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I began writing this in response to comments in ‘cull or not to cull’, but decided to publish it as a post in its own right. I have researched, read about and discussed the problem of bTB at length - with vets, farmers, scientists, ecologists, conservationists, people living, but not working in the countryside and those that do, city dwellers and politicians. I could give facts, figures, excellent examples and analogies for and against both sides of the argument. Personally I am, of course, subjective…I have a herd of cattle I care about hugely and are at risk; I also have a passion for wildlife. And I have to make a living from my work.
The question of whether or not to cull badgers is a complex one. It ain’t half as easy as many people make out. Quite simply, it’s not black and white. The science is uncertain, the risks are large, and we are dealing with emotions as well as facts. If we are going to find away forward, it will depend on us being open-minded, listening to each other and respecting each others’ values. Above all, we must be prepared to move our positions, to get off our high horses, to let our eyeballs settle back into their sockets. Far too many of us are entrenched: a position, for or against, has been taken, and that’s the end of it. If we are to get on top of this disease, for the benefit of all - people, cattle and badgers - we must start to pull together, use what evidence there is, consider the practicality of the various options open to us, and reach consensus on the way forward. It won’t be perfect and certainly won’t be easy, but it’ll be the best we can do.
Whilst Robert was hobnobbing with royalty at the Royal Show last week I had one important thing I needed to do.
I wanted to lobby someone, anyone on the Natural England board of directors about the lack of Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreements being granted to small and medium sized farms. So bumping into a board member I’d had contact with several years ago gave me the perfect opportunity. Though no sooner had I started to speak she announced that she was not the person I should be talking to and firmly introduced me to Natural England’s chief executive, Helen Phillips.
Well, you can’t get better than that. Now it was up to me to make a strong, cogent case for fellow farmers up and down the country. As luck would have it she was having a heated discussion with the head of policies from the NFU on this very subject before my interruption. I had no idea at the time. Serendipitous.
I was blanked…. My nerves quivered. But no, I thought, this is vitally important, get a grip and get on! So I did. And she listened. And took notice. We agreed to keep in touch. Below is an excerpt of my recent correspondence to her…
From grass roots level this is how things appear. When HLS was first floated the take up was, I believe, mainly by farms that had no previous history of environmental schemes. These first payments were often substantial and included restorations of barns and the like. Then those whose Countryside Stewardship agreements were coming to an end applied, encouraged initially by your staff. You can imagine their surprise, disappointment and frustration when few were successful. It seems that only those applications with SSSIs or many habitats, footpaths, etc were successful. Hundreds of small to medium-sized farms like ours have been left in the lurch, while the large estates often owned by pension companies or similar have been granted agreements – with very large holdings it is, of course, much easier form them to accumulate the necessary points.
The impact on those many, many farms across the country which have not been successful (or indeed have been discouraged from applying), has been significant. They have adjusted their farming systems to meet the needs of their Countryside Stewardship agreements, often with much enthusiasm, only to find themselves high and dry and without a much needed source of income. Many have really delivered the wildlife and other goods that you are seeking. Some are now going into the red and having to resort to commercial farming of the land. Given the good budget settlement from Europe and the Treasury this rejection is hard to swallow. Meanwhile, the large estates and pension funds are benefiting, but will they show the commitment to the environment that us family farms will? I doubt it!
If it helps, I can explain what has happened on our farm. We had a Countryside Stewardship agreement for some 16 years, covering nearly half our land, but when we re-applied a year ago were unsuccessful because we did not score enough points. This despite much of the land being designated a County Wildlife Site, having a magnificent flower-rich meadow, supporting good numbers of dormice, barn owls, snipe, tree pipits, marsh tits, etc, and being crossed by a public footpath. What galled was the fact we were told ‘we were just not good enough’! Please come and see for yourself. I’d like to show you…
So all you farmers out there in the same situation as us – take heart if you can; speak to the various organisations concerned, keep on pushing and perhaps those elusive agreements will be forthcoming…
On Friday I went to the Royal Show; not a show I would generally choose to go to. Once a showcase for some of the best examples of British livestock and businesses in the industry, now prohibitive costs and soaring overheads have taken it out of the reach of most exhibitors leaving it to corporate bodies, supermarkets and ubiquitous market stalls to fly the flag.
But I was going for a reason. It was the launch of Hedgelink, a partnership of organisations and individuals leading and supporting the conservation of the UK’s hedgerows, and a project that Robert has been closely involved in over the years and one he’s passionate about. Prince Charles was going to be at the launch. Robert had asked me to go along with him.
nigel with the new hedgelink banner and dvd
We left the farm at the crack of dawn and had a happily uneventful drive up to Stoneleigh, the Royal showground. The day was perfect too. No rain, just sun and clouds with a breeze. The launch was taking place on the Natural England site which is an impressive acre or so of various ponds and plots giving examples in how to encourage wildlife and diversity on farmland and in your garden. The whole was a serene, peaceful green oasis in an otherwise confusing array of stalls and roads.
