READERS LETTERS
READERS LETTERS
All strength to inquiry campaign
I strongly support your demand for a public inquiry into the foot-and-mouth outbreak. As a veterinary surgeon who has had experience of the disease, both at home and abroad, many of the decisions taken by the authorities in the current outbreak appeared completely at variance with the advice of real experts.
To counter that the inquiry should be entirely public and open. Closed inquiries suggest the government has things to hide and that is no way for a democracy to behave. Margaret Becketts comment that she did not intend to have an "all-singing and all-dancing Inquiry" is another example of the flippant way our greatest industry is now treated by the government. It also shows a lack of sympathy and understanding of the seriousness of the situation. All strength to your invaluable campaign on behalf of the farming community.
D W B Sainsbury
The Chantries, 1 Leys Road, Cambridge.
Dumbfounded by Haskins
I was astounded by Lord Haskins recent comments to the media. Since I started sheep farming in 1980 successive governments and EU policy makers have encouraged me, and many other sheep farmers, to fill a void in the sheep export market.
In recent years that demand has been filled and most farmers would agree that a fundamental overhaul of the subsidy system is necessary. But for Lord Haskins to suggest that Cumbrian farmers become as enterprising as our French neighbours is a bit rich. I have great admiration for French farmers and I am jealous of the loyal support they get from their fellow citizens. But, as farmers weekly pointed out recently, they enjoy similar CAP benefits to ourselves with added benefits, such as cheap loans, thrown in by the French government. If Lord Haskins proceeds, as he has set out, and alienates the typical British family farmer, it may become necessary to imitate the style and tactics of one very enterprising French farmer. Some of José Boves determination and courage may be necessary if many of us are to survive.
Ken Williamson
Kirkby Lonsdale Beckfoot1@aol.com
Hes a Labour peer after all
The statement referring to Lord Haskins as independent is difficult to believe. Lord Haskins is a Labour peer, installed in the House of Lords to support Labour. He was chosen by Mr Blair to put the governments case in the context of rural recovery.
Lord Haskins advocates small farmers working for BMW. Why? Does BMW have 10,000 vacancies? How many small farmers are within reasonable travelling distance of a BMW plant?
He also advocates copying the French and the Germans. Do their governments advise them to work for foreign firms? Lord Haskins recommends larger units; how does he see the future I wonder? Lord Haskins farm supplying food processor Lord Haskins Northern Foods supplying J Sainsbury supermarket. Now that would complete the new Labour vision of Utopia.
Robert Pratt
Church Farm Totternhoe, Dunstable, Beds.
Teach the crony a real lesson
Lord Chris Haskins, Tony Blairs rural recovery co-ordinator, and chairman of Northern Foods (which includes Express Dairies) has again shown his contempt for farmers by referring to them as "mollycoddled" and "lacking in enterprise" and being "too reliant on the state". Dairy farmers should milk their cows in the morning, work in a BMW factory all day and then do the evening milking when they return home from their factory job, he says.
Interviewed on television from his 800-acre farm and wearing a comical hat to look like a farmer, Lord Haskins claimed he needed the £50,000 in subsidies he received in order to remain competitive. He disagreed that his first duty should be to his companys shareholders.
The Daily Mail disclosed that Lord Haskins farm has an overdraft of over £500,000 and last year made a loss of £50,000, despite the £50,000 received in subsidies. With no rent to pay, only a multi-millionaire with an income from other sources could survive by farming in such an inefficient way. How would Lord Haskins manage without subsidy and no other income?
Northern Foods was one of the milk buyers which forced the ex-farm price of milk down to below the cost of production and caused many dairy farmers to leave the milk industry. I suggest that dairy farmers who are contracted to supply Lord Haskins company employ a no-cost solution and teach this arrogant man an expensive lesson. They should switch to other milk buyers and make Northern Foods short of milk. If I owned shares in Northern Foods I would sell them today.
John Snook
F J Snook & Sons, Rookery, Manor and Newsyde Farms, Urchfort, Devizes, Wilts.
New farms tsar is unrealistic
Lord Haskins, Tony Blairs new farms tsar is quoted as suggesting small farmers should milk their cows in the morning, work for BMW in the day and then milk again in the evening.
Express Dairies should be concerned that its chairman is encouraging its farmers to leave their stock unattended all day. Would that meet their own welfare codes? Would BMW employ somebody who would have to take time off to deal with the day-to-day emergencies of livestock farming such as calvings and fallen stock?
