A SHOCKED farmer made a gruesome discovery when he found one of his day-old calves had been killed.

Doug Timms, of Wyke Regis, went to check on his herd in a nearby field yesterday morning to find that Bobby, a bull calf, had been disembowelled.

The calf’s ear had also been sliced off in the sickening attack.

Mr Timms said: “I was taking a bottle up to the field to make sure the calf had some milk and there it was, lying there with its mother standing over it.

“I was shocked. I feel most sorry for his mother, Alexis. She’s the one who carried him for nine months and now he’s gone.”

The calf, which was born on Monday afternoon was worth around £200.

The farmer owns 44 cattle with many recently calving in a birthing pen he set up.

Mr Timms, 66, of Castle Hill Road, added: “It makes me worry about the rest of the cattle. I’ve been working on this land for 50 years. I’ve farmed my cows here since 1977 and I worked for the landowner since I was a boy before that.

“In all that time I’ve never seen anything like this. I’ve never had anything like this happen before.

“This little one had only just managed to walk. The other cows can run like the wind but he couldn’t get away.”

Mr Timms believes that the attack was not caused by a dog even hough there was one in the area at he time.

He said the nature of the wounds led him to believe that a person carried out the attack.

However, he says people walking dogs have also led to problems in the area.

He said: “We put the cows up there in the field to keep them safe, out of the lanes and away from any animals. I’m worried it might happen again.

“A little while ago, someone told me they thought a cow was dead in one of the fields but when I went down there it was a badger.

“You could tell by the way it was savaged that an animal did it.

“I want to warn people not to bring their dogs over here. Fisher-men sometimes tell me they see a man with a lurcher in the fields.”

A spokeswoman for Dorset Police said: “We received a call to say that a calf had been killed sometime on Monday night At the moment, we have no reason to believe it may have been anything other than a dog attack. The local PCSO is aware in case anything else occurs to make us think otherwise.”

Besides the hole in its stomach and missing ear, the calf appears to be relatively undamaged which has led to questions over what caused its death.

Mr Timms added: “The police said they can’t prove what’s done it, which I guess is fair enough.

“But I’m not sure what killed this calf. It’s the way the ear’s been cut clean off. Something’s just not right.”

CONTROL OF DOGS RULES

AN RSPCA spokesman said: “We don’t know if this calf’s death was the result of a dog attack but sadly they are all too common and the RSPCA is aware of livestock being killed and badly maimed by dogs which have not been kept under control by their owners.

"Responsible dog owners should keep their pets under control and if appropriate on lead around livestock, especially in the spring and summer months when there are lots of young about.

“If a farmer believes a dog is worrying his livestock, he is well within his rights to shoot it. It is therefore in the dog owner’s interest to keep their pet under control.”