A FARMER last night branded thieves as barbaric after three pedigree sheep and her champion ram were butchered in their field.

The livestock were coaxed into a pen and killed and butchered some time between 11.45pm on Wednesday and 8am on Thursday.

Police believe they were slaughtered for their meat, as the carcasses were nowhere to be seen.

Yesterday owner Julie Bury, of Malt House Farm, Brighthampton, near Witney, told how she made the grim discovery when she was on her way home with her granddaughter Charlotte.

They were driving along the B4449 road between Standlake and Hardwick when they spotted what they thought might be a dead sheep.

Mrs Bury said: “I went over and saw the blood and guts. I thought the foxes had it. I thought it must be bigger than one sheep.

“When I got close, I could see there were skins.

“I picked up four skins and saw there were three lots of guts and two ears belonging to my special pedigree ram.

“I got upset at that point, but we pulled ourselves together. I then found another set of guts about two yards away.

“They had cut their legs off at the knees.”

Mrs Bury, who keeps 200 pedigree sheep as a hobby, said she was very fond of her flock of ewes, bred specifically to breed lambs year after year.

She said: “My sheep are pedigree and I pamper them from the day they are born.

“I hate getting rid of the ladies when they have to go. They all have different personalities.

“Some of them are 10 years old.

“They aren’t any old cross-bred sheep. They’re special sheep, which bred special lambs.

“I feel completely sick to the stomach. I don’t know how anyone can do such a barbaric thing.”

The three Texel sheep, who were all due to lamb in January, and the Bleu Dumaine ram were worth £2,000.

Mrs Bury said she was especially fond of her four-year-old ram, who had won prizes at agricultural shows.

She said: “That’s what upset me the most, because his breeding is now gone.

“They were all injected with wormer recently and they haven’t got past the withdrawal period, so I hope it makes the meat taste nasty.”

Witney-based Pc Simon Towers, wildlife officer for Oxfordshire, said: “This is a very nasty crime that would have caused great suffering to the animals and has left the owner of the livestock very distressed.

“It has been done by someone who knew what they were doing.”

Anyone with information should call Pc Towers on 08458 505505 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

eallen@oxfordmail.co.uk