|
From The Wellies - February 2008
A January with some proper winter weather has brought snow, gales, frost and almost 10 inches of rain.
Outwintered stock have had a pretty miserable time and those on flat fields near rivers have had to be moved to higher ground. Floodbanks have been breached in many of the usual places causing damage to fences and depositing silt and debris across fields.
* * * *
It’s been exam time for livestock farmers as new rules come into force at the end of April 2008. Anyone transporting livestock on journeys over 65kms has to have undertaken a competence assessment and hold a competence certificate.
The test is made up of 27 multiple choice questions with candidates having to get at least 21 out of 27 correct in the 1 hour allowed for the test. The rules are designed to improve the welfare of animals during transport and the questions cover the correct way to handle animals, working out journey times, how to determine an animal’s fitness for travel and what you should do in an emergency situation.
The type of documentation required for the journey is also part of the test. Each person in a business who is to transport livestock over 65kms but on journeys of less than 8 hours is required to take the test at a cost of £55 plus £9.62 VAT. This works out at more than the price of a good prime lamb. The only saving grace is that once the certificate of competence is gained, it lasts for life.
* * * *
As of the 31 January 2008, Brazil is no longer able to export beef into the European Union. The Brazilian authorities were supposed to provide a list of 300 farms which were on an approve lists which complied with all the European Commission regulations.
After Brazil submitted a list containing 2,500 farms, the EU officials decided to impose a complete ban. Any cattle slaughtered before the 31st January can however, still be imported and it is thought that large amounts of beef were stamped and stockpiled and still eligible for export.
A lot of work has gone into highlighting the shortcomings of the Brazilian Beef industry and it must be very rewarding for all those organisations such as the National Farmers Union of Scotland and the Scottish Beef Cattle Association, to finally see some results from all their hard work.
A tightening up of beef supplies will hopefully see a rise in the prices that farmers get for their beef. Increasing fuel, feed and fertiliser prices are putting tremendous pressure on all sectors of the livestock industry with many people saying they will quit the industry altogether if those further up the supply chain don’t get their act together and come up with a substantial rise in prices to cover the costs.
It is believed that some supermarkets have already seen their normal supplies of beef run short, hopefully this will serve as a wakeup call to the supermarkets that, unless they pay farmers a decent price for their produce, then their shelves will be bare.
|
