A farmer says he has been left 'broken' after losing scores of animals due to livestock worrying.

Sam Hutton is considering giving up farming sheep due to the impact the incidents have had on his business.

Mr Hutton farms at Buittle Mains near Dalbeattie and revealed there have been two cases recently where a dog has been allowed to run among his flock.

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As a result, nearly a fifth of his ewes weren’t able to produce lambs this year.

In a video on Facebook, Mr Hutton said: “I’m actually toying with the idea of getting rid of all my sheep, putting everything away, because if I can’t protect them from the general public I don’t know what to do.

“At the end of the day I’m a farmer, I look after livestock, but I’m also a businessman and I’ve got to make money.

“If I lose that much percentage, what is the point?

“When will people learn – or what do we need to do now?

“Do we need to reshape everything that needs to be done, the wording of the countryside code or make it more serious?

“I do not know, but this farmer’s broken.

“I’m toying with the idea of getting rid of everything, all my sheep, because I can’t bear the risk of this.

“This last month has been absolute hell.”

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Mr Hutton told the News the video has been viewed more than 5000 times since he posted it, saying he did it as he probably needed an 'emotional cuddle' at the time.

He said: “it’s cost us a small fortune in losses and there’s nothing I can do about it apart from suck it up.

“It’s been bubbling up – from lockdown to now we must be north of 180 to 200 gates being left open or tampered with.

“I’ve never put a price on it because I reckon if I do that it’ll ring further home, but it could be four or five thousand pounds of losses if you add it together.

“You lose lambs at lambing time and I understand that, but it’s when the percentage comes out of one field you start asking if it’s caused by the worrying from that one field.”

Mr Hutton has pedigree Lleyn sheep and a herd of pedigree blue Texels which are looked after by his son.

He has been in contact with the NFU in a bid to tackle the problem of sheep worrying – both in terms of what farmers can do and what can be done to inform the public.

He added: “A dog attack’s not just when you see the beast mutilated. Just running around and chasing them does just as much damage, if not more.

“One of the quotes I’ve heard is ‘They’re not worrying, they’re playing with them’. They’re not. You don’t realise the damage until two weeks later when the lamb is dead inside them and you lose the mother and the lamb.

“I’m not painting a bad picture of dog walkers, 99 per cent of dog owners will be OK. It’s just the rotten apple that spoils the barrel.”