I'm trying to shut out the days events and think back to strawing up the ewes. This time of year a lot of sheep are lame. It seems to me that it might well be difficult for a dealer who's bought a load of sheep from goodness knows where to spot. It might well be difficult to spot in flocks which already have a welfare problem. But someone who lives close to his sheep, a good shepherd, will notice immediately if there is something wrong.
Vets sometimes know nothing about sheep.
One of the smaller abattoirs near here had to pay to have a Spanish vet inspect them. The instruction to check your stock twice a day says it all. Winter and summer we check our stock twice a day. In summer it means a pleasant walk round the farm, in winter it can mean a wet and cold trip on the quad to the bottom of the farm to check on such stock as are out. If there's ever a problem we check more often, particularly when calving or lambing when we practically live with the animals.