Leaving Robert to fluster and muster I went off to do a reccy of the showground and inadvertently became caught up in the Prince’s and Duchess’s arrival! I duly shook hands and murmured complete nonsense while being once again taken aback by Charles’s approachability and the genuine interest he shows when talking to people.
Prince Charles with a group of very happy schoolgirls - they were chuffed!
I’ve had contact with the prince before. It was nearing the end of the 2001 FMD outbreak when a small group of us were invited to have tea with him on one of his supportive visits to a devastated West Country. He had apparently followed all my weekly TV video reporting on Countryfile; knew intimate details of my stock and farm; displayed real understanding of the trials and tribulations I and others had been through. In other words he cared, and there was no indication of doing lip service. I like that, a good egg.
Back to Friday. The launch was due at 1pm. Robert was beginning to show signs of stress when a steward appeared and announced the Prince would be there in a few minutes as he was running well ahead of schedule. The place was immediately seething with a plethora of paparazzi and a surge of people. The line-up had only just organised itself when the prince and his entourage arrived. Feeling small and insignificant with my diminutive camera against a bank of monstrous super-zoomed beasts handled by hardened push-hardest-and-shove journos I was startled when I found myself being asked by his personal aide if I’d like to stand practically next to the price to take my photos!
robert shakes hands with the prince
It was a great success. Hands were vigorously shaken; smiles were stretched across faces in wallace & gromit-like proportions; Prince Charles grinned and crinkled, spending a good time with each member of the team discussing the work they had done in creating Hedgelink and the DVD ‘A cut above the rest’. He’s an avid supporter of the hedgerows in our countryside and went away clutching his copy of the DVD.
the prince discussing the finer points of hedgelaying
Having just watched the DVD. I can honestly recommend it to any of you that have even a tiny interest in hedges. It’s beautifully filmed and presented. The clear, practical information is easy to follow and holds your attention to the end. Even though I have a fair knowledge of hedgerows gleaned from Robert I found there’s lots which will make me look at hedges and hedgerow trees in a new light. To see excerpts of the DVD follow the link and also to order your free copy.
Well done Hedgelink!
There are a number of commercial wind farm proposals for North and West Devon in line with the government’s Kyoto Summit agreement. These are being met with massive opposition. They destroy the look of the countryside, they are inefficient, nimby-ism, and the huge grants available to energy companies who erect them is only there to make the government look as if it’s taken the energy crisis and climate change on board. Which, according to some, they haven’t, as they have their fingers stuck firmly in some other mucky puddle.
One argument that opponents to wind farms use is that because they can only generate power when the wind blows, every time a new wind farm is built a new coal, oil or gas station has to be built as well. I’m not sure I understand this. I get the point that wind farms will only ever produce energy intermittently, so they have to be used alongside other forms of power generation. No one says they are the solution on their own, just part of it. I just don’t see why new non-green power stations have to be built as well. Provided existing such stations are kept operational and ticking over, then when the wind drops they can be turned up. The argument that we need new conventional stations seems to me only to hold true if we need more energy overall – but with the increased imperative that now exists for energy conservation that should not be necessary. Indeed wind farms should surely mean that conventional power stations have to be used less (although as I say still kept operational), so helping to reduce climate change? Can anyone please help me here?
Rural Business Research (RBR), the consortium of leading Agricultural Universities and Colleges that undertakes the Farm Business Survey in England for Defra, has recently published seven enterprise / farm type reports that chart the changing fortunes of agriculture and horticulture.
You may find these facts and figures interesting, particularly for Less Favoured Area (LFA) hill farms. This shows that the average farm loses heavily on livestock production, and only survives because of public payments (Single Payment Scheme (SPS) and agri-environment) and diversification. Even so, the average income of c £11K pa is pitifully low when this has to cover farmer time and any rent. How many non-farming families would be willing to work for a combined salary of £11K pa?
Below is a summery which provides an overview of each report. If you are interested the full reports can be found by following the link. The data is taken from actual farm accounts
Rural Business Research charts the changing fortunes of farming in England
Rural Business Research (RBR), the leading consortium of independent academic units undertaking the influential Farm Business Survey (FBS) in England, presents a series of reports highlighting the changing economic fortunes of farming.
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Report Series Crop Production in England Pig Production in England Poultry Production in England Hill Farming in England Dairy Farming in England Lowland Grazing Livestock Production in England Horticulture Production in England (Horticultural Business Data) |
Details and downloads available at http://www.ruralbusinessresearch.co.uk/
Crop Production in England shows that whilst arable fortunes started to improve in 2006/07, many producers had already committed their 2006 harvest to marketing contracts and spot sales, reducing the impact of price increases on the sector. General cropping farms returned a Farm Business Income (FBI) of £317 per hectare, whilst Cereal farms recorded an average FBI of £261 per hectare. The balance sheets of many cropping farms improved, with land value increases resulting in average net worth of cereals and general cropping farms increasing by 10%, to £5200 and £4700 per hectare, respectively. The financial year 2006/07 witnessed an increase in the number of farmers taking part in the Entry Level Stewardship (ELS) scheme with average total receipts from this revenue increasing by £10 per hectare on the previous year. With increasing fuel and fertiliser costs eroding increasing output prices, the wide variation in performance of cropping farms looks set to continue for the foreseeable future.
