READERS LETTERS
17 September 1999
READERS LETTERS
Drugs cost a lot more than stock
The low price of farm animals has exposed the high cost of farm medicines. Too often it costs more to treat an ailing animal than the animal is worth, particularly if it is a weakly calf or an elderly cow. Lower primestock prices have made some routine medicinal regimes uneconomic.
Welfare conscious farmers insist on doing what they can for their stock, but it is time for the multi-national pharmaceutical companies to pitch in and help.
I am writing as a member of the National Beef Associations south east council to ask if manufacturers will respond to my urgent request to lower their prices.
It is well known that the constituents of the best known branded medicines are common to all countries in which they are used. Less well known is that the retail price is pitched against what the average farmer in different countries is likely to be able to afford. That means the margins they enjoy in the more wealthy EU countries are higher than those raised elsewhere. All of which indicates that their pricing policies on animal medicines used in the UK must be reviewed.
Livestock farmers are still paying prices that were decided when the manufacturers measured farm paying power against the higher market value of UK animals before the BSE crisis. Not surprisingly some farmers are trying to pick up cheaper medicine from Ireland and elsewhere. Manufacturers and distributors argue that UK inspection and licensing charges are higher than in other countries and also throw in red herrings about exchange rate distortions and black market discounts. But they forget that UK prices are still pitched at levels that assume our cattle (and other livestock) are making as much money from the market as they used to. They have failed to acknowledge publicly that if they do not bring their prices down in line with the UKs decline in stock values they are, by their own rules, grossly overcharging.
Ian Calderbank
Blackwater Farm, New Hall Lane, Mundon, Maldon, Essex.
No subsidies for the over-65s
After much thought, I have come to the conclusion that the only way to revive British agriculture and prepare it for the future is to make anyone over 65 ineligible for subsidy payment and quota ownership.
That would transfer money to the part of agriculture which needs it – younger farmers. It would give older farmers the incentive to retire or to help someone into the industry.
Also, it would provide those first vital steps on to the farming ladder and introduce innovation and youth into an ageing and stagnant industry.
Mark Cheyney
10 North End Farm, Cheriton, Alresford, Hants.
Let them retire – how crass…
On the BBCs Nine OClock News recently someone from MAFF suggested that the plight of Welsh sheep farmers in particular, and beef farmers in general, would be solved if they took early retirement.
In 18th century France, Marie Antoinette is reputed to have said that if the peasants couldnt eat bread they should try cake. MAFF might be wise to see the parallel in the crassness of these two statements.
Jeremy Whitaker,
Land of Nod, Headley, Bordon, Hants.
Dealing with sampling fear
Andrew Morgans letter (Aug 27) raises several issues concerning sampling, a topic that has concerned farmers and traders of cereals for some time. In principle, his concerns are that a sample from a vacuum device at the point of delivery is not representative of the load when despatched.
It was just these concerns that initiated HGCA-funded R&D carried out in 1993 by Robin Wilkin (Project Report No 79). The research compared three methods of sampling lorry loads of grain which were gravity spears, competed spears and vacuum samplers loaded by two different methods. He found that vacuum sampling, compared with a spear, did result in a slight increase in measured fines but it was small compared to the total value of fines in the sample. However, the research showed that differences due to number, distribution and size of samples taken were far greater.
Therefore, it is of utmost importance that sufficient numbers of samples are taken and that they come from all parts of a bulk; the method of sampling is secondary.
The HGCA Topic Sheet No 26 (August 1999) provides guidance based on the research conducted by Mr Wilkin. Please contact HGCA (0207-5203945 phone; 0207-5203992 fax) for a free copy of the topic sheet, if you are not already on our mailing list.
Dr Paul Biscoe
Chief executive, HGCA, Caledonia House, 223 Pentonville Road, London N1.
Police being overstretched?
With reference to the unfortunate events at Emneth (where a man was shot on a farm), it is perhaps worth reflecting that if East Anglian anti-GMO campaigners had kept their protests within the law, Norfolk Police may have had more resources available to protect Mr Martins property.
W T Green
White House Farm, Bozeat, Wellingborough, Northants.
Whos really to blame for BSE?
I write regarding your article "Brown blames BSE for GM worries" (News, Sept 3). Wrong again, Mr Brown. I blame ministers for agreeing to CAP when many MPs had many reservations about it before this country joined the European Economic Community, as it was then. The World Trade Organisation was also wrong not to insist on segregating crops at the beginning. For that, we can blame the greed of the seed producers. Our ruler the EU brought out the novel food regulation which we have to obey.
More must be done by ministers to promote British foods. But not any which contains genetically modified organisms.
