Foot-and-mouth Crisis

IT ISN'T OVER

 


I know this must seem a very clichéed picture to most of you. But when it's your farm it's anything but a cliché.

My brother Chris has made me some posters. Download them, copy them, design your own. Adapt them as car stickers. He's adapted my gate photo for me! Also on his page are very good links.

I have just moved all my other links on foot-and-mouth to a separate page.

Lucy Wilson, age 14, is the daughter of friends who farm a few miles away. Here is her poem.

Cathy is a sheep farmer with a prize winning flock of pedigree Lleyn sheep in South Devon. She has been sending me wonderfuly heartening emails, full of hope and faith and stories of her animals. Click here to read them.


"FOR EVIL TO TRIUMPH, ALL THAT IS REQUIRED IS FOR GOOD MEN TO DO NOTHING."

1st May

Number of premises on which animals have been or are due to be slaughtered - 6,469.

89 more farms today.(MAFF's own figures)

Up to today 411,000 cattle, 1,840,000 sheep, 108,000 pigs, 2,000 goats slaughtered. What proportions of the National Herd or Flock do these figures represent?

At a press awards lunch on Monday, the Prime Minister insisted: "There was never a serious alternative to slaughtering out the infection. The vast bulk of animals killed were sheep and vaccination was never a practical option there....Even now, as we come to the end of this ghastly business, we have killed just less than 4 weeks' normal food production"

I couldn't believe it when I read the above. Does he still believe that we eat our dairy cows and breeding stock? Most of the cows killed would never have been eaten, being well over the 30 month age limit for meat. Daisy, Buttercup, Hermia, Astrid, Big A, Small, Primrose etc. are NOT destined for food production. If they were, where does he think our beef in 3 years time will come from? He is as ignorant as Brown, who was heard to wonder, when farmers were complaining that they were producing milk for less than the cost of production, "why don't they stop producing milk for a while?" This man is the one in charge of the killing. I had an email from New labour last week in response to an email from me "...The Prime Minister is personally very involved and has recently spoken of the grave situation that currently faces British farming and has offered his sympathy to all those farmers whose livestock had been affected." I feel too angry about it to say anything coherent. We hear idiots on the radio saying similar things, but surely Blair is being briefed?

Has he read the report from the NBA (National Beef Association), yesterday that says ".... only 25% of the 425,000 cattle slaughtered so far to control the epidemic were on infected premises." It goes on to say "The decision to introduce it (the contiguous cull of cattle) was too hurried because it was made against a background of political excitement," said NBA chief executive Robert Forster. "As a result veterinary science, which has since been shown to have been successful in bringing the epidemic under control, was pushed rudely aside." The cull on farms bordering infected premises would have done little to slow the disease as it had already reached its peak by this time, says the NBA. Mr Forster said he was "dismayed" that veterinary representatives accepted the advice of the non-veterinary researchers to justify the cull and he "cautioned ministers to "show more discrimination in its choice of scientific advisers when next faced with an animal disease crisis"."

As for vacination of sheep. Why does Blair think this is not an option? The vaccine is just as effective on sheep as it is on other animals. It actually works faster on sheep than it does on cattle. It really annoys me that people in power consistently dismiss sheep as being of no account. In livestock units terms, one cow equals six sheep (which also means that in the same terms , the slaughter equivalent of cattle has been greater than that of sheep). So a flock of 180 sheep should be valued the same as 30 cows. That's one way of looking at it, but of course it's not that simplistic. You need to look at the breeding of both, and that, of course, is what Blair and his cronies are not doing.

Reports of Blair's speech have concentrated on the fact that he is now wearing spectacles (surely of no interest to anyone except himself) and that he was speaking about violent demonstrations that had either happened a year ago or that might or might not happen again today. Foot-and-Mouth is yesterday's news. Blair's spin doctors have got it right again.

As for the NFU:
"When questioned about its assets, an NFU spokeswoman initially said: "There's about £10 million and we use the revenue to assist with our day-to-day running costs." In October last year, however, the NFU filed financial returns with the official Certification Office showing that it had quoted investments of £30,880,000.
Among the union's investments are holdings worth hundreds of thousands of pounds in five drug and bioscience companies experimenting with genetically modified products, including the American GM giant Monsanto. The NFU has also bought a substantial number of shares in Tesco, the supermarket chain that it has accused of profiteering, and about £168,000 in Barclays Bank, which was accused of abandoning rural Britain last year when it shut down a large number of village branches.
Mr Lambert defended the choice of stocks and shares, saying that decisions were taken by the NFU's two independent financial advisers. "It is a financial consideration: these investments are done purely for the return that we get," he said. "

These people are meant to represent farmers. None of this money is being used to help farmers, not directly, and not indirectly by investing in local abattoirs or farmers' producer groups. The NFU has been vigourously supporting trials of GM crops, in spite of the opposition of many of its members, and without declaring its stake in the companies concerned. Such a glaring conflict of interests would be inexcusable even in a member of parliament.