Get real Lord Haskins, dairy farming if done properly, is a full time occupation regardless of scale. It requires dedication and total commitment to meet the ever increasing standards of companies such as that chaired by Lord Haskins.
Perhaps he could quantify how tall I need to be to avoid the tag small farmer and a life of endless toil.
Time Knapman (5 10")
Bank farm, Lovedon Lane, Kings Worthy, Winchester, Hants.
Shocked into own survival
Lord Haskins, like John Cunningham before him, has recently incensed our industry with provocative comments. Such controversial criticism is the best medicine we could prescribe for ourselves.
Love them or hate them, they invoke much positive thought and response. Despite such remarks more farmers will take the food giants on at their own game.
It is largely our own complacency that has caused much of the frustrations within the industry. I applaud the catalysts whose remarks may shock us into us into our own survival.
Bernard J Fox
Willows Farm, Akeley, Buckingham, Bucks.
No choice but to vaccinate
I agree with Jose MacDonald (Letters, Aug 17). Since the Prime Minister has now disclosed his hand in Argentina in favour of more infected imports because they are cheaper, only vaccination and the build-up of flock resistance can cope with the continuous, legally imported infection UK farmers have to face.
The EU uses its ban on the export of vaccinated livestock as an anti-UK measure. It also uses the infection similarly; so we are wrong to do as it says. National competitive pressures will be sufficient to ensure the infection is imported again and again. That does not mean that EU farmers are indulging in such criminal activities. Far from it. They are against the infection just as we are. But criminal activity will occur.
So vaccination is absolutely essential as soon as possible; otherwise there will never be an export market again. It is that simple. NFU waffle is worthless.
The Conservatives destroyed the mining industry, and its Left wingers, by importing German dirty brown coal. New Labour targets farmers and the countryside as the homeland of Conservatism, and imports dirty meat. Of course it is unfair, but it is politics, a vile and unprincipled struggle for power now that all morality is treated as outmoded.
Lord Walsingham
The Hassocks, Merton, Thetford, Norfolk.
Jabbing to ease our anxiety
I write in agreement with J Pearson, Northumberland (Letters, Aug 10) that the mass slaughter programme carried out by the government to control foot-and-mouth has not worked to plan.
Our sheep seem to be able to control the disease in natures way, when allowed to do so, and gain resistance. Mass vaccination of cattle and pigs would, therefore, be a viable option, particularly if the disease has become endemic in wildlife.
It would be better to be resistant to another F&M outbreak rather than live in a constant state of anxiety that the disease will once again hit our shores and decimate the farming industry. That would seem to be the only option unless the government is willing to tighten up seemingly lax controls applied to imported meat at our air and sea ports.
Betty Dewes
Lentons Lane Farm, Aldermans Green, Coventry.
Smaller units need a voice
The question of whether to ban fox hunting was never a key issue for farmers. Yet the Countryside Alliance subverted the farming cause to stage a massive protest based on this issue which embarrassed the government.
The question of fuel prices was also not a key issue for farmers because of the lower duty charged on farm diesel fuel. But the cause of farming was invoked in this protest, and the resulting fuel blockade also embarrassed the government severely.
Is it unsurprising that after the farming community was involved in large-scale protests over two relatively minor issues, the government is clearly antagonistic to all except large, factory farms and agribusiness Their lobbying is discrete and they do not confront the government.
If small and medium farms are to survive, the farmers concerned must find, or form, an organisation to represent them, since the NFU clearly does not. And they must also concentrate on key issues. Otherwise they will be swept aside in the tide of change, and the whole nation will be the poorer.
Malcolm Scott
Aubretia Cottage, Brockamin, Leigh, Worcester.
Rural debate is mistimed
The government is beginning to debate the future of farming and the countryside which should, in principle, be welcomed. I regret its timing and the spin that is being put forward. But before any debate, government and our industry should indicate the level of home production of all commodities that are required both for the national interest and balance of payments.
Then, a debate on subsidies, environmental schemes, methods of production can sensibly be made without encouraging needless worry for those in our industry. It may help the public understand the arguments too.
Giles Dadd
Little Chennell, Chennell Park Lane, Tenterden, Kent.
Britain has lots of Friesians
While mourning the loss of the outstanding Marshside herd of British Friesians (Rare Breeds Toll in the Wake of Foot-and-Mouth, Features, Aug 10), we hasten to correct the view that British Friesians are a rare breed.
There are still several hundred thousand British Friesians across the UK and Ireland. Demand for semen is about 200,000 straws a year in addition to breeding bulls.