Anne Palmer
115 Cannock Road, Westcroft, Wolverhampton.
Browns lot to blame not us
Farm minister Nick Brown has blamed farmers for keeping too many sheep and has asked them for their comments. That seems rich when one considers that he belongs to a government which supports EU policy which has changed support for sheep from one which was paid on the quality of lambs (graded) to one which is paid on a number of ewes kept, irrespective of quality.
He is also part of a political system which discouraged live exports for dogmatic reasons. It was not because there was any problem with animals being carried half an hour in a lorry on a ferry but to placate a vociferous, misinformed lobby.
We now have the knowledge to breed by genetic selection scrapie-resistant sheep. We should produce and export this type of sheepmeat even though this help may be banned by European/WTO agreements, as is any cull ewe scheme.
Peter Coombs
Three Tuns Farm, Emborough, Nr Bath, Somerset.
Pig researcher answers critic
Having returned from my ivory tower (a two-month stint of on-farm research) I must reply to Fraser Hart (Letters, August 13). Despite an unnecessary personal attack, he raised some important points.
I agree that farmers produce excellent solutions. However, often these are situation-specific. We want alternative farrowing systems that are generally applicable and which embrace the needs of sows, piglets and stockpeople. For this, we need to build applied research on a strong strategic base. We do not yet have that strategic base.
Everyone should be concerned that research money is spent on high-quality science. I dont see why concerns should be taken as "snide allusions to statistical ability". Research that has flawed experimental design gives invalid results and is money poorly spent. "Patronising arrogance" is not something that I have ever been accused of before and I place great value on pragmatic communication between farmers and scientists.
Co-operative research is a valid point. The ultra-competitive nature of research funding in the UK often prevents co-operation between scientists at different institutes where income is an important factor by which we are assessed. Anyones input now into the current project will not have been covered within the original grant obtained. Our employers will not let us work for free. This "island mentality" of scientists results from a defect in our funding system rather than a disinclination to co-operate.
There is currently no commercially-proven alternative to the farrowing crate. However, in terms of practical advice for those needing farrowing houses now, I would say build in flexibility. Allow more space per farrowing place, and consider going for one of the opening crates that have worked well in Scandinavia for many years and more recently in the UK. That they do so is a testament to the dedication and quality of stockmanship which is the hardest thing to replicate when looking for a general solution.
Dr Jeremy Marchant
Senior research fellow, De Montfort University, School of Agriculture, Caythorpe, Grantham, Lincs.
Spuds needed – dont sell cheap
A potato merchant told me recently that in 1998 a major processor imported thousands of tonnes of frozen chips from the US because of the price of UK potatoes and a large US surplus. This year looks different because the US is desperate for spuds after drought and our prices are much lower. Dont sell your potatoes cheaply. They are needed.
Richard Amies
Breck Farm, Weybourne, Holt, Norfolk.
Where has all the wool gone?
So much wool has been shorn for such little money that the shops should be full of knitting wool and woollen jumpers and socks, but they are not. I wrote to the managing director of a mail order knitting yarn and craft company some time ago to ask why there wasnt more wool in the catalogue? I await a reply. Several times over recent years, I have asked shops why it is almost impossible to buy wool socks in the winter? I have not had a satisfactory answer.
So where does all that wool go? I want to buy wool and woollen products and all I can get is cotton or synthetic fibre. Cotton does not knit well and synthetics are not comfortable or environmentally-friendly. Surely somebody is responsible for promoting the benefits of wool?
What is the Wool Marketing Board for if it isnt for promoting and selling wool? If the wool was in the shops, our sheep farmers would not find themselves in such a severe crisis.
L C Herbert
64 Ullswater Road, Sompting, Lancing, West Sussex.
Pasty maker fights back
Having been brought up in Cornwall, and having witnessed the decline and fall of the Cornish pasty over the past 30 years under the combined influence of industrialised pasty makers and the ubiquitous pub food microwave oven, I read your Farmlife article (Sept 3) on the Lizard pasty maker Ann Muller with delight. I returned from Cornwall last week having eaten eight pasties, of which only one measured up to what I understand a pasty to be all about.
Ann Mullers recipe is broadly similar to that used by my grandmother half a century ago. It is a measure of the popularity of her pasties that, when I visited her shop in August after walking from Cadgwith to the Lizard, she was sold out at 3pm.
Incidentally, her phone number is 01326-290889 and she sells by post only from Nov 1 to Apr 30.
Roger Dean
5 Drummer Lodge, Kinloch Street, London.
Modulation – what meaning?
Alastair Rutherford uses the term "modulation" 10 times in his short article without once explaining its meaning. In my dictionary, there are six or eight distinct descriptions of modules including the positive square root of the sum of the squares of the parts of a number.
No wonder there has been a lot of heated and confused debate recently when all agriculture is seeking is a clear path away from over-production.
