Sheep-tagging protest goes to the ballot box (From Gazette & Herald)

Sheep-tagging protest goes to the ballot box

3:28pm Wednesday 3rd June 2009

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As attention this week is focused on the European elections, it becomes increasingly vital for us to put in to the Strasbourg Parliament MEPs who are at least sympathetic towards the farming industry.

Don’t forget, Brussels is still on course to introduce the completely impractical and unaffordable regulations on the individual tagging of all sheep from January 1, 2010.

If sheep EID is introduced in its present form, it will decimate the UK sheep industry as most producers will simply abandon their flocks.

Thankfully, there is a steady growing opposition led by the leading farming organisations and the Scottish Parliament.

Their campaign for support in Europe gained another ally last week when the Austrian Government confirmed it will oppose EU plans. The Austrians join Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Ireland and the UK in calling for the regulations to be made voluntary and not compulsory. Let us hope the new parliament sees sense.

I suspect that the NVZ regulations are just another heap of red tape sitting in the pending tray on most farmers’ desks. The problem is that these regulations are now law and we should all be formulating written plans for our farms.

The greatest impact is going to be on dairy and pig farmers, where the production of slurry has changed from being a source of good manure to an environmental hazard.

The mindless Brussels bureaucrats have decreed that slurry can only be spread at certain times of year and in certain quantities, which goes along with a parallel requirement to construct sufficient storage capacity on the farm.

The average cost of providing slurry storage facilities is around £50-£60,000 per farm and in the South East of England a poll has been carried out to show that 40 per cent of farmers will go out of dairying if they are forced to comply.

The severity of the problem is put into perspective when you realise we have already lost over 20 per cent of our dairy herd in the last 10 years since Labour came to power.

Why on earth we have to keep on introducing regulations which further reduce this country’s capacity to feed itself I will never know.

Market report

Forward 125 cattle, including 19 bulls, 17 cows, 1,269 sheep including 757 lambs and 347 ewes light steers to 160p G G Warters Flixton medium steers to 170p Morley Bros Fylingdales ave 152.1 heavy steers to 178p D Boyes Ellerburn ave 160.1 light heifers to 178p R Dring Hartoft ave 161.5 heavy heifers to 210p G D Nutt Thirtleby ave 162.6 light bulls to 152p H W Ward &Sons Kirby O Carr heavy bulls to 175p T J Maw Thornton Dale ave 148.4 OTMs to 148p ave 131.8 cows to 110p T & D M Bell & Sons Normanby ave 95.2p standard lambs to 223p T G Warters & Son Butterwick ave 209.8 medium lambs to 230p R H Clarkson & Son Wetwang ave 201.6 heavy lambs to 209p R Green Pickering ave 198.3 heavy lambs to 188p Mrs Foster Egton Grange standard hoggets to 163p P & I Beal Settrington ave 154.1 medium hoggets to 163p P & I Beal Settrington ave 148.5 heavy hoggets to 155p Eastburn Farms Driffield ave 149.5 overweight hoggets to 151p J H Ruston Knapton ave 143.5 Ewes to £105 Davison Bros West Haderlsey ave £71.

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