wo-valuer option limited in selective cull

31 July 1997

wo-valuer option limited in selective cull

P>FARMERS with 10 or fewer cows to be selectively culled are to lose the option of consulting two valuers to assess compensation.

In a written answer to South Ribble MP David Borrow yesterday, junior farming minister Jeff Rooker said he planned to amend the BSE Compensation Order 1996 to help speed up the cull.

The government has agreed with the EC that farmers can pick valuers from a ministry list, wrote Mr Rooker: “Now that owners can choose the valuer, I do not consider it necessary to have two valuers for 10 or fewer animals.”

Answering Mr Borrows question about progress with the selective cull, Mr Rooker claimed that the cull was complete in Northern Ireland, except for six animals plus any imported from Great Britain.

In Scotland, said Mr Rooker, all visits to natal herds have been made, while in England and Wales, all but a few of the visits have been made to farms with animals in the compulsory years.

He claimed that the government had now presided over the slaughter of 15,000 animals in the UK, “10 times the number that had been slaughtered when we came into office”.

PA