Herefordshire sheep farmer 'devastated' by repeated dog attacks

A sheep farmer says repeated attacks on his flock have been "devastating", more than two months after the law was revised in an attempt to tackle the problem. On the same morning the BBC arrived at his farm, Will Rogers discovered one of his sheep lying dead in a field between Herefordshire and Powys. The injuries suggested an attack but, as is often the case, there was no clear answer as to what had caused it. For Rogers, who farms 650 acres (263 hectares), uncertainty is part of the pain. "It's devastating," he said. "You tend to think about where the sheep are and how you could have done things differently. You put a bit of blame on yourself to start with. "But you are angry… and you're looking for answers. You're looking to find out where this dog came from and who might be responsible." That sense of frustration is not new but has built up over years for this Herefordshire farmer. "When I was young we had dog attacks hardly at all," he said. "Now we would have one or two a year… they're becoming more of a problem. "We had one about three weeks ago… we lost animals in that attack. We had one four months prior to that, and the year before we had two as well." Even when sheep sur