The Brazilian beef farce continues (From Gazette & Herald)

The Brazilian beef farce continues

I know I bang on about the unfair playing field for British farmers, and the latest foot and mouth scare in Brazil speaks volumes. I wonder if you knew the following:

Since 1990, Brazil's cattle herd has expanded by some 50 million head and the Amazon region alone has been responsible for 80 per cent of this growth. Last year, 26,000 sq km of rain forest were burned down and most of that destruction was driven by the beef industry.

There has been a devastating social impact, with hundreds of people killed and an estimated 25,000 forced into slave labour.

Brazil's neighbour, Bolivia, has FMD at endemic levels. There are severe short-comings in the Brazilian traceability system and a British delegation was recently not allowed to inspect the processing industry.

The US and Japan have not yet allowed any Brazilian beef into their countries and, with this latest news, they are not likely to reconsider for many years. The EU, on the otherhand, has allowed the importation of Brazilian beef and in the UK alone imports rose by 70 per cent to 34,000 tonnes in the first half of this year.

As far as I know, the EU have still not put a total ban on Brazilian beef. They have merely excluded three of the states geographically closest to the outbreak.

With these facts in mind, there can be no justification for allowing Brazilian beef into this country, be it for environmental, social or economic reasons. The EU is a clown dangerously out of control.

OTM update

Despite having had years to prepare for the day when the OTM Scheme finishes, Deaf Ear has managed, with supreme incompetence, to fail to meet the deadline of November 7 when we are supposedly allowed to sell our older cattle in the market again.

At the time of going to press, only two abattoirs in the country have been passed to slaughter the older cattle and these are conveniently in Scotland and Shrewsbury.

Once again, it appears that it is our Civil Service interpretation of the rules that is causing the problems.

In the main, a lot of abattoirs would be ready, willing and able to deal with the situation but the Defra regulations are looking horrific. For example, I was talking to one West Riding wholesaler who told me that the boning out of these cattle, which is required, has to be done under supervision and guess who pays for it?

For the immediate future, therefore, it looks to me that the OTMS will be business as usual until someone knocks some bureaucratic heads together.

We will be offering the facility of selling older cattle born after August 1996 in the market but, at present, it is uncertain who can buy them. We will keep you informed.

New sheep movement rules

Yet another raft of ovine regulation has dropped onto our breakfast tables in the shape of the new rules on sheep movement:

If you occupy any land, be it owned or rented, that is more than five miles from your main farm boundary then that land will be classed as a separate holding.

You now need to apply for new CPH holding numbers which is going to be a nasty headache for a lot of flock owners.

Any movement from your main holding to the subsidiary land outside the five-mile radius will involve not only tagging the sheep but also recording the movement in the flock register and completing a movement document for the local authority.

Finally, Big Brother has decreed that we will have to complete an annual sheep inventory in future.

If producing fat lamb was sufficiently profitable we could afford to employ a secretary, but it isn't and we can't.

National Reserve closing date

I spotted a reminder on Defra's website that the final closing date for making your claim on the National Reserve for the Single Payment is Friday, November 4.

If you are one of those in receipt of the new form, SP5a, then you need to be addressing the issue before Bonfire Night or watch your claim go up in smoke!

Rents up or down?

Last time I raised the issue of rents, I was given a sharp wrap on the knuckles by George Dunn of the Tenant Farmers Association. And I see that he has now advocating that tenants should demand lower rents from their landlords to reflect falling prices and rising costs.

Whilst I acknowledge that returns have been reducing, I do not see that necessarily leading to an instant demand for rents to drop and all those with rented property should look carefully at their individual situation before taking some advice.

You need to remember that a formal notice to review rent is just that and it is up to an arbitrator to decide whether it should go up or down.

It may be more appropriate to wait until after we have had our Single Payment returns.

£8m worth of advice

Last week I reported that Lord Bach had made much publicity of his generosity in handing out £8 million to the beef industry as a rescue package.

With a bit more research the package is being dispensed to advisors and consultants as follows:

£5.5 million will go to the Beef Restoration Programme, which is aimed at life after the 30 months scheme.

Some of it will be invested in advising farmers how to finish OTM animals, if that is something you feel you need!

The rest will go in promoting the domestic market for OTM beef and the feasibility of a standard quality mark for mince.

£1 million will go on a scheme for Beef Better Returns, which again will be an advisory forum.

£5 million will be directed to the Red Meat Industry Form which helps farmers improve their efficiency.

You will not be surprised to find out that none of it goes into a single farmer's pocket.

Snake in the bath

Keith is a 10ft-long boa constrictor who was abandoned in a block of flats by an evicted resident.

He found his way into the sewage system and kept popping out of various toilets, frightening the occupants to hysteria. Keith has finally been apprehended by the RSPCA, and the flat dwellers can return to their thrones in peace.

Content French farmer

Travelling back on the plane over the weekend, I sat next to a young Lancashire farmer who had sold his share in the family farm and emigrated to the Charente district of South West France.

There, he owns 260 acres and keeps 50 milking goats, together with a flock of 650 ewes.

We had an interesting exchange but he and his young family have no intention of returning to the UK. They are making a good profit and receive better returns than over here.

The lambs are marketed at 18 kilos deadweight for which they receive around £58 per head. He gets 34p a pint for his goats' milk and milks them twice a day without any extra labour.

He sees the difference in the respective countries as being the percentage of shop shelf price that the farmer actually gets, which, in France, is that much greater.

Piggy bank PC

She who must be obeyed heard on the radio this week that a number of the major banks are going to stop encouraging children to save in "piggy banks", in case it offends our Muslim brethren - heaven help us!

'Dunn and Dusted'

Paul Dunn, a farming preacher, from Helmsley, is launching his book this weekend entitled "Dunn and Dusted".

Having read the manuscript, I can thoroughly recommend it as a fascinating record of times gone by but still within living memory.

Please buy one.

Market report

Forward 100 cattle including 47 bulls 586 sheep including 251 ewes light steers to 104p R & D Bell, Normanby; medium steers to 125p Charity Farms, Thornton Dale, ave 107.3p; heavy steers to 124p C Beal, Yedingham, ave 111.8p; light heifers to 118p C Beal, Yedingham, ave 104.3p; heavy heifers to 136p G I Marwood, Harome, ave 106.5p; light bulls to 122p Mrs M Towse, Welham, ave 107.3p; heavy bulls to 117p Mrs M Towse, Welham, ave 105.2p; black and white bulls to 87p G & R Mason, Ling Hall, ave 83.2p; standard lambs to 105.9p D Fussey, Bridlington, ave 98.6p; medium lambs to 96.8p Peacock Farms, ave 93.03p; heavy lambs to 94.33p F Beal, Yedingham, ave 85.4p; ewes to £40 M Wardle, Yedingham, ave £24.60.

Updated: 16:29 Thursday, October 27, 2005