Government should be indicted, not in charge

Michael Wigan, farmer and environmental writer, on the Government's handling of the recent foot and mouth and bluetounge outbreaks

I am feeling pretty sour. On a lorry headed for the slaughterhouse are 250 lambs from my Scottish farm that, since April, we have struggled to keep thriving.

Fit, clean and off the hills, they are going for burial. Only the sheep-fat will be used, for biofuel. How has it happened that farmers are rearing animals to bury them? Why are we burying home-grown prime cuts that retail for £11 a kg? My lambs are going to the Scottish Executive's buy-in scheme, for £15 each. In today's collapsed market, their auction price is around £7. Markets are ghost-towns, devoid of buyers.