Pig Production in England charts the declining UK pig population with sow numbers having fallen to below 400,000 in the UK. Food security is now racing up the political agenda, and the report details how pork production as a percentage of supply has fallen from 116% in 1996-98 to 69% in 2007. The 54 Specialist Pig farms analysed in the report recorded an average feed bill of £120,000, accounting for some 77% of total variable costs and highlighting the plight of the sector as cereal prices continue to rise. The wide range in business performance, and the increasing costs of production, highlights the problems facing many producers - it is clear that the vast majority of producers are currently making substantial losses on their pig production. The rapid decline in the sector as at end of 2007 showed a 4.4% fall in total breeding pigs on the previous year; the fall in gilt numbers was even higher at 16%, reflecting the cut-backs that are occurring in the Industry.
Poultry Production in England identifies that 69% of broiler production takes place on the largest 400 holdings in the UK, with 100,000+ broiler units dominating supply in the sector. With farm gate sales of £1.66 billion in 2006, 90% of domestic demand for poultry meat was satisfied by home-grown production. Egg production is also dominated by a small number of suppliers with 1% of producers accounting for 78% of output by volume and satisfying 89% of the demand for eggs. Whilst egg prices recovered in 2006, gross output to the sector fell due a decline in laying hen numbers. Free range producers saw a slight fall in Farm Business Income (FBI), resulting from increased gross output that was more than offset by higher variable costs. Rising feed costs are likely to result in substantial changes in the fortunes of the poultry industry – profit in the sector is under extreme pressure as variable costs increase placing considerable pressure on the bottom line.
Hill Farming in England examines the costs and returns of farming in England’s “grazing livestock” Less Favoured Area (LFA) farm businesses – with LFAs accounting for 17% of the total farmed area, returns to production in the areas where poor climate, soils and terrain limit activities, have traditionally been lower than many other sectors. In England, 40% of beef cows and 45% of breeding sheep are in the LFAs and farming plays a crucial role in maintaining the distinctive landscape of such areas. LFA Grazing Livestock farms earn some 50% of their total revenue (output) from crop and livestock farming activities with 27% coming from the Single Farm Payment, and 15% from specific agri-environment payments. The balance of revenues is earned from nonfarm/ diversification activities. However, the average LFA farm is losing money to the tune of -£16,044 Farm Business Income (FBI) from crop and livestock production per farm in 2006/7. Revenues earned from the Single Farm Payments, agri-environment schemes and diversification more than offset the losses of the traditional farming enterprises to generate a headline FBI of £10,786 in 2006/7. LFA farms depend to a substantial extent on public payments accounting for more than 40% of their revenues. Total public spending on the LFA farms amounts to £148m per year, or £193/ha. This total spending compares favourably with recent estimates of the social value of upland environments.
Dairy Farming in England details the number challenges faced by the sector during 2006/07, including market conditions of declining milk output price and increasing input costs; average farm gate prices ranged from 16.8 to 19.0 pence per litre. Milk production fell to its lowest level for over a decade, driven by producer numbers falling by 5.4% and continuing the downward trend in the number of dairy farms. In 2006/07 the shortfall of total milk deliveries undershot total national quota by approximately 410 million litres, representing the largest recorded quota undershoot. Farm Business Income (FBI) was £321 per hectare, representing 17% of total farm output. The higher input-output system of the lowland farms returned an average FBI of £340/ha in comparison to the average FBI of £255/ha for LFA farms. Analysis of lowland herds by gross margin performance quartiles indicates that the upper quartile achieved yields of 8000 litres compared to 5700 litres for the lower quartile, and whilst concentrate costs were greater for the upper quartile, the respective gross margins are approximately £1000/cow and £400/cow. The report goes on to note that whilst reduced milk supplies have led retailers to recently increase the milk price, volatility and increases in input costs will erode a substantial element of the increased milk price.
Lowland Grazing Livestock Production in England details that Lowland Grazing Livestock farms account for 10% of the area of farmed land in England, and 17% of the holdings. Lowland grazing holdings typically produce the lowest incomes per farm, per hectare and per annual labour unit. In 2006/07, Farm Business Income (FBI) was £13,500 per business, although large variations in the returns to individual businesses exist, highlighting the negative returns recorded by many in this sector. 20% of businesses make a loss, and two-thirds make less than £20,000 – from which rental value of owned land and the value of farmer and spouse labour must be met. Farm Business Income was lower than private drawings for farms in the lowland grazing livestock production farm type, indicating that on average farmers in this group are eroding their business assets.
Horticulture Production in England (Horticultural Business Data) details that horticulture’s share of total agricultural output has increased by 4% over the last forty five years, and in 2006 was 14.3% of total agricultural output in the UK. In monetary terms, the latest figures for home produced horticultural crops produced in the UK came to £2,107 million. Just over one third of this output is made up of field scale vegetables, although they account for 72% of the total area of horticulture. Hardy nursery stock (22%) and other protected non-edibles (12%) are the next largest in value terms amongst the horticultural sectors. Horticulture Production in England considers the value of home-produced output, the regional importance of production and detailed financial results for horticulture businesses, all based upon the analysis of financial and physical returns from the 207 horticultural businesses within the Farm Business Survey.
