Trading Standards too strict, say Northumbrian sheepmen
Trading Standards too strict, say Northumbrian sheepmen
By FW reporters
NORTHUMBRIAN sheep producers claim they face unnecessary prosecution and their stock needless slaughter because the countys Trading Standards Department is over-zealous in interpreting welfare rules.
Angry farmers, who wanted to remain anonymous, contacted farmers weekly to complain that sheep showing signs of lameness were being targeted by Trading Standards Officers and slaughtered by vets because they were unfit to travel. Owners then faced prosecution whereas simple foot care could have remedied the lameness.
Seventeen prosecutions are pending and one farmer asked: "Why Northumberland? Why us?"
NFU legal adviser Simon Catterall, from Jacksons and Co, Stockton-on-Tees, admitted concern about the attitudes of the Trading Standards Department. "They seem to be wielding the sword straightaway not withstanding that many of the members involved have a long history of generations of livestock farming, without any previous allegations," said Mr Catterall.
"The tendency is [for Trading Standards] to seize the animal, destroy it and then contact the member up to a couple of months later telling them they are taking them to court."
But Northumberland Trading Standards Department denied that farmers or their stock were being treated unfairly. "We are not gung-ho about slaughtering stock or taking people to court," said Mick King, county trading standards officer.
"After the foot-and-mouth crisis, lameness is one of the key things we are looking for and we are finding unprecedented problems with foot rot," he said.
Key protection against prosecution is for farmers to avoid sending sheep with any sign of lameness to a collection centre, said Mr King. *
Fit to travel? Some farmers worry that Trading Standards officers are over-zealous in inetrpreting welfare rules.