Common Grazing,who has the right on their side.

[cuddlepop]

Just back from taking the dogs to a forest walk they love and found a dead lamb at the side of the hill road.:~(

The mother was still by its side obviously distressed.On the way back crows were circling getting ready for the mother to give up and move on.

Now,this happened on common grazing land where neither side is fenced. The speed limit is 60 mph and its single track.Boy racers just love it .There are sheep.lambs,cows and calfs regularly wandering onto the road so who has the right here;the motorist doing 60 or the lamb for crossing the road.

Me I want the whole area fenced off.:mad:

[northener]

Cuddlepop, it would be nice to get all areas such as this fenced - but who can afford to pay for it? There are literally hundreds of miles of open grazing across the Far North.

[cuddlepop]

Cuddlepop, it would be nice to get all areas such as this fenced - but who can afford to pay for it? There are literally hundreds of miles of open grazing across the Far North.


But surely if all the crofters got together and paid a share of the fencing that should offset the cost of losing livestock over a period of time.
Or is it that the animals are insured so why bother about the suffering of the "mothers" who have lost young.:confused

[northener]

Sorry Cuddlepop, but I think that with the crofters being nearly driven to the wall as it is, the funds would simply not be there for large scale fencing.

Having said that, I haven't got a clue if any assistance would be available for such a scheme...maybe the funds are there?

[wood2good]

Definatly not possible you may think farmers are loaded but its simply not true. your taliking thousands and thousands of pounds for fencing and one lamb on average is £40 give or take. I know its a shame for the mother but in my opinion the motorist needs to slow down it could have been a child that jumped out maybe in a way it was lucky it was the lamb could have been so much worse.

[KEEP_ON_TRUCKIN]

But surely if all the crofters got together and paid a share of the fencing that should offset the cost of losing livestock over a period of time.
Or is it that the animals are insured so why bother about the suffering of the "mothers" who have lost young.:confused

well i doubt the animals would be insured.....unless they are pedigree in which case doubt they'd be out on the common grazings. The farmer would take it on the chin.

The common grazings are run by committees for each area.

Fencing them off defeats the purposes a bit.

[Ricco]

If it was fenced off then perhaps it would no longer be classed as 'common land'??

I should think the number of mortalities are fairly small, though not pleasant. As for the 'boy' racers... if they hit a horse or deer at 60 then the animal won't be the only dead thing at the side of the road. :D

[cuddlepop]

I dont know if anyone knows the roads on Skye but its the Straun hill road running from Portree.Its hilly and bumpie and at one point there's a blind summit so the boy racers have agreat time.
Most of the "races" are done at night so unless the police made a decision to stake this road out they're never caught.:(

would it not be better like people have said, to reduce the speed limit in areas of high occupancy of livestock.I know in some common grazing land over here there doesnt seem to be a beast in sight?

[Ricco]

I dont know if anyone knows the roads on Skye but its the Straun hill road running from Portree.Its hilly and bumpie and at one point there's a blind summit so the boy racers have agreat time.
Most of the "races" are done at night so unless the police made a decision to stake this road out they're never caught.:(

would it not be better like people have said, to reduce the speed limit in areas of high occupancy of livestock.I know in some common grazing land over here there doesnt seem to be a beast in sight?

Cuddlepop - I hate to put a dampener on your idea but if the poice don't put in a show would the 'boy' racers pay any attention to a speed limit?

[cuddlepop]

Cuddlepop - I hate to put a dampener on your idea but if the poice don't put in a show would the 'boy' racers pay any attention to a speed limit?

Its not just boy racers its tourists that just dont expect a sheep to casualy saunter over the road or a cow to stay put and not move.
I'm being unfair just to blame the boy racers.
This lamb was knocked down just after lunch,so most wouldnt even have been up.;)

Police cant enforce what we require just now as far as speed limits are concerned.I just wish there was another way as with common grazing livestock are checked infrequently.This "mother" probably has mastitis now and sick herself.

Outside our door is a 20 but its only people who actually live on our street that drive at 20.:(

[joxville]

This lamb was knocked down just after lunch,:(

Such poor timing...it would have been nice on a sandwich.

[cuddlepop]

Such poor timing...it would have been nice on a sandwich.