George Steele
Limes Farm, Toseland, Nr Huntingdon, Cambs.
Pure blind rage of OP sufferers
Once again, Mr Hollis sticks his neck out (Letters, Aug 27). Is he worried about farmers worrying about using OPs? The vulnerability experienced by OP victims would be better described as pure blind rage and the probable cause of victims harming themselves and others.
The anxiety most OP victims experience leads us to seek psychiatric help before we reach for the shotgun. I have a list of 200 people whose lives will never be the same again, my own included. We now have more than 1000 dead men, since 1984, behind us thanks to this subject and a lot more to come.
When I offered my submission to the BSE inquiry for sale through the farming Press, I was astonished at the support I received for my research.
One surprise request came from the National Office of Animal Health. I supplied the information plus extras and asked for their comments. Eight months later and I am still waiting for a reply.
Brenda Sutcliffe
Sheep Bank Farm, Littleborough, Lancs.
OPs should not be used
I have read with interest your recent letters from Paul Tyler MP (Aug 16) and Geoffrey Hollis (Jul 30) concerning the safety of organo-phosphates. Neither disputes the dangerous nature of these chemicals in concentrated form, but I do not agree that they should be permitted for use as agricultural pesticides if they are as dangerous as Mr Tyler suggests.
It is wrong to blame the sheep farmer for incorrect use when there are fundamental problems with the nature of the chemical itself.
I have first-hand experience of what problems can be caused by OPs. Many of my summers have been destroyed by not feeling well following dipping sheep or spraying cereals. I wonder just how much research has been published to determine the effects and consequences on farmers health of using these dreadful chemicals?
The National Assembly in Wales has recently published a report into the sales of beef on the bone in which it was stressed that the ban must remain if there was even the slightest risk to the health of consumers.
It is an unfortunate fact that the government does not rate of the health of farmers as highly as that of other consumers. Although we all agree that OPs in concentrated form are dangerous to human health, how do cattle react when these chemicals were used in concentrated form to treat warble flies 10 years ago?
Arnold Pennant
Nant Gwilym, Tremeirchion, St Asaph, Denbighshire.Arnpenn@aol.com
A G Street had the wrong idea
I was interested to read C Welfords letter (FW Aug 20) commenting on the late A G Streets books and writings. Although not agreeing with all A G Street wrote and said, I did enjoy in particular Farmers Glory.
Working in farming all my life, and approaching Mr Streets age group, I had occasion to cross swords with him on certain issues. He once had the audacity to tell me, through the columns of FARMERS WEEKLY, that he could always survive, and make a living, without the small farmer.
But what if I, and thousands of other intensive livestock producers on a small acreage, ploughed up and sold thousands of tonnes of grain to the grain merchants? That is instead of buying thousands of tonnes from the likes of Mr Street through compounders to feed these intensive animals. How then would he have survived?
How easy it is for the high and mighty to get the idea they are the only pebble on the beach and to forget we are all links in one chain.
J Hopkins
62 Churchfields, Thurgoland, Nr Sheffield.
Glickman boob on all counts
I nominate Dan Glickman, US secretary of agriculture, for the millennium prize as Humble-Pie Eating Champion of America.
Mr Glickman has been wrong on Freedom to Farm, wrong on world trade, wrong on GMOs, wrong about US regulatory procedures, wrong on farm subsidies and wrong on export forecasts. He was also wrong in thinking he could bully non-Americans into accepting his transparently wrong-headed schemes. Mr Glickman has been the biggest U-turn merchant in recent American history.
Furthermore, now that Freedom to Farm has manifestly failed he has no credible fallback position other than massive annual government bail outs, $1 embarrassing bn after another, exposing a vacuum where government policy should have been. Mr Glickman, and others, should take the trouble to study the history of agriculture and agricultural marketing.
It will be painful for his multinational sponsors in the commodities trade and those in Europe and elsewhere, who bang their same old insane drum. Nation states, with their own particular requirements, need managed agricultural markets. Those include the UKs MMB and the Canadian Wheat Board which remove the volatility of commodity prices and to underpin guaranteed minimum prices for farm products. That alone will enable farmers and particularly mixed family farmers, who care for their land properly, to remain farming.
In the Canadian case there can be no excuses. With the wreckage of Freedom to Farm only a few miles over the border and with the example of the stupidity of British governments in wilfully destroying Britains managed milk market under the MMB, which was rightly the envy of the world, they should bear in mind before they dismantle the board a wise adage. You are never too old to learn but you can be too stupid.
As Canadian farmers are driven out of business, wait for more howls of anguish. All of it is self-inflicted by national governments selling their electorates short to pander to multinational monopoly trading scams.
