Source farm was given all-clear
24 February 2001
Source farm was given all-clear
by Alistair Driver
THE farm thought to have sparked off Britains foot-and-mouth disease crisis was recently given the all-clear by the Ministry of Agriculture, it has emerged.
Complaints about conditions at Burnside Farm, Heddon-on-the-Wall, Northumberland, were followed up in December, it has been confirmed.
Malcom Angus, the Morpeth trading standards officer who has dealt with the farm, told Farmers Weekly he was unable to comment on the case.
Bobby Waugh told the NPA website he saw nothing wrong with his pigs that were confirmed with foot-and-mouth disease on Friday (23 February).
“I honestly hadnt seen anything wrong with any of my pigs in the last few weeks. How could I report something I didnt see,” he said in a statement.
Mr Waugh said trading standards officers and Ministry of Agriculture (MAFF) vets had visited the farm again on a routine annual check up on 25 January.
They gave the farm a clean bill of health, he said.
“They checked the pigs for any health problems and the trading standards officer checked our pig movement records to ensure everything was in order.”
Speculation continues about whether the disease reached the fattening unit by pigs from other farms or by a separate route, such as feed, people or vehicles.
Concern is also growing about how far the virus has spread.
The business run by the Waugh brothers relied on them making money by buying cull sows in small numbers from hundreds farmers across the country.
Chief Veterinary Officer Jim Scudamore said lesions on the infected pigs suggested that the virus could have been on the farm for up to four weeks.
But Bobby Waugh said during that time pigs had been sent from his farm only to the Essex abattoir where the disease was discovered on Tuesday (Feb 20).