Farmer saw sheep shot
Farmer saw sheep shot
TOM Robb, farmers weeklys barometer grower in Scotland, watched almost 500 of his sheep being shot and buried this week.
He was among the first of what will eventually total about 500 farmers in Scotland who will lose their sheep as part of the pre-emptive cull that ministers and farm union leaders believe is vital to stem the spread of foot-and-mouth disease.
Mr Robb, who runs two farms near Invergordon in the far north of Scotland, had his sheep destroyed after a bizarre chain of events.
"We sent 40 lambs south to mart from Pitmaduthy farm on Feb 21," he says.
The mart was closed and the driver turned round with the sheep still on board. On the way back to Scotland he stopped for a cup of tea at Longtown market in Cumbria. At the mart he agreed to take cattle to Lockerbie as a favour to farmer Charlie Kirkpatrick whose herd subsequently suffered from a foot-and-mouth outbreak.
"Our sheep had shared the lorry with these cattle for a few miles and were deemed to be at risk and led to them being destroyed." *
Happier times… Tom Robb before fate dealt him a bitter blow.