NFU Cymru Livestock Board office holders re-elected

Peter Davies has been re-elected as Chair of the NFU Cymru Livestock Board and Ceiriog Jones as Deputy Chair.

Both office holders have been heavily involved in NFU Cymru’s foremost campaigns to eradicate bovine TB, to oppose sheep electronic identification (EID), and the fight for a fair deal for farmers from proposed changes to the Common Agricultural Policy and introduction of the new agri-environmental scheme Glastir.

Mr Davies thanked the Board members for their confidence and said he and his deputy would continue to do their utmost to further the interests of livestock farmers throughout Wales.

Mr Davies commented that, although the delay until December 2014 for sheep individual movement recording for the historic flock was a notable victory, there was still a lot of work to be done. "We need to lessen the burden on farmers without compromising animal disease traceability. We believe there should be derogations to delay EID tagging until sheep leave the farm where they were born and reasonable tolerance in practical situations where it is not possible to read EID tags one hundred per cent of the time. As things stand, farmers could be faced with unfair fines through no fault of their own," he said.

Peter Davies, in partnership with his wife, Jill, is an upland farmer running both sheep and beef enterprises in the Swansea valley. Ceiriog Jones, until recently Chair of NFU Cymru Clwyd and now President of the County Branch, farms livestock near Corwen.