Dont think you would have enjoyed it it hadnt matured yet and was only a few days old.;)

Think what really upset me was that even after 25 years I'd never seen an "accident" with the mother still trying to nudge the wee lamb awake.:~(

[S&LHEN]

I know the exact road your on about and yes I have to agree its a hellish road thats where most of the car racing happens. I see what you mean about tourists, maybe they should put more signs up warning people that might help.
In fairness the police are not to blame look at the amount of area the Portree and Dunvegan police have to cover its a fair amount.

Common grazing is ground for everyone that has shares within that area to be able to put there animals on most people keep them fenced due to the amount that go missing if left to roam freely:confused


I saw an accident in Dunvegan which ive never forgotten a tourist ran over a lamb and carried on and I was following from behind and the lambs back leg had been ripped off and he was still living and the blood was pouring it was like something out of a horror film and let me in shock and tears for days:~(

[KEEP_ON_TRUCKIN]

wow that must have been pretty traumatic re: leg incident!!!

I used to love those roads to The Portree Mart when i worked there coming over from Dingwall - what scenery - always saw deer too.

[S&LHEN]

Yea I must admit the scenery is amazing.
The leg accident was helish Ive never seen anything like it.
The portree mart was great but now that ive found Quoybrae its not to bad :lol:

[KEEP_ON_TRUCKIN]

haha when you are working behind the weigh bridge at quoybrae on a cold day - sometimes i'd long for clerking in portree - sitting in a tiny square stool that used to make me go numb - but I did have a heater under the rostrum to keep me warm !!!

Athough now ive had to go back to 5 days a week at dounreay instead of 4 I don't get to work at Quoybrae :-(

[S&LHEN]

Awww Quoybraes loss:) Well im glad you got treated right in Skye ha ha A heated stool your privelaged :lol: Dounreay looks massive never been inside but it looks amazing from the outside:)

[Errogie]

There is no obligation on Crofters with Common Grazing to fence off their land from the road. When the local authority buys land for a road widening it is very wary about any committment to fence the new boundary because of the potential to be drawn into providing fences over huge areas of unfenced land.

Strictly speaking if an animal causes a serious accident then the owner could become liable for damages which is why I have a third party liability cover on my own croft and this is available at moderate cost through the N.F.U. or the Crofting Foundation. Most crofters don't bother however. And then there would be the problem of who actually owned the animal In the case of sheep usually a grazings committee made of many individual crofters

Of course it can work the other way. There is a very steep hill with a sharp bend just south of Lochcarron and the crofter with the fenced field next to the road once told me that a car once left the road broke through the fence and killed a ewe standing in the middle of the field! There was also the recent tragic incident in the south west when a water board employee working on the roadside was attacked and killed by a bull which broke out of its enclosure as it had become annoyed by some noise the workman was making.

Every motorist should be made to ride a bicycle, and herd sheep along a busy road at regular intervals so they can realise what life is like outside their warm glass and metal cocoon.

[cazmanian_minx]

Of course it can work the other way. There is a very steep hill with a sharp bend just south of Lochcarron and the crofter with the fenced field next to the road once told me that a car once left the road broke through the fence and killed a ewe standing in the middle of the field!

The two steep bends just before the turn to Armadale have that problem as well - I've lived here less than a year and I've already seen two cars go through stone walls. The speed limit's 60, but if I tried to take those bends at more than 40 in my car I'd be in serious trouble.

[northener]

................
.......Every motorist should be made to ride a bicycle, and herd sheep along a busy road at regular intervals so they can realise what life is like outside their warm glass and metal cocoon.

Too true...

[KEEP_ON_TRUCKIN]

sorry completely off topic...Errogie you are in a great place but the fencing is not too bad up your way ????

I am from Migivie origins :-)

[Errogie]

Actually our main problem around here is trying to avoid hitting deer which think nothing of jumping fences and just about everyone I know has had a car damaged of even written off. This is bad on both sides of Loch Ness particularly where the trees grow pretty close to the road.

I suspect that even with more roadside fences in Skye and particularly on the notorious Invermoriston/Kyle road you're never going to avoid contact with anything from rabbits to stags, the answer must be to drive with more anticipation and respect for all animals.

Migovie, home of the Macnabs and the founder of the North West Trading Company!

[KEEP_ON_TRUCKIN]

was thinking more of my great grandad fraser and my cousin who still farms there(and gorthleck mains)