with the ram, they are about 50-60kg. I can’t see any of them at all.”
Speaking about the economic loss incurred, he said the ewes in lamb would be worth €350 and the hoggets would be about €200. The beef and sheep farmer said he expects the ram to die due to his severe injuries.
Following the dog attack on his flock, Coneys said he does not blame the dogs, but the owners, and that he wants to make people aware of dogs attacking sheep. “My poor babies, it’s just not sheep to me,” he added.