Meat Hygiene Service strikes disrupts marketing (From Gazette & Herald)

Meat Hygiene Service strikes disrupts marketing

THE fall-out effect of industrial action always amazes me and the latest civil service strike by UNISON members is no exception. They decided to call out their members for a day's action on Tuesday and for the meat abattoirs this meant there was no service from the Meat Hygiene Service (MHS).

I don't suppose those voting in the union ballot realised, or perhaps even cared, that their action would impact on the livelihood of livestock farmers - but it does.

I spent a large slice of the weekend monitoring the situation with our fat market buyers to ensure that we had enough cover for Monday and arranging to start the sale a bit earlier to enable purchases to be slaughtered on the same day. In the end, the effort was worth it and we had an excellent trade with continental cattle averaging 115p, and Malton was just as good.

UNISON is, however, planning a campaign of spring disruption and next week's proposals are for a five-day strike which will drastically affect meat supplies and marketing. Please keep in touch if you have stock to sell.

It does seem to me a pity that we are slipping back into an era when militant strike is taken more readily. Although I don't know all the details, UNISON seems to be trying to achieve a level of pension that is not affordable and to which none of the rest of us in the community can aspire.

Budget hammers trust

Up to budget day, the creation of a Trust has been the favoured vehicle for ensuring that land and property get passed from one generation to another without incurring crippling Inheritance Tax.

The Chancellor has attacked this vital life-line for all land-owning families by announcing that in future all such Interest in Possession Trusts will no longer have any IHT exemption.

This is going to cause a lot of potential heartache and I hope we don't return to the situation 50 years ago when death duties wrecked the structure of rural England.

More inspiring budget news

Although it has been called "one of the least significant budgets in living memory", the 2006 Chancellor's proposals do include a number of technical points of relevance to the rural sector.

With Stamp Duty - the Budget papers have made a bold promise entitled "Simplification and Clarification".

We hope it lives up to its title and answers the very real problems in this minefield that have been created by new Labour.

We are promised measures will be introduced to deal with partnerships, lease agreements, rent variations and the landlord and tenant sector.

Threshold Stamp Duty on residential purchases has been lifted from £120,000 to £125,000 - such generosity!

The Inheritance Threshold has been confirmed at £285,000 and Gordon Brown has continued his recent habit of announcing future thresholds for 2008 to £312,000, 2009 to £325,000.

The annual personal allowance for Capital Gains Tax has been raised from £8,500 to £8,800 - words fail me, but pathetic springs to mind.

Capital allowances for the first year when purchasing plant and machinery will be 50 per cent rather than 40 per cent.

TB testing chaos

One can only watch with bewilderment as Defra ignores every plea from industry over the growing TB crisis and its latest insistence of introducing pre-movement testing is just crazy.

From last Monday, all cattle over 15 months of age from farms in a one or two-year testing regime will have to be tested before they are moved.

The bold statement sounds simple enough but there is no structure set up to deal with the new situation.

Vets are largely uninformed as to what they have to do, there are no individual certificates to accompany animals during transit, most cattle markets are not licensed properly, and there is only one exempt finishing unit passed in Yorkshire to my knowledge.

The whole package is a shambles and can be summed up looking at Tuesday's entry for Highbridge market where six store cattle turned up compared to 300 the previous week.

But the message is quite clear to Yorkshire store cattle buyers that we are only going to receive either cattle from three to four-year testing farms which are the same status as our own, or, cattle over 15 months from one to two-year testing farms that have already been tested.

We, in Yorkshire, can as far as we are told receive all these cattle without any further requirement to test and can fatten them as usual.

SP cash crisis deepens

With less than 20 per cent of farmers having received their money, there is a growing cash crisis in the industry.

Traditionally, this is the season when we get a lot of bills to pay with rents due and fertiliser arriving.

It is going to be desperately difficult to try and organise cash flow and we are noticing quite a few underweight cattle being sold in the market place.

We can only hope that the new man at the helm of the RPA, Mark Addison, will accelerate the cash payments or alternatively make an advance to all farmers who have not received money by the end of March.

Stock-taking valuation time

In the heat of the Single Payment debacle, when we are struggling to get last year paid and, at the same time, apply for next year's scheme, don't forget it is traditionally the year end for most farms and stock-taking time will start.

Whether you have a professional valuation or not I would advise that you make a special effort on or around April 6 to write down the numbers of stock and amount of produce you have on the farm.

At my age particularly, the memory seems to fade and there is nothing like a written note.

The Allison touch

Frank Turner has been threatening to relate some of the tales that pass over the butcher's counter. There was a farming family who expanded by purchasing another 200 acres; and the sons expressed concern as to how they would manage without taking on extra help to which the father responded: "Nay lads, we will give it the 'Allison touch'."

The boys questioned their father and he explained Mr Allison was a neighbouring farmer with an old fashioned remedy for resolving labour problems.

"We will start work an hour earlier, finish two hours later, and work twice as hard in between."

I thought that would go down well at the MHS annual dinner.

Spike Milligan special

For those of you like me whose silhouette grows more like that of Alfred Hitchcock's with every passing day, there are words of comfort from Spike Milligan who responded to critics saying, "I have the body of an 18-year-old and keep it in the fridge!"

Market report

Forward 135 cattle including 40 bulls and 13 cows. 1,983 sheep including 360 ewes. Light steers to 124p L Thompson, Fimber, ave 116.4p; medium steers to 135p J L Gray, Grindale, ave 121.3p; heavy steers to 129p Charity Farms, Thornton-le-Dale, ave 113.05p; light heifers to 136p G I Marwood, Harome, ave 115.4p; heavy heifers to 140p G I Marwood, Harome, ave 114.05p; medium bulls to 126p P & I Beal, Settrington, ave 110.2p; heavy bulls to 125p P & I Beal, Settrington, ave 108.3p; black and white bulls to 106p N P Turnbull, Gallows Head, ave 92.1p; OTM heifers to 94p W Scaling, Kirby Misperton; OTM cows to 98.5p P Mason, Cottam, ave 65.7p, light lambs to 186.4p J Dransfield, Sproxton; heavy lambs to 186.2p J Dransfield, Sproxton; standard hoggs to 126.1p P Clark, Farlington, ave 116.1p; medium hoggs to 134p D Shepherdson, Wykeham, ave 120.02p; heavy hoggs to 126.5p P Bannister, Butterwick, ave 115.3p; overweight hoggs to 119p C Beal, Yedingham, ave 107.9p; ewes to £63.50 A R Bulmer, Habton, ave £43.70.

Updated: 14:48 Wednesday, March 29, 2006