Dr Paul Wilson, Chief Executive Elect of Rural Business Research, commented “this series of reports provides the industry with the most comprehensive examination of the economics of agriculture and horticulture in England ever produced - the changes and challenges facing the industry make these reports invaluable to anyone looking to identify key factors to improve profitability”
The data collection and analysis presented in the reports has been largely funded by Defra as a key part of the annual Farm Business Survey. Details or downloads of the reports can be found at http://www.ruralbusinessresearch.co.uk/
I’m going to tell you a secret. It’s a secret that’s been simmering away, weaving in and out of our lives since Christmas. No big deal but with the potential to be life-changing. Robert has been granted his voluntary redundancy.
Let me fill you in. Robert has worked for government’s arm of nature conservation since his late twenties. The organisation, then known as the Nature Conservancy Council, reinventing itself as the new-improved English Nature during the nineties and recently morphed into its present guise as Natural England. The organisation has changed hugely over the years and its latest remodelling and reshaping has resulted in a slimmed down version of the original – which, of course, is in line with government thinking. Robert needed a change and when the organisation decided to float its scheme of voluntary redundancy, due to cut backs and a shortage of funds, he applied. Why? For no other reason than he wondered what would happen!
He was told he wouldn’t get it. He voiced his objections. Papers were reshuffled. He was informed he has been moved to ‘group one’ (the most likely candidates) only to be told several weeks later that once again he didn’t stand a chance. You get the picture? Our life was on hold. Did we move forward with plans or did we put all ideas on the back burner? Negotiations continued, another deadline came and went – still we were none the wiser. We tired of the ‘yes-it-is’ ‘no-it-isn’t’ game. Got on with what we do best, but still, in the background, was this unsettling possibility. Then, last week, out of the blue, and when we really did think nothing would happen, he received an email that congratulated him of having had his redundancy…approved!
In a chaotic mix of exhilaration and downright fear our lives have been thrown into space and fallen earthwards in a plethora of ideas. Already I’ve had the builders round, been in contact with Business Link and talked to friends that have been party to the last six months uncertainties, embryonic thoughts and ideas.
Watch this space. Could it be a move to the West Highlands of Scotland to run eco-holidays? A vineyard in Provence? Or will it be converting the farm to total self sufficiency in all forms of energy, water and food, alongside an eco residential build and a green oak teaching facility? Whatever, these will be challenging, life-changing decisions.
bog pimpernel
On Sunday it was Open Farm Sunday, and we went to visit a farm. It was in a beautiful hilly, undulating part of Devon, a part I’m not too familiar with and so very different from around here. Red, dry, stony land that drains far too efficiently and as a result suffers from drought. The farmers there think of it as marginal land, though to me it looked like an answer to a prayer.
It was a large arable and grass farm sporting a huge renovated farmhouse surrounded by landscaped Japanese gardens, red brick walls, laid brick drives and wrought iron gates. It receives substantial payments from set-aside and various agri-environment agreements. It’s heralded as an environmental flagship farm.
My impressions? One of wealth and prosperity. The farm has served its owner well in acquiring all manner of subsidies which I felt were not an actual necessity in the survival of the farm or the farmer. What did I feel it was delivering in terms of environmental benefits? And value for money to the tax payer? Not a lot. True it was in a beautiful part of the country and the views were stunning, true it had a fine example of a catchwork meadow and true it had some interesting swards. But nothing spectacular or mind blowing. I felt the farm lacked purpose or soul and was being managed to prescriptions laid out on paper without any real raison d’être. No stock, no vibrancy, just neat, polite management filling coffers from the public purse.
I know I’m being harsh; there were plenty of people, especially families with young children, who were really enjoying their visit. It was a good day out. The farmer had worked hard to make it a success, and it was.
Nevertheless when I think of the thousands of farms on the poorer marginal soils of England that can deliver as much, or more, in terms of the environment, landscape and biodiversity by using only a fraction of the money that’s being handed out to some large prosperous farms, I wonder at the injustice of it. To these marginal farms government/public support can make the difference between sinking and swimming.
I know very well that subsidies are not there to bolster up bad business and I’m not suggesting for a moment that they should. But it seems fundamentally unfair that farms which have taken care of their environment over the years and kept flower-rich meadows and such like in tact should be low down on the list for receiving public support, while those, often more productive and more profitable farms, which have in the past ploughed up their meadows and removed their hedges should now be being paid, as a priority, for restoring such things.
It was hot and windy and oh-so-bright. Friday, last week. The sea spangled and sparkled in ten million dazzling triangles momentarily blinding the eye with strings of black blots gliding across a backdrop of shimmering rainbows.
