NFU livestock chair tells of his envy

Richard Haddock, NFU Livestock Board Chairman and a beef and arable farmer from Devon, spoke of his envy last night of Wales' Single Farm Payment Scheme at Brecon and Radnor's County Conference.

The Montgomery Pavilion at the Royal Welsh Showground was packed out to hear Mr Haddock speak about the work of the NFU Livestock Board as Brecon and Radnor is a predominantly livestock farming area.

John Davies, NFU Cymru's Chairman in Brecon and Radnor welcomed Mr Haddock to Builth Wells and said, "As livestock farmers we are very good at producing our meat but now with the start of the single farm payment I think we need to grasp this opportunity and respond better to the market place and learn how to market our own produce better."

Richard Haddock told local farmers of the work done by a coalition formed between England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to defend the removal of steers from the Over Thirty Month Scheme (OTMS). As part of the unwinding of the OTMS there would need to be a scheme for the disposal of pre-August 1996 cows. These animals are valuable to farmers and if the Government was committed to future quality suckler production then a reasonable price would need to be paid for these animals.

The new fallen stock scheme was also discussed and Mr Haddock said, "I have been made aware that Spanish farmers in Less Favoured Areas are still permitted to bury their fallen stock on their land. I am also aware of two trials currently taking place in Europe to see how successful ingestors are in dealing with fallen stock. The trial ingestor is a sealed tank that breaks down the carcass into an almost total liquid form. The trials are due to finish later this year."

Local farmers at the conference learnt how NFU Cymru is continuing to press the Welsh Assembly Government to explore with the EC, a revision of the criteria to allow farms in areas, designated as LFA, a derogation to bury fallen stock. The NFU is also pressing the EC to permit the use of ingestors on farm as a legitimate means of disposal.

Andrew Lloyd, Vice Chairman of Brecon and Radnor, thanked Richard Haddock for his informative talk and agreed that himself and John Davies would continue the fight to get farmers a fair price for the food produced as well as ingestors recognised as a form of dealing with fallen stock on behalf of local NFU Cymru members.