High on the hogg season (From Gazette & Herald)

High on the hogg season

OVER the last couple of months, it has been grand to see Malton Market gradually establish itself as the leading price setter for this area in the sheep trade, and especially for old season hoggs.

We have so many good producers feeding quality hoggs and putting their faith in the market; and they have been properly rewarded this season. Even up to last week, many of the tight-woolled heavyweights were making over £70, and it is only this last Tuesday that we have seen a slight reduction in the trade.

Numbers through Malton peaked at 4,250, but even this week, against all expectations, there were 3,471 put in the marketplace. The best heavyweight hoggs were making up to £65, and there was plenty of demand for the lightweights with very little making less than £50 per head.

New-season lamb has been disappointing, although most producers have been getting returns of £60 to £70 per head. It is possible that the lamb trade will lift again when all the butchers get on to it, and the old season hoggs fall out of the system.

To the UK industry's great delight, the proposals of our Government to limit journey times to nine hours have been thrown out by the European farm ministers only, I might add, because they could not agree.

Our minster, Ben Bradshaw, said he was "bitterly disappointed at the lost opportunity", but I don't think the man realises what damage it would have done to our livestock trade, especially in the remoter parts of North Yorkshire, Scotland and Wales. The Irish put forward a compromise whereby there could be journeys of nine hours, followed by two-hour rest periods, but this was spurned by the animal welfare lobby.

With the accession of the ten new countries to the EU, I am sure there will be little appetite for tougher transport rules in the future and we may survive the crisis created by our own Government.

Ben Bradshaw should know that, over the past nine months, we have lost four independent livestock hauliers in the area, all of whom have given up partially because of the burden of regulation.

The farming fraternity have been put through every sort of imaginable hoop to establish a traceability system for animals based upon double-tagging and passports.

It will, no doubt, have amused all of us to follow the debate that has been raging about David Blunkett's proposals to introduce a national ID card scheme for the human population.

Over the past 20 years, there has been a complete about-turn in the attitude of our citizens to ID cards - not so long ago, most Britons would have seen them as an unjustifiable imposition on our civil liberties. In a recent poll, four out of five UK citizens said they would be willing to carry an ID card at all times, and I would like to propose that the whole system be run by farmers, who have most experience of this sort of thing. We should be sub-contracted by the Government to implement the national ID system!

DEFRA has announced that the average farm income rose by 32pc last year, compared to 2002, but even then it only stands at £15,537 per annum. What DEFRA forgot to tell us is that, over the past 25 years, farming incomes have dropped by 58pc in real terms. Twenty-five years ago, a farmer earned around twice the national weekly wage and today we earn just about half.

Relative to our sales, 50 years ago, farmers received half of every pound's worth of food that went on the shop shelf. Today, with the relentless advance of supermarket power, our share of that pound has dropped to 8p. Conversely, there is no shortage of money in the food chain, with Tesco declaring a massive £1.7 billion profit and, in doing so, could well afford to pay more money at the farm gate.

There has been a lot of talk about strengthening the voluntary code of practice with supermarkets, but I believe it is a total waste of time and it must be compulsory to be meaningful.

My Sinnington mole tells me that this next tale is true.

The Downing Street secretariat rang up to confirm a booking at a hotel near St Bees where the prime minister was going to stay with his entourage for the weekend. They were given a price and, believing it to be somewhat expensive, asked for confirmation that it was a cost per person per night.

The Lancastrian receptionist responded that the price quoted was for the entire hotel for the whole weekend!

Just how out of touch can our leader's advisers get?

With declining numbers of young men going into agriculture, it has been a pretty dismal time for our farming colleges to recruit students, but Askham Bryan decided on a bold policy of reinvestment which has just been completed.

It has revamped the dairy unit to provide two different types of modern milking parlours to serve the 200-cow herd to allow future students to assess the practical benefits.

Alongside the pure agricultural projects, a new equestrian centre has been built, with stabling for 20 horses and an indoor school.

It is all good news and, hopefully, will keep Askham Bryan at the cutting edge of our industry's education.

Forward were 118 cattle including 53 bulls; 3,459 sheep including 402 spring lambs and 383 ewes.

Light steers to 112p from Lupton Brothers, Wass Grange, (average 107.9p). Medium steers to 127p from Lupton Brothers (110.5p). Heavy steers to 124p from T F W Morley, Fylingdales (100.03p).

Light heifers to 125p from D Dowsland, Rudland. Medium heifers to 133p from G I Marwood, Harome (115.8p). Heavy heifers to 143.5p from G I Marwood (116.5p).

Light bulls to 113p from D Dowsland (102.8p). Medium bulls to 115p from M Sunley, Farndale (103.2p). Heavy bulls to 114p from F Fairburn, Rievaulx (99.6p). Black and white bulls to 93p from A M Avison, Black Bull (84.6p).

Standard lambs to 156.5p from S B Flint, Bishop Wilton (153.7p). Medium lambs to 163.4p from T G Warters, Boythorpe (150.2p).

Light hoggs to 131.6p from J S Collinson, Gilling (123.1p). Standard hoggs to 137.8p from C Southwell, Burton Fleming (121.9p). Medium hoggs to 132.5p from W Curtis, Kirkbymoorside (118.4p). Heavy hoggs to 127.1p from C F Beal, Yedingham (110.8p). Overweight hoggs to 113.3p from M & W Field, Driffield (104.5p).

Ewes to £79 from M Bulmer, Salton (£40.50).

Updated: 11:00 Wednesday, May 05, 2004