Haulier fuels foot-and-mouth fears

23 April 2001



Haulier fuels foot-and-mouth fears

by Robert Davies

FARMING organisations are reporting floods of telephone calls after foot-and-mouth was found on a farm run by a haulier who has visited other holdings.

Five hundred cattle have been culled at Pentwyn Farm, Skewen, near Swansea, almost 40 miles from the nearest outbreak at Caerphilly in south Wales.

The farm is owned by a hay and straw haulier. All vehicle and people movements from the farm over the last week are being traced.

Vets believe the virus reached Pentwyn Farm on the clothes of a driver who delivered straw to a farm at Brecon that subsequently had a confirmed case.

Farmers are worried that the disease within striking distance of hundreds of large dairy herds in Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire at turnout time.

Meanwhile, a Powys farmer has been found hanged in a barn after his cattle were slaughtered had to be slaughtered because of disease controls.

A police spokesman said there had been reports that Glyn Lewis had been very upset by the slaughter of his animals on his farm at Llanfyllin.

Seven small farmers have claimed victory in their bid to resist the enforced slaughter of their sheep because of foot-and-mouth on the island of Anglesey.

The Welsh National Assembly abandoned legal action in the High Court at 9.00am on Monday (23 April) which had aimed to force the culling of 250 sheep.

Fiona Cowie, spokeswoman for the seven farms was battling to save five ewes and lambs on their organically farmed smallholding.

She insisted that there was no proven science to justify the decision to cull of over 40,000 sheep in south-east Anglesey.

“The seven of us are not prepared to abandon our principles, not even for the inflated stock valuations being offered to keep farmers quiet.”

Alan Morris of the Farmers Union of Wales said the union was attempting to assess the significance of the sudden end to legal action.

The FUW believes the cull is necessary and there should be no exceptions.