A Wiltshire farmer is “heartbroken” after a loose dog caused a stampede in which two cows suffered fatal injuries.

Chrissie Crossman and her husband Mat run a family farm in Woodborough, near Pewsey, where they keep over 100 dairy cows.

On Tuesday, May 9, 107 of their cows were shut in an enclosed shed on private land, due to the wet weather, when a large black dog entered, causing a stampede.

During the panic two cows, Flo and Cassandra who were both around five months in calf, suffered a broken leg and a broken hip and had to be euthanised.

Mrs Crossman said the loss had a huge emotional impact on her and her husband.

She said: “We’re devastated because they were both young, healthy cows, only three and a half years old, who were due to calf in four months.

The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald:

“We’re just heartbroken because it shouldn’t have happened. They were dairy cows inside their own safe space.

“We’re a small family farm and this has a huge emotional impact on us, it has startled everybody.”

As well as the loss of Flo and Cassandra, who the couple have “fondly” taken care of, the incident has been a financial blow to their growing business.

Mrs Crossman added: “It’s had a huge impact, we only took on the farm last year and it’s really hard to get into farming.

“It’s taken everything we’ve got to get here, where we’ve built up a good reputation and a good rapport with the public, and a loose dog has just come in and annihilated that.

“It’s taken down two of our cows, who were in calf, so we may as well have just flushed all that money down the drain.”

The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald: The Crossmans with their livestock

The dog disappeared after the stampede while no owner has been found or come forward at the time of writing.

A post about the incident on the Facebook page of Moo2Yoo, the Crossmans’ self service milk machine business, has received widespread attention and thousands of reactions.

Mrs Crossman hopes to use this attention to warn dog owners to keep their pets on leads around livestock.

“It shouldn’t be happening as much as it is because it’s all over the place”, she said.

“Really be aware of your surroundings because even the most domestic dogs will chase livestock, it’s not the dog’s fault it’s natural instinct.

“Unless you’re in your own enclosed garden keep your dog on a lead. We can’t get the girls back, all we can do is raise awareness.”