We strolled slowly through the crowds, contented cats full of tapenade (a paste of olives, tuna, anchovy and capers), anchoïade (crushed anchovies in oil, served with raw vegetables), grand aioli (poached salt cod, with vegetables and aioli sauce), farci (aubergine, courgette, tomato, onion stuffed with a delicately perfumed forcemeat on a rich tomato sauce) and tourte (a pie of potatoes, onion and garlic bound together with cream and eggs, wrapped in cured ham and crumbly pastry, served with crème fraiche and salad) washed down with glasses of ice cold rosé, the palest of pale pink. We watched in relaxed companionship the remains of the morning’s fish market being packed away and listened to the harsh nasal twang of swarthy Marseillais fisher-folk as they hollered and shouted to one another across the port above the impatient revving traffic and gush of their flushing hoses. Little Camille, entranced by twinkling rainbow prisms caught in the cascade of cleaning water, ran, arms outstretched, trying to catch the elusive crystal drops. And a seagull shat on Benjamin.
In all the clamour I almost didn’t hear it. Insistent, irritated it brring-brringed, bring-brringed, brrringed against my hip. My phone! I pressed it firmly against one ear but even with my hand clamped tightly over the other could barely make out the faint voice at the other end.
“Mum…..bluetongue…we’m….ade….Devon now’s….red could…tion zone!”
“What? What? Olly, can’t hear…shout. Very noisy. What’s that? What? Ohmygod did you say we’re now a protection zone. Oh shit, oh no! Where is it? When did it happen? Have you phoned the vet? What did they say? Oh heavens. You’ll have to vaccinate. Is there any vaccine? What did you say the vets say? What? When? Hang on. Hang on, I’ll just find a hiding place. You want me to come home? Hang on.”
Eventually I got the gist of Olly’s call. We didn’t have bluetongue disease in Devon. The vaccination programme had been going so well they had now advanced the protection zone to Devon. Vaccine should be made available from the 26 May. Hoorah! This was good news, not the catastrophe I originally thought. I asked Olly to call the vets, confirm our stock numbers and get an idea of when the vaccine would be released. A couple of frustrating shouted calls later and we had a clearer idea of timing. The vaccine most probably wouldn’t be available until I was back.
We arrived back last night. I phoned the vets first thing this morning. My vaccine would be ready for collection after four this afternoon. I’ve got it. It’s in my fridge…and tomorrow, first thing, we’ll start bringing the stock back to begin our vaccination programme. Soon, but not just yet, I’ll breath a little more freely!
A quick update on the bluetongue information. Unfortunately there has been a technical hitch with converting the two Dutch power point presentations into pdfs. Andrew, who is very kindly doing this for me, is away on holiday this week, but as soon as he is back I’m sure that the problem will be resolved and we’ll be able to either upload the pdfs or give a link to them.
The good news is that I’m in contact with Karin from Pirbright who is keen to help and is willing put some information together for the blog. Though due to the warmer weather over the past week she has been extremely busy and won’t be able to do much before the weekend.
But, with a bit of luck, by next week I should have pulled together some useful sources of information that you will hopefully find helpful.
“So you think it’s going to be bad? Well, you’re wrong…
We shuffle in our seats, steal surreptitious glances at one another, clear our throats and half smile. A rustle of whispers stirs through the listeners.
…it’s going to be devastating! Don’t underestimate for a second what effect this disease will have on your stock, you and your business.”
Jaws drop. We sit stock still. He has everyone’s undivided attention: Marco Zerhoef, the vet from Holland who has hands-on experience of dealing with Bluetongue, the disease that’s decimated the livestock industry in much of Northern Europe.
He continues “In Holland we were unprepared. We’d heard of it yes, but we thought the handful of cases that bubbled up in 2006 and then died down was the end of it. A one off, nothing to get excited about. How wrong we were! In 2007 the first cases in Holland occurred in July, but we misdiagnosed them as sunburn – it had been an unusually hot spring – and photosensitisation. We correctly identified the disease too late and by August nearly every farm in our practice had contracted Bluetongue. The disease continued to snowball with unprecedented effects.”
He went on to explain what we could expect. Showed us images of cows and sheep; oedematous, encrusted with lesions, lame and unable to drink or walk; and calves, malformed, mummified, suffering severe encephalitis and other unusual deformities. Youngsters that failed to thrive. Depressing graphs, facts and figures.
The only thing they could do was nurse the sick and dying, helping to relieve the excruciating symptoms. It’s an awful disease, killing 40% of sheep and causing long-term damage to those that survive and to cattle.
“You” he carried on “have a chance. Have a chance to be a little more prepared. And a chance, maybe, to get in front of it with the vaccine.”
A Dutch dairy farmer gave his first hand experiences of coping with Bluetongue in his well kept milking cows, calves and heifers and the ongoing effects the disease is continuing to have on his stock and business. Needless to say, milk production has been severely reduced; his followers lack growth and are giving just a small percentage of their expected yield, his cows are difficult to get in calf, calves die in utero, and so on.
Karin Darple, a vet from Pirbright and a Bluetongue expert who has been working on the disease and vaccine, gave her presentation next – and it was superb. What she doesn’t know about Bluetongue isn’t worth knowing. She had very practical advice on how to cope with the disease, whether and when insecticides would be appropriate, housing versus the outdoors and much, much, more.
