THE NFU Mutual is urging dog owners visiting the countryside to keep their pets on the lead to avoid attacks on sheep and lambs after seeing a 10 per cent rise in the estimated cost of UK livestock worrying last year.

Recent figures from the UK’s leading rural insurer, NFU Mutual, estimate that farm animals worth £1.95-million were severely injured or killed in dog attacks in 2025.

But with the Easter holidays in full swing, the insurer is asking dog owners to do their part in reducing these figures.

NFU Mutual rural affairs specialist, Hannah Binns, said: “The Easter holidays present a great opportunity to explore and appreciate the UK countryside, but people must remember that these iconic landscapes are working environments, key to farmers’ livelihoods and home to millions of sheep and new-born lambs.

“As a sheep farmer, I’m well aware of the hard-work, time and emotion which goes into the lambing season, so it can be utterly heartbreaking for farmers and their families to witness these horrific incidents and deal with the aftermath.”

The data coincides with findings from an NFU Mutual survey released in advance of the Easter period, which revealed how 57 per cent let their dogs off leads in the countryside, yet one in ten admitted that their dog has no recall, and 44 per cent said their dogs come back only ‘some’ or ‘most of the time’.

This comes as the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) Act comes into force, which grants police enhanced powers to address dog attacks on farm animals in England and Wales.

In alignment with this legislation, NFU Mutual is urging the thousands of dog owners planning to take their dogs to the countryside over the holiday period, to keep their pets on leads.