Mid Sussex sheep worrying: please keep dogs on leads and don’t cut fences, says owner of farm near Ansty and Cuckfield

Liz Norris, 59, one of the owners of Norris Farms in Ansty and Cuckfied, is growing increasingly concerned that out-of-control dogs are chasing sheep as they try to graze.

Liz said: “A couple of weekends ago there was an issue where the tenant’s shepherd had to come out to Cuckfield Park because I’d seen something on the local gossip pages.”

She said she went out to her land to find a sheep on its back, and the tenant said this indicated the sheep had been chased.

“It’s not a recent problem,” said Liz. “We historically have had issues with people just not keeping to the footpaths.”

She said: “I think all farmers find that at the moment or increasingly so. Walkers don’t stick to the public footpaths and don’t keep their dogs on leads. All dogs should be under control and that usually means being on a lead. If they’re incredibly obedient they should be on the footpath with the owner. They shouldn’t be in the field and that becomes more of a problem when there are livestock grazing.”

Liz said sheep can become exhausted when dogs chase them. Many of them grazing on her land are in lamb at the moment and can abort if chased.

She said: “If a sheep is turned over they don’t get up, someone has to turn them back over. They just can’t right themselves. They’re not like cattle, they can give up quite quickly.”

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Liz said she contacted rural police about the latest incidents. Police told the Middy that Rural Crime Week takes place from February 26 to March 1 where they will carry out ‘a number of operations’, including livestock worrying engagement with the Ashdown Forest rangers. A Sussex Police spokesperson said: “Police have received a report of ongoing concerns regarding livestock worrying on private land off Deaks Lane, Ansty. Officers from the Sussex Police Rural Crime Team have engaged with the informant and offered advice. Anyone with any information about this report is asked to report it online or call 101, quoting serial 808 of 06/02. You can find out more about rural crime here.”

Liz said her family stopped farming in March 2022 and sold their main farm buildings. She said: “We haven't has our own livestock here since, I think, 2000 but we do rent the grazing to people with sheep predominantly because they don't cause so much damage.”

She added that some electric fences have been cut as well, saying: “I know it’s not everybody but it only takes one person to do it and then the flock could be gone.”

Liz is urging people to keep their dogs under control and obey the rules of the countryside. She said sheep worrying is not a low level incident to a farmer who may have to contend with small profit margins.

She said: “Two of the furthest top two fields on this section of the farm, the shepherd has said ‘I don't think I dare use them’. I just think that is incredibly wrong. We should be able to use all of our land.”

Liz thinks the increase in people straying from public footpaths and not obeying countryside rules could stem from an increase in housing and more people living near farms. She also said more people went into the countryside during the Covid pandemic without understanding where they were allowed to walk.