Karin would like to see 100% take up of the vaccine as soon as it hits the shelves, but EU legislation prevents this! Vaccine can only be given in Protection Zones where the disease has already struck, not in the surrounding Surveillance Zones. Karin couldn’t stress enough that speed is of the essence: to stand a chance of avoiding the devastating effects of the disease we must vaccinate ahead of it – we must prevent the virus from getting established.
There was far too much useful information to put in this post. I have asked my vet for pdf copies of all three presentations. Those that I’m able to, I’ll link to from my blog. If they are too large I’d be willing to email you a copy if you are interested. Leave me some contact detail in the comment section and I’ll get back to you. Please also look at the Warmwell site and the link Jane Barribal left for more information.
bluetongue 4
The infuriating niggle-niggle that keeps irritating and scratching persistently away in my mind’s eye is ‘you!-you-ostrich-head-in-the-sand’ and ‘maybe-if-I-look-from-behind-my-hands-it-won’t-happen’ as well as the ‘if-I-squint-I-might-not-really-see-what-I’m-looking-at’. I don’t know if you experience them…those irksome posters that march across your field of vision making sure you are perpetually aware of a subject you really don’t want to think about. This particular no-no is, of course, Bluetongue. And no, it won’t go away however much I will it.
As I breathe deeply, sigh and marvel at the fabulous weather of the last few days, another part of me is scanning for midges and hoping that the cold, frosty mornings and chilly Easterly wind might give us a few more weeks grace. Might, miracles of miracles, allow us to evade the next month of certain infestation and infection. At least, get us a little bit nearer the promised vaccination.
I’m itching – operative word here – to get the cows out. But if cold wet rain, sleet and snow – in fact a ‘fimble-winter’ - is the recipe for that miracle, well, bring it on!
The day before yesterday the midges were biting…and hard. The cows were careering about, bellowing and kicking; a heavily fleeced sheep cast herself itching; and the rams decided that the persistent irritation obviously originated from one of the others which resulted in a bloody battle. I also frenziedly scratched and pulled at my hair. It hasn’t been too bad since then.
This evening I’m attending a talk arranged by my vets on Bluetongue. The speakers will be a Dutch vet who has first hand experience, Intervet, the vaccine manufactures and possibly a vet from Animal Health. I wait to see what, if anything, I can do.
What would you do for farming if you were government?
This was one of the questions I was asked when being interviewed the other day. A ribbon of quicksilver thoughts free-fell through my brain – global economies, EU legislation, free-trade, climate change, energy, air-miles? Where would I make a change, what would have an effect? I was about to open my mouth with something along the lines that the topic was far too involved and deserved discussion in its own right, when I heard myself say – Education. Simplest, cheapest and most effective. Educate all our children from an early age about food, farming, countryside and the environment, locally, nationally and internationally. Integrated fully into the curricula of subjects already taught, future generations would come to understand the value of quality food (so they are prepared to pay the extra to buy it and farmers can earn a decent crust), and about the way food and the environment and our cultural heritage are inseparable. So, the current Year of Food and Farming is on entirely the right lines, but it needs to be continued, become mainstream. Ultimately, farming depends upon all of us as consumers, and this is where government should show real leadership, not through passing yet more laws but through helping us to make informed choices.
bluetongue 2
My fears have been confirmed. We are in the bluetongue surveillance zone. I arrived home this evening checked the answer phone and there was the man from DEFRA with his recorded message – in a dead-pan voice he stated ‘some, part, or all of my holding now came within the bluetongue surveillance zone and…’
Below is an excerpt from an email sent to me by a fellow farmer in Norfolk. I won’t add anything. The words tell their own story - poignant and thought provoking.
‘Our stock are our livelihood, such as it is, we run an organic beef suckler herd and 700 laying hens, and work long hours trying to make a living, but that’s life: farmings’ shit at the moment, but what else do we do?’
Last year they were hit by restrictions from both FMD and Avian flu (twice), having just, in the very nick of time, saved their entire suckler herd from drowning during the floods they heard the news about bluetounge. In her own words…
‘Just after that Bluetongue was detected, and we thought Now What!!? how do we deal with this? what are the symptoms? is it contagious? does it cross species? and the media had a field day; yet again; (They virtually camped in the area during the first Avian Flu outbreak- 9 miles from us) and there was no clear information, later on the farmers that had cows with the disease said there were few symptoms to tell they were affected, but since then our vet has been trying to keep abreast of the disease, and how it will affect cows in the future, and it seems as though some of the affects of the disease is to cause infertility in some and may cause calves to be born with abnormalities. I can only liken that to thalidomide in pregnant women. Follow that up again with Liver Fluke and a blasted fox getting my five 12 week old chicks from off the lawn, and traumatising their mother half to death. (she spent hours in the pond to avoid getting caught), and one might wonder why we carry on!’
