Off-road bikers cause chaos for farmers
GROUPS of off-road bikers have been causing chaos and disruption to Rossendale farms, treating it as a ‘playground’.
Animals have been injured and trapped in ‘motorbike ruts’ in farmland stretching from Edenfield to Whitworth.
The bikers have shredded the moorland to pieces, frightening and even injuring animals such as baby lambs.
And now the disruption and hurt caused to the farming community has been shared by one farmer.
Beth Holt, whose family are tenants of a farm in the area, said the incidents have been happening for years.
She said: “There’s several farms that are having similar issues to ourselves. It’s pretty overwhelming really.
“Some of the lads are coming from as far as Liverpool and Barnsley, and especially at the moment you’re not supposed to be doing that.
“But it’s been happening for years and years and years.”
Beth also outlined how the riders are causing distress to the animals in the area, including lambs and birds. “The lambs are up and running around within minutes of being born and its natural instinct is to run away,” she said.
“So if they just disturb it even slightly they run, and then the lambs get abandoned especially on a hill. If they end up in a stream chances are they probably drown.
“If they drop in a hole they’ll never be found. It’s a horrible way for an animal to live.”
In a detailed Facebook post Beth shared how the mess and devastation the bikers are creating ‘is totally beyond belief’. She wrote: “I can talk in depth of scenarios where our ewes have become trapped in motorbike ruts, bogged up to their necks in a peaty soup. Only if they are lucky, they are stumbled across in time by their shepherd or a kind rambler who helps them out of their black, wet grave. The unlucky ones look death in the eye as the cold causes hypothermia and their body shuts down.
“I do have more examples of injuries caused to sheep, one case being a ewe who was hit by an off-road bike. She was heavy in lamb at the time and her pelvis was mush; completely shattered.”
Rossendale Police shared the farmer’s letter on social media.
A spokesperson said: “We have made numerous posts over the last twelve months regarding the use of off-road motorbikes and us targeting this issue and seizing bikes and prosecuting the riders.
“It’s fair to say we get a mixed response which is mainly supportive, but with some comments around it being harmless fun and ‘Rossendale Police needing to find something better to do with our time’.
“We have been sent the following account from a Rossendale farmer and been asked to post it on our page which we are happy to do as it gives an insight into the damage caused by irresponsible and selfish riders. It’s a long read but a very passionate and worthy one. Especially as we enter into spring and the lambing season.”
I WRITE this first hand as the daughter of a hill farmer in the Rossendale Valley.
My family have farmed the same farm and moorland for generations and it is now facing hugely unprecedented times and is under a threat of no longer being home to grazing livestock at all.
The biggest issue our uplands face is it is treated as a playground for grown men to travel to, along with their motocross bikes, 4x4’s and friends.
They spend their days and evenings shredding our poor moorland to pieces.
This problem has grown in popularity over the last 10 or so years.
Groups of up to 20 bikes have been sighted and photographed.
The mess and devastation they are creating is totally beyond belief.
It is actually illegal to use these moorlands for these purposes and the landowners and graziers have been plagued with this activity 365 days a year.
Our moorland is home to several species of birds including Twite, Curlews and Lapwings.
Along with birds of prey such as Buzzards and Kestrels.
Not to mention several farmers’ flocks of sheep and herds of cattle; all of which are threatened with these devastating effects.
Our ewes have become trapped in motorbike ruts, bogged up to their necks in a peaty soup.
Only if they are lucky, they are stumbled across in time by their shepherd or a kind rambler.
Other examples I have are lambs only hours old separated from their mothers and completely lost - orphaned.
Only the lucky lambs who are heard crying for their mothers are found.
The unlucky ones look death in the eye as the cold causes hypothermia and their body shuts down.
They’re then the prey of crows who fly above eagerly awaiting their slow demise.
Only if the lamb is lucky enough to die before the crows attack it; some lambs have been attacked alive, where their tongues and eyes are pecked out.
I do have more examples of injuries caused to sheep, one case being a ewe who was hit by an off-road bike.
She was heavy in lamb at the time and her pelvis was mush; completely shattered.
Her newborn lamb, only seconds old had two broken front legs.
These injuries could only be explained by her being hit by the biker who didn’t even have the respect to stop.
Both mother and lamb were put down to end their suffering.
Other farmers on our moorland have had their cattle “rounded up” in a game by the bikers.
One particular calf, only days old ended up with a broken leg.
Contrary to popular belief these hills are not “wasteland” which no one owns nor cares for.
They are home to some of the most environmentally friendly beef and lamb for generations, reared on land which cannot support any other kind of agriculture or serve any other productive purpose.
These Peatlands are stores of carbon, removing CO2 from the atmosphere and storing it in the Peat.
These environments are the UK’s largest store of carbon.
The carbon stored in UK peatlands is equivalent to eight years of total UK carbon emissions.
Therefore, it is hugely important to preserve these carbon sinks.
The ruts these bikes create speed up the flow of water from the hills to the valley bottoms causing erosion and in some cases flooding.
The erosion of blanket bogs and peat haggs which store huge amounts of dissolved carbon inside them are known to affect the water quality and increase the costs of water treatment from our local reservoirs.
By improving the moorland landscape, making sure the vegetation on open peat bogs is there, we can prevent flooding in below villages as the vegetation slows down the water.
It’s only now that I have felt that the future of hill farming is very bleak.
What a sad and sorry future our local area has ahead of it.
Things need to change. Beth Holt