The insanities of a commercial free-for-all are now visibly laid out for all to see. Throw out this nonsense about world free trade and the junk food and cheap food scandals it encourages. Lets see a British policy of managed agricultural markets set up to serve this countrys own domestic interests. Is there one politician anywhere fit for the job or do we have to go and dig one up?
Stuart Pattison
Church Lane, Calstock, Cornwall.
Whistle while you crimp…
Your mid-August issues refered to doom and gloom about wet harvests. Well not for everyone. All our crimpers are feeling pretty smug. The combines were put in down here in the first week of July and the same story can be repeated from west Wales to the Isle of Man.
If you want a short list of crimping contractors/farmers please let me know. "An early harvest is a cheap harvest" was never truer if you crimp.
Dave Patten
11 Overlands, North Curry, Taunton.
Who recalls the WARAG years?
I wonder if any of your readers can recall the infamous War Agricultural Committee, known as the WARAG that operated throughout Britain? It had the authority to dispossess farmers for reasons as simple as not growing crops that the government thought were suitable.
I am trying to put together a broad picture of the workings of the WARAG and would like to hear from any farmer who was, or knows of any farmer dispossessed during the war years. I would particularly like to hear from anyone who sought compensation from the government, whether, or not they were successful.
Jim Adams
9 Hamilton Road, Felixstowe, Suffolk.
Too young to hang up boots?
I felt I must write to express my opinion on wooing the UKs young talent back into the farming again after reading your Farm Staff Special (Features, May 14).
I am at a crossroads in my career; do I carry on doing the job I love or do I hang up my boots? At 27, I have 10 years practical farming experience behind me. Before leaving school in 1987, I knew that I wanted to build a career in agriculture. Two years as a YTS trainee along with day release at college lead to place on a BTEC national diploma course.
Having succeeded on the YTS, two more years in a classroom and a middle year spent on an excellent arable/pig farm, I achieved my first goal, a National Diploma in Agriculture with credit.
Seven years on I progressed from tractor driver to manager for an agricultural contractor. The poor economic climate was the reason I was given for my redundancy in January. I have applied for many vacancies without success.
Agriculture is in one of its worst recessions in my living memory. The trends are towards high capacity machinery and fewer labour requirements for arable farmers. Pig producers cannot justify remaining in business and the dairy and beef industries trying their hardest to overcome the legacy of BSE. The short-term prospects for employment look gloomy.
Name and address supplied.
Working for rural families
It was good to read of Rev Dr Williams Taylors concerns for the farming community (News, Aug 20). As Dr Taylor is the vicar of a London parish, its particularly encouraging to know that he will be sharing his understanding of the current agricultural crisis with his urban parishioners.
Your report stated that he called on the wider church to "take a more active, more visible role in the search for solutions to the current crisis in farming and the rural communities". As a consequence it may seem that the church has been doing little to respond to these problems.
For nearly 30 years, the Arthur Rank Centre has been a focus for the wide-ranging work of the churches in the countryside. It has trained, supported and co-ordinated the work of agricultural chaplains who are providing invaluable pastoral care for countless farming families. In the name of the church it has been involved in various parts of the country in establishing support initiatives for farmers. It has been a founding partner of both Farm Crisis Network and the Rural Stress Information Network and remains an active member of both organisations. The RSIN offices are based in our building at the National Agricultural Centre and its director is the agricultural chaplain for the diocese of Hereford.
The ARC has not only been an active member of Rural Voice for many years, but also currently provides the secretariat. A briefing pack for harvest festivals is being despatched to church leaders and rural clergy outlining the situation in UK agriculture and the covering letter offers guidelines for practical as well as spiritual and pastoral support.
We are grateful for the concerns expressed by Dr Taylor and hope his words will inspire others to discover the needs that exist in our rural and farming communities and the opportunities for responding to them through the work of the church and the Arthur Rank Centre.
Gordon Gatward
Director, Arthur Rank Centre, NAC, Stoneleigh Park, Warks.
No obligation to convert DSQ
The article Dont Wait, Convert Now (Business, Aug 27) pointed out that about half the 2000 direct sales quota (DSQ) holders convert temporarily to wholesale each year because they make no direct sales deliveries. The Intervention Board regularly encourages those producers to convert permanently to wholesale to reduce its administration. But, under current regulations, those producers are under no obligation to convert their DSQ.
It should be noted that a permanent conversion to wholesale restricts the producer from trading out wholesale quota for the remainder of that quota year, under current legislation. If the producer is then under-produced in that year, he is unable to transfer out any of this surplus quota towards the year-end. There would be no fine-tuning close to Mar 31 if the producer is under quota, other than increasing production.
All producers should aim to utilise all of their quota, wholesale and/or DSQ, especially in the current climate
Nigel Astbury
Townsend Chartered Surveyors, Exeter Livestock Centre, Matford Park Road, Exeter.