She ends…
‘Yes, you bet we’re worried, but we can’t allow it to take over our lives. We just take heart that life here, at the moment, goes on in the age old tradition, and we are thankful that at least this year we have some beautiful calves to see bounding and gambolling about, and we will worry when the time comes (and hopefully it won’t). I’ve got enough grey hairs, and F has none, he has pulled all his out over the years!!’
So how will farms and good, caring people like this cope? Beef animal are already making a loss of £139 per animal. Not to mention the heartache caused from tending sick and dying stock. We will loose those very farms and farmers that are trying their best to produce high quality food from healthy, happy, animals whilst caring as best they can for the environment.
midges flying over hanaborough moor 7th february 2008
Bluetongue. Twenty-four different BT strains identified so far each needing a strain-specific vaccine. This disease is expected to become endemic in Britain. There will be no compensation. Vaccination will be the only way of protecting livestock. Our native and indigenous breeds of cattle and sheep will be more susceptible to the disease having never encountered it before.
Bluetongue. The BTV-8 strain is now affecting the Eastern and South-eastern counties of the UK with the surveillance zone having been extended into some parts of Dorset. DEFRA are expecting different strains of the disease to arrive along the South West coast from France this spring and spread northwards.
In the UK midges have not been killed off during the mild winter and are already flying. They travel two kilometres a day in normal weather conditions and much further in strong headwinds. It doesn’t take a mathematician to work out how long it will take to reach Devon.
Bluetongue. It is hoped, according to DEFRA, there will be enough BTV-8 vaccine ready to carry out vaccination in the South East during May. There is no indication of a more comprehensive vaccination programme this year, next year or ever. The costs of developing vaccines for the 24 various strains and for implementing a countrywide vaccination programme will be staggering. Will DEFRA or the government be willing to help with the costs? I’m not so sure.
I’m shit scared and worried. It seems extraordinary to me that some people appear to be acting as if it’s a mild inconvenience. This disease is potentially devastating; especially to an already beleaguered livestock industry. And I don’t know if I have the heart or energy left to cope with a farm of sick and dying animals. This could be the death-knoll for Locks Park Farm.
Twinkling fairies? Or the harbinger of devastation?
Jane has asked for my opinions on set-aside. So here goes, not, I’m afraid, a terribly sexy subject!
Set-aside was originally put in place in the early nineties as a production control measure to take around 10% of arable land out of cropping; it was not an environmental scheme. I can remember the huge outcry from the farming community as some of England’s good arable land lay fallow. Apart from letting the land revert there were specific things you could and could not do to manage the land; these requirements changed over the years. Back at the beginning, for example, you could grow fodder legumes (lucerne, vetches and clovers) and graze at certain times with goats, camilids and horses (hence the exorbitant prices alpacas and lamas commanded back then and the start of the huge surge into horsiculture). These things stick in my mind as I was running a milking herd of goats that benefited from a neighbour’s lucerne hay and some herb-rich grazing. There was some talk of environmental opportunities missed, but the increases is farmland birds and rare arable plants that followed was incidental, not a planned benefit. Read the rest of this entry »
farming has devastated the environment?
‘And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.’ (the Bible Genesis 1:28).
Shouldn’t it be so? Shouldn’t the earth be used to feed the starving in any way she can? A recipe for global disaster! We need the Earth’s diverse and complex ecosystems to support life, give as the oxygen we breathe. Don’t we need it too to inspire us and bring us wonder? Read the rest of this entry »
Gill asked if I could write a post on the economic side of farming. Wow what a subject and one I don’t feel I’m fully qualified to write on. But I can maybe give you slightly more understanding.
Farming is in a state of change and flux. It could be said that’s always so, but never more than at this present moment. Farming will survive for as long as we need food, it’s knowing what form it will eventually take. Pressures come from society’s changing needs and perceptions, new laws, free trade and the influences of climate change and depleting energy sources. It’s certainly a tough and unknown path to be trod but I believe there are opportunities for those that can see them, though I also think the casualties will be great. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s a week since Jilly died and I’m beginning to be able to remember her in a softer, gentler way without so many of the sudden punches to the solar plexus of raw pain and horror. Skye and Ness, though still clingy, seem chirpier too and are beginning to reinvent the pecking order between them. Read the rest of this entry »
What is going on with those civil servants and government bodies?
The other morning I listened to the news in disbelief. Civil servants had ‘lost’ discs, apparently randomly chucked onto a courier van, containing the personal data, yes really, dates of birth, addresses, phone numbers, bank details and heaven knows what else, of twenty five million people! Nice one.
And it’s November not April.
Today…
…I open an unsigned letter from Natural England which informed me that
‘as my organic registration had been terminated I no longer qualify for the Organic Entry Level Scheme (OELS).’ Read the rest of this entry »
What a busy, hectic time…
A gloriously large muddle of people, babies and animals centred in and around the kitchen. Yes, we do have more house than just a kitchen but it’s the kitchen that’s the heart and the room everyone tends to gravitate to. The orchestration of cooking and clearing in this ever moving, circulating throng requires the skill of a rugby winger speed-weaving up the field with the ball (this rugby analogy for all those following the world cup!). Read the rest of this entry »
Gordon Brown seems to be backing farmers.
