Opinions please on the subject

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JCbruce

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So 2 months ago a load of sheep got out from under the gate of one of the neighbouring farms and ran through our yard and fields spooking the horses and pulling down the electric fencing and unfortunately my 3 year old got a nasty cut on his hock. He’s been bandages for 2 months and may have severed his tendon we won’t know the extent of the damage until we scan it which I’m hoping the cut will be closed enough to do so in the next week or two. He wasn’t insured I was at the time in the process of choosing and getting quotes ?‍♀️ luckily my partner has capital available but now I’m working two jobs to try and pay him back because it’s unfair on him to pay. Anyway, it happens once you think oh well an accident horses are idiots and sheep are just escaping little bastards. But then it keeps happening time and time again and the farmer has had multiple words from the yard owner and liveries and he knows a horse has a serious injury.

If this was the other way around and say a dog was running through a farmers field and caused live stock to be injured they may give them the benefit of the doubt and have a firm word with them. But then if they saw these dogs continuing to be in their fields and run thought their farm yard then the dogs would be shot and the dog owners would get the bill for the live stock.

I myself havnt spoken to the farmer, I don’t like confrontation but I was fuming while rounding these sheep off the road yet again today. My nice not cheap youngster I finally was able to get for my self who had a very bright competition future ahead of him may never be able to even jump. Anyway I was wondering what other peoples opinions were on this situation and if anyone else has had this kind of trouble before.
 
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Ronaele2021

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I think from law he would be liable for damages caused by his livestock. It is his duty to ensure the stock is secured.
See advice from Farmer's Weekly e.g
https://www.fwi.co.uk/livestock/escaped-stock-liable-damage-property-people

However the issue may be that the livestock didn't attack the horse directly the damage was caused by the horse spooking...
However I would lay out the cause for negligence on the part of the the farmer as below:
1). The sheep should have been secured in a field and the farmer was negligent in failing to secure the sheep.
Thus...
2). The sheep caused damage to the electric fence around the horses by pulling the fence.
3). The presence of the sheep and damaged fence caused by the sheep created the accident.
The combined actions of the farmer not securing the sheep and the sheep damaging your fence could be argued to be the predominate cause of the accident. Clearly the horse damaged itself by running from the sheep however this would not be unexpected behaviour in horses, and had the sheep not been loose this particular accident would not have happened.
I would look at taking the farmer to small claims court tbh, or sending a letter before action detailing your grievance and requesting the vets bill be paid.
I would also keep track of the sheep's escapes - dates/times etc as this will help to prove that there is a continued issue.
 
ycbm

ycbm

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I think he's probably liable but I think you might also find living near him so uncomfortable that you need to move home if you take a claim against him.
.
 
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Abacus

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I think you need to decide on the outcome you want first. If you want compensation then you can ask him to pay and, if he refuses, follow the legal route others have mentioned. A product of this might be bad neighbourly relations. My reading was that you want the sheep to stop escaping so that it won’t happen again and he has been slack in sorting out this problem. If so then the threat of legal action for the first accident might prompt him into action.
 
Red-1

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Ronaele2021 said:
I think from law he would be liable for damages caused by his livestock. It is his duty to ensure the stock is secured.
See advice from Farmer's Weekly e.g
https://www.fwi.co.uk/livestock/escaped-stock-liable-damage-property-people

However the issue may be that the livestock didn't attack the horse directly the damage was caused by the horse spooking...
However I would lay out the cause for negligence on the part of the the farmer as below:
1). The sheep should have been secured in a field and the farmer was negligent in failing to secure the sheep.
Thus...
2). The sheep caused damage to the electric fence around the horses by pulling the fence.
3). The presence of the sheep and damaged fence caused by the sheep created the accident.
The combined actions of the farmer not securing the sheep and the sheep damaging your fence could be argued to be the predominate cause of the accident. Clearly the horse damaged itself by running from the sheep however this would not be unexpected behaviour in horses, and had the sheep not been loose this particular accident would not have happened.
I would look at taking the farmer to small claims court tbh, or sending a letter before action detailing your grievance and requesting the vets bill be paid.
I would also keep track of the sheep's escapes - dates/times etc as this will help to prove that there is a continued issue.
Click to expand...
Great answer.

I'm guessing he will be insured. It is a fair claim.

I don't think you can do both full loss of value of the horse and vets fees though. I think you could do part loss of value in conjunction with vets fees, but it would seem wrong if both added together came to more than previous value of horse.
 
irishdraft

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I'd be fuming as well OP sounds like the farmer isn't concerned about any fall out re his sheep. I'd get the horse scanned so you know the extent of possible damage or not then if the injury is career threatening I would be looking into some sort of compensation.
 
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teapot

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Animals Act 1971.

I think there's a caveat though that it has to be direct damage, not caused by an animal spooking as a result. Something to do with known animal characteristics.
 
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Lucky Snowball

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I would be furious. Maybe a visit or if not then a letter explaining things like you have above. Make it clear what you'd like to happen next eg vet bill paid or X amount of compensation. He might pay up as he will also not want to upset his neighbours. If he doesn't offer anything then definitely the legal route.
I hope your horse is ok.
 
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Pearlsasinger

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teapot said:
Animals Act 1971.

I think there's a caveat though that it has to be direct damage, not caused by an animal spooking as a result. Something to do with known animal characteristics.
Click to expand...


The sheep should NOT be straying, since the 2001 F&M outbreak by law it has to be possible to trace every movement of every sheep. Take legal advice OP but I think your first step should be to report the straying to your local council Animal Dept.
 
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teapot

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Ronaele2021

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teapot said:
No they shouldn't but if sheep got out under a closed gate it becomes a bit more murky!

https://www.fwi.co.uk/livestock/escaped-stock-liable-damage-property-people
Click to expand...
I guess it may then depend if the sheep have previous escaped before the injury occurred, and if the gate could be considered by a reasonable person to be adequate for keeping sheep where they should be. If the gate is broken/otherwise inadequate (i.e gaps too big) or a similar issue then arguably the farmer should have foreseen the issue and remedied it, similarly if the sheep had escaped before the farmer should also have taken steps to prevent a further straying of his stock.
Anyway regardless I think the case would be worth at least taking advice from the BHS helpline or a solicitor.
 
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