23/01/21 Farming Today This Week: lockdown footpaths, eels going nowhere, dog attacks, vets

Many of us will be out walking in our local countryside this weekend. It's one of the few joys of lockdown, but it's causing problems for some farmers.
Olly Harrison farms on Merseyside and has footpaths across the farm. At at the moment they’re very muddy, so people are avoiding the mud by walking across his crops, which, as he explains, isn’t ideal. But Miles King from the conservation charity, People Need Nature, says we're looking at this all wrong.
Eels from the River Severn have been exported all over Europe. Some to end up on people’s plates, others to rivers and lakes where the eel is under threat. But no longer. The company which exports the fish is warning that changes in the rules since Brexit mean that it may not survive.
The cost of dog attacks on sheep has been rising across England. The insurer NFU Mutual said the cost of claims in the South East of the country rose by 87% in 2019. A farmer describes his distress at finding 50 of his sheep half dead and mutilated, just before Christmas.
And we hear about a new project which aims to help vets cut antibiotics used on farm, and a survey looking into racism and mental health experienced by vets.

Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.