“Their actions live out our shared understanding that our countryside is more than the space that surrounds – it is the oxygen for the towns and cities.”
“And in order to be the country we should be, Britain must protect and cherish, not just our cities, but our countryside too,” Mr Brown said.
I’m delighted. No, really, I am. But… Read the rest of this entry »
The FMD story grows alarmingly. There appears to be chaos and confusion once more. Misinformation, non-information and contradiction.
With DERFA’s website appallingly devoid of basic facts and figures it seems that even those worried farmers and smallholders in the protection and surveillance zone, desperate for hard news and exact locations, are being kept in the dark. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s odd how strangely divorced I feel from the news of the new FMD outbreak in Surrey and all the horror it entails.
I can’t really understand my own reaction. It surprises me. But I don’t think it’s just me. Even the national news is remarkably devoid of hype and those gruesome, unnecessary, pictures of dead or dying livestock. And when I speak about it with anyone involved in farming, there is a telling hesitation before the appropriate expressions and remarks. Read the rest of this entry »
I was going to tell you about how apparently cows could one day help to meet the rise in demand for alternative energy sources, according to Ohio State University researchers, who used microbe-rich fluid from a cow to generate electricity in a small fuel cell. There’s a rather macabre description of how it’s accomplished and I have a horrific and gruesome vision of lines of cows wired and plugged up complete with shunts and catheters supplying our power needs… Read the rest of this entry »
Yeay, yeay, yeay! We’re clear!
I’m at the top of the roller coaster…wow! Got through it again.
Threw my stick on the ground, punched the air and hugged the vet.
A reprieve of six or twelve months, depending on regulations. Read the rest of this entry »
Our cattle were skin tested for bTB today. The first stage that is.
Now we wait seventy-two hours (Friday) when the vet returns for the second stage.
This waiting is the worst part. I used to torture myself by trying to feel the lumps on the cattle’s neck. Now I try to avoid any eye contact with the area. Read the rest of this entry »
Well, this is it.
Not a week I’m looking forward to.
It’s bTB testing time…again.
I began gathering up the cattle yesterday, so they are on the home farm, and easily accessible to move into the yard on Tuesday.
I hate it. I worry. Read the rest of this entry »
cut hay waiting for the sun so it can be baled
If I thought it was busy when I went away I had another think coming… Read the rest of this entry »
Last night it rained – heavily.
This morning it rained – heavily.
Suddenly the sun came out; there was a breeze, blue, blue sky and cotton-wool clouds. It looked as if it had never rained at all… Read the rest of this entry »
Yesterday was a bad day. I was a strumming bag of nerves.
My initial reaction to hearing that FMD was back in the country was like a vicious kick to the solar plexus bringing all the fears, horrors, controls and constraints of the 2001 outbreak flooding back. This, coupled with the extraordinarily difficult summer, was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Read the rest of this entry »
We were out last night.
I’ve just turned the computer on (8am) and here was an email from a customer and friend
‘Dear Paula
The news last night can only have had one reaction throughout the country, “Oh no, not again!”
Our thoughts are with you and your lovely ‘boys and girls’, and we fervently wish your area and your farm are spared in the weeks to come.
We wish you the very best of luck.
With best wishes
David & Lizzie’ Read the rest of this entry »
I wrote the last post to illustrate the sense of hopelessness the majority of farmers feel faced with the dilemma of cattle TB.
I sense, also, there’s a common feeling that farmers take delight in killing badgers. This is not so, it is wildly off the mark. The truth is that farmers feel a growing sense of helplessness and were hoping for some light at the end of the tunnel when the Independent Scientific Group’s (ISG) report was published. Now all they have on offer is yet further increases in cattle movement restrictions and more severe culling regimes for cattle…hardly a solution. The fraught headlines following the publication of the ISG Report last week reflected farmers’ huge sense of frustration. We are people who like to get on and take action; practical folk used to being able to solve problems ourselves through direct action. Read the rest of this entry »
TB – Bovine Tuberculosis…
TB – Tests…
TB – Strikes a panic cord…
Every year - I collect up my cattle from the smallest calf to the largest bull, have them tested and wait three long days for the results.
Every year - I feel a growing sense of impending doom…
Every year – I wait… Read the rest of this entry »
Yesterday felt special.
Blue sky streaked with soft mare’s tails left by watery brush strokes. Clean, bright air full of warm honey-bread-fragranced grasses and delicate green-tea scented blossoms – a day when you breathe in, and in, and in. The colours clear and crystal-sparkly. Bird song filled the air, the soft lowing from a cow calling to her baby and the distant humming drone and clank of a tractor working. It made me smile.
I walk, the dogs scuttering and bounding in front of me, surprising the odd hiding pheasant which explodes into the air with loud chuck, chuck, chuck. Spears of southern marsh and spotted heath orchids peeping through young green stems of purple moor grass. Meadow thistle, bugle, tormentil, hay rattle and ragged robin flowering amongst the earlier lousewort and vetches. Huge dragonflies blunder past me with the whirr of old propeller aircraft as butterflies flit and dance silently overhead.