Fallen stock collections to resume within days?

DEFRA has confirmed that it does not consider burying or burning fallen stock an option in England despite the livestock movement ban.

A statement prepared for Farmers Weekly in response to reader requests for more information, has said that burial of carcasses can cause environmental contamination and would present a risk to public and animal health.

“Any delay in disposing of carcasses is undesirable, especially in hot weather, but delay is better than burial or open burning especially for adult cattle when the BSE testing free collection service is expected to resume in the next few days (although this depends on a risk assessment and cannot be assumed).

“Plans are also in hand to enable the National Fallen Stock Company collectors to resume collections for all other fallen stock in the next few days.”

The news is likely to be met with disapproval by farmers, who will be worried about the biosecurity implications of collectors picking up dead stock from farms.

More on this as we get it…

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