The population is far greater than any of the minor breeds in the UK. The Bell family (Marshside) can be content with their tremendous contribution to the breed in the face of the Holstein onslaught, and their role in developing the modern British Friesian for profitable dairy farming.
Ann Morton
Honorary secretary, British Friesian Breeders Club, Manor Farm, Draycote, Rugby, Warks.
Killing out % calculations
P Evans letter (Aug 10) suggested there was a need for greater information on the advantages and disadvantages of deadweight selling, especially in the current climate.
Might I point out there is a short leaflet by the Meat and Livestock Commission, which has been distributed widely, covering deadweight selling. It is available free by calling Lindsey Tapp on 01908-844734. There is also a leaflet on planned sheep carcass production which may help.
Mr Evans raises a specific issue about killing out percentages, a notoriously difficult subject.
An accurate assessment of liveweight is the first challenge. Thereafter, factors such as gut-fill, fleece weight, fleece cleanliness, time from last food to slaughter and fatness of the sheep will all have an influence. Also dressing specifications between outlets will vary.
Most killing out percentages fall in the range 42% to 48%. But the killing out percentage is not the most important factor, as carcass weight and quality dictate the value of the lamb destined for slaughter.
If a producer sells to an agreed deadweight specification then those best able to meet market requirements will achieve better returns for their stock.
For example, MLCs new deadweight price series for the week ending Aug 11 showed a price differential of more than 8p/kg deadweight (or about 5%) between carcasses in the target specification of E, U and R conformation and fat classes 2 and 3L. That is compared with carcasses outside the target specification.
Chris Warkup
Livestock and meat science manager, Meat and Livestock Commission, PO Box 44, Winterhill House, Snowdon Drive, Milton Keynes.
Hedge statistics must be known
I hope that through your pages I can extract information to answer the frequent comments heard when environmental groups are interviewed on television or radio, encapsulated in the dreadful phrase modern farming practice. These comments are picked up by non-farming neighbours and friends who believe them.
I am fed up hearing about allegations of "farmers ripping out hedges" being cited as an excuse for the cause of most environmental ills. It is clear the only hedges that get removed these days are those that stand in the way of developers or sight lines on new roads.
Over the past 10 years, for example, hedges and woods have been planted on farm land which must exceed any losses in the previous 30 years. As an agronomist, I have seen miles of new hedges planted and existing hedges improved as nesting and feeding cover, as well as the creation of tree belts and coppice to enhance a view or make good use of difficult corners.
In the past five years or so, stewardship schemes have prompted large areas of hedgerow rejuvenation and also the creation of acres of sympathetic field boundaries.
While some improvements have been accomplished by farmers and landowners with their own resources, I expect that some grant aid has been obtained for most of it. Perhaps from DEFRA or local authorities. There must be statistics somewhere.
Would it be naive to hope that we could have the information in a digestible form so that we can highlight the environmental benefit that farmers and landowners have achieved?
Seumas Foster
SH & DJH Foster Partnership, Northgate Cottage, Ellisfield, Basinstoke, Hants.
Checklist for cereal sellers
Richard Butler talked of the attention to detail needed for growers to maximise returns (Talking Point, Aug 10). Grain buyers agree and that is why UKASTA and others have given their co-operation in producing the cereal sellers checklist.
Unfortunately the second half of his article departed from the realities of the market. This year will see UK cereal production 4m tonnes down on the five-year average. But the grain market is driven by the demands of consumers and not the aspirations of producers. Claims and allowances for grain not meeting buyers specifications will always be determined by the implications for the end-user.
Special terms are valid only if they are accepted on all sides. If the NFU believes that end-users will suddenly remove weighbridge charges or accept below specification grain it risks leading its members into an expensive cul-de-sac.
Regarding the NFU proposal for incorporation of weighbridge charges into the grain price, UKASTA can speak only for the largest end-users of grain, the feed compounders. The zero option would not make all weighbridge costs the same. The charge would be tucked away in the grain price, leaving farmers to wonder why one parcel of the same grain was worth several pounds more or less.
Does that raise the spectre of greater confusion? It would hamper any prospect of farmers making forward sales where the final destination of the grain, and the charge imposed was not known in advance.
Richard deserves praise for his efforts in developing the sellers checklist. It will help many growers decide how to balance the price potential against the level of risk they are prepared to accept. We should build on that progress by looking at the issues which limit returns to merchants and growers and try to improve them.
Paul Rooke
Policy director, UKASTA, 3 Whitehall Court, London.