Crucial first jabs in fight against midge

10:44am Thursday 8th May 2008

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In the face of potential disaster it is both a relief and pleasure to report that the first two batches of three million doses of bluetongue vaccine were delivered last week.

Cattle at Bixley Farms in Norfolk were the first animals in the UK to be jabbed and this is a giant step forward in this summer's campaign to fight the dreaded midge.

The manufacturers, Intervet, have performed brilliantly, going from research and development to full scale production in 20 months rather than the usual five to 10 years. They are now ahead of schedule in releasing the vaccine and expect to complete the Defra order of 22 million doses by August.

If you are a livestock farmer in Ryedale with cattle or sheep, please ensure that you place your order with your own vet so that they can start to get an idea of the number of doses needed.

Somehow we have to get as near 100 per cent vaccination as possible.

There are a couple of technical problems that have arisen over the past few days which are:

• In order to speed up the vaccination process Intervet has produced a gun which will deliver 1 ml doses but this gun only works with the 50 ml and not the 20 ml bottles.

• In another barmy bit of EU bureaucracy, Brussels has decided that farmers in Free Zones must not vaccinate if they want to retain their Free Zone status which has knock on implications for export and import.

• If Free Zone farmers do vaccinate, the disease status of their animals will be altered and therefore many will be discouraged from joining in the vaccination programme, which is the last thing that wants to happen.

Somehow we have to got to get EC officialdom to see sense, that is presuming they have any.

Single Payment update

Applications for Single Payment are going reasonably smoothly this year with a few minor hiccups, but anybody who has not completed their form should really take some advice fairly urgently as we approach the last week before the deadline of May 15.

There is one problem that has been flagged up and it may affect you if you have not received your 2007 Entitlement Statement.

For some reason the RPA has decided to send out letters to some 7,000 farmers who have not yet received their 2007 Statement mainly because the RPA has realised that the information on the statement is incorrect.

This letter requires that an SP11 (Order of Activation of Entitlements) must be completed by these farmers and returned with the SP5 by May 15 or, if you have already submitted your SP5, then the SP11 must go separately and be received by May 31.

This seems unreasonably penal as the mistakes originate from the RPA's own defective procedure. Anyone caught up in this net should tread carefully.

Farm gate milk price warning

On my stocktaking rounds this spring I have heard odd rumours that processors may try to clip a penny or two off the milk price this summer but if they do there is a serious danger that the industry will go into a further freefall situation.

A survey published last week indicated that two thirds of producers would leave the dairy industry if there was a reduction of 4p a litre in current prices. The whole situation is very fragile and it would be a tragedy if the UK was not capable of providing enough milk for breakfast from it's own cows.

Costs over the past 12 months have merely been offset by the increase in price and there would need to be further improvement if sensible profits are to be reinstated.

Both Arla Foods and Dairy UK have made the right noises saying that "producers are just too important for the market to be unable to adequately reward farmers".

Horse society recognition blow

For those horse owners who have been getting their official passports through the Spotted Horse and Pony Society, you will have to seek an alternative source as Defra has decided that the society no longer meets the criteria for recognition of organisations which maintain stud books.

This in turn means that CHAPS can no longer issue passports under the regulations.

Anybody wanting to change can do so by using the Cleveland Bay Horse Society at York Livestock Centre, Murton, York, 01904 489731.

Cornfield flowers project

An old friend of mine, Ian Kibble, who used to run the local CLA, wrote in the other day about the Cornfield Flowers Project which is one of the activities sponsored by the Carstairs Countryside Trust.

The objective is to encourage farmers to prevent the dramatic decline in the species of wild flowers that are peculiar to cornfields and there are already 28 farmers participating.

The trust owns a field near Silpho on the North York Moors where a sympathetic farmer grows cereals in the normal way on the majority of the field but leaves the crop in the extensive margins free of all inputs; and it is here that the characteristic wild flowers are returning supplemented by plants raised in a nursery at Ryedale Folk Museum.

Chris Wilson of Thorn Park Farm, Hackness, Scarborough, YO12 5TB, 01723 862100, is the project officer - he is both a farmer and a botanist and has done much to awaken the interest of local farmers.

If you feel you want to support please get in touch with Chris.

Bits and pieces

• An interesting Irish proverb - "Good luck beats early rising".

• With the current debate on a Commemoration Day for the Armed Services, I thought this comment on those who have fought for freedom was particularly apt...

"If you can read this, thank your teacher If you can read it in English, thank a soldier".

• Here is a verse apparently attributed to a Jersey sailor "There are good ships and wooden ships, And ships that sail on the sea; But the best ships are friendships, And long may they be."

Market Report

Forward 91 cattle including 14 bulls 17 cows 1563 sheep including 317 lambs and 293 ewes Light steers to 178p J Wilkinson Langtoft ave 155.7p heavy steers to 165p D RJackson Caranby ave 150.5 medium heifers to 142p P Nesom Wilton ave 129.4p heavy heifers to 184p D R Jackson Carnaby 145.4p heavy bulls to 168p P Coates Scalby ave 146.9p OTMS to 131p J Greenheld Rosedale ave 100.2p Standard lambs to 225.7p C T Stonehouse Brawby ave 196.9p heavy lambs to 215p T G Warters Boythorpe ave 197.8p overweight lambs to 195.6p J Pease Heslerton ave 191.7p Light hoggs to 158.9p J Brewster Pickering ave 134.2p standard hoggets to 172.7p L W Aconley and Sons Cawthorne ave 144.6p medium hoggets to 164.5p C Beal Yedingham ave 149.7p overweight hoggets to 150.9p L W Aconley and Son Cawthorne ave 130.2p Ewes to £80 M Ward Harwood Dale ave £52.08