MAFF frees up stock movements

2 March 2001



MAFF frees up stock movements

By Alistair Driver

THE government has unveiled details of its scheme to ease livestock movement restrictions imposed because of foot-and-mouth disease.

Farmers can apply for licenses over this weekend (3-4 March) allowing animals in areas free from the disease to be moved to abattoirs next week.

Agriculture minister Nick Brown said livestock could be sent to abattoirs under strictly licensed conditions as early as Monday (5 March).

Licences for farmers, who must be outside of foot-and-mouth restriction areas, will be issued by the Meat and Livestock Commission (MLC).

Producers must guarantee their animals are completely free from the disease. But there will be no on-farm veterinary inspections to verify that this is the case.

Pigs, which are the most infectious carriers of foot-and-mouth disease, will go straight to abattoirs without any contact with livestock from other farms.

However, some sheep and cattle will first be taken to collection points, such as livestock markets, before they are sent to slaughterhouses.

Markets which have been linked with the spread of the disease will have to undergo a strict disinfectant procedure before they can take part in the scheme.

Those markets include Hexham market, Northumberland; Longtown market, Carlisle, Cumbria; Darlington market, Durham; and Northampton market.

Thirty-six outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease, including another case in Scotland, had been confirmed by 1345hrs on Friday (2 March).

Three more cases were confirmed in Worcestershire, Wiltshire and Cumbria. For the first time, a suspected case is being probed on an organic farm.