Sheep farmers are up in arms over letters they received from Forest Enterprise Scotland calling on them to remove stray sheep from the national forest estate.
The letters follow guidance agreed earlier this year which is now being disputed by the National Sheep Association (NSA).
The NSA’s new Scottish chairman, John Fyall, says his organisation did not endorse the policy of asking farmers to cooperate in removing sheep, and rejects the extra demands on his members.
“Farmers never asked for trees to be planted next to them in the first place. We had no discussion about this and the guidance issued by Forest Enterprise Scotland (FES) was not endorsed by the NSA,” he said.
“The money isn’t there for farmers to protect trees when they never asked for them. Issues have to be resolved on a case-by-case basis, not in blanket letters.”
Mr Fyall said it was inevitable sheep would stray into trees and cause problems once forestry was planted.
“Trees bring problems like vermin. And the last thing a farmer wants is a tree falling down on fences where there is a mutual obligation to repair,” he said.
Mr Fyall added that if the Forestry Commission had put no fences in place when trees were planted, farmers couldn’t later be held responsible for keeping sheep in check without incurring a huge cost.
“And that’s something that’s impossible for the sheep industry to contemplate at the moment,” he said.
In the letters to sheep farmers in the West Argyll forest district, FES states that sheep have been sighted in various forest blocks and calls on flockmasters to get in touch about when and how they will be removed – if the sheep belong to them.
In a statement issued in January, FES said it had worked with Police Scotland and the Scottish Government to produce the guidance with industry bodies such as NFU Scotland, NSA and the Sheep Scab Industry Group.
A FES spokesman clarified yesterday that the NSA had been sent draft guidance on three occasions to offer them an opportunity to comment or raise any concerns but no response had been received.
He added: “The guidance is there to help our staff manage sheep that have strayed onto the national forest estate and to do this in a manner which is legally correct and resolves the issue as quickly as possible for all.
“We want to work with farmers in an open and honest way and have discussed the guidance since its publication with the NFUS and NSA. We are very happy to keep this dialogue open and meet to work out any concerns.”
nnicolson@thecourier.co.uk