Each day I think, "today I will just talk about farming, and life here, which in spite of everything is really wonderful. I won't have a rant about anything." And each day there is something more on the news that I can't stay quiet about. I write letters and emails, but I have to shout aloud too. I'm sorry that farming news is so brief.

We were going to move the bullocks today, but we had a phone call. A MAFF vet is coming tomorrow to blood test the sheep. He promised me that he hasn't been on an infected farm for 5 weeks and he has just returned from a week's holiday in Portugal. We will be the first farm he visits. I told him that I really hated having a stranger anywhere near my sheep, but we don't have a choice. They take a blood sample from about 1/3 of the sheep and will test all sheep in the 3km zone around any infection. So we're rather dreading tomorrow. I wonder how many farms will find they are infected some days after the MAFF vets have been? I wouldn't have let him come if he had been on another farm in the past 4 days.

It is James's birthday today. We had been going to go out, but he wasn't feeling very well, and anyway the weather today has turned horrible, very cold and wet with a biting wind. One of the ewes died suddenly in the field last night. Sheep do tend to die suddenly at the best of times, but it was depressing. Probably the change onto grass upset her. She had 2 good lambs that now need bottle feeding. Fortunately they have taken to the bottle without a struggle. The knacker cannot come as he is busy on the disposal for the Welfare Scheme (what a name for killing animals that have nothing wrong with them ). We'll have to dig a large hole, well away from watercourses.

We are planning on having a Barn dance here, the first weekend in September. We've had one the past 2 summers. This year it will be for the ARC Addingtond Fund, in aid of people who are suffering hardship because of foot-and-mouth. It is a lovely way to raise money, with everyone, from babies to 90 year olds and in between, enjoying themselves. It will be good to have a party, whatever happens.

 


2nd May

Number of premises on which animals have been or are due to be slaughtered - 6,542.

73 more farms today, on which 30,000 more animals will be, or are being, killed. 3,000 cattle 15,000 sheep 2,000 pigs have been killed since yesterday. An opinion poll today shows that if there were an election tomorrow Tony Blair would be re-elected with an increased majority.

I am still wondering about MAFF's figures. On the 26th April they said their provisional number for the average number of animals killed per day in the week ending 22nd April, was 32,000. That figure today is revised to 42,000. How could they have "lost" 70,000 animals killed in a week, 4 days after the end of that week? The answer might lie in an email from an American friend. "You have been using the affected premises number from Maff in your diary lately. That is good. The first day they published was actually 5725. As of this morning it is 6542. A difference of 817 for the days of 4/24 to 5/1. 8 days.
The other bit of detail that is interesting at Maff is the percentage of TIME TO SLAUGHTER. Several days ago I started a simple spreadsheet so I could track some of the figures. They change sometimes overnight. You will be furious when you read this.
4/23 13 cases 40 percent
4/24 13 cases 60 percent
4/25 18 cases 60 percent
4/27 13 cases 85 percent
This is the one that really makes me furious.
4/29 3 cases 50 percent
These are the things they aren't telling the world. This is how these figures are defined by Maff. And how do you get a half of premises only three? "

I have had messages from friends, emails and phone calls, saying "aren't things getting better?" "it's nearly over", but the number of farms where the animals are being killed is still horrendous. 11 cases a day does sound much much better, but 70 or 60 a day ........... And the newspapers and tv are now looking at other news. Foot-and-mouth is boring and anyway it's almost over. How does that feel when your animals are lying dead? 20,000 in one day? And NO, NO, NO THEY ARE NOT ALL PART OF THE NORMAL FOOD CHAIN.


Ewes are in the pen. There are 4 MAFF men in different coloured disposable boiler suits. Lambs are not particularly interested.

We've had the Ministry men round today. The men on the ground are doing a difficult job well. It is the people in London that need culling. (CULL MAFF is a simple message anyone can put on their car. Please do it!) We had penned the ewes up and put all the lambs out of the pen, before they got here. It then took well over 4 hours to do the blood tests. It was a relief knowing that they had not been near another farm recently. They will be doing blood tests for several weeks.

Then we took the one and two year old bullocks and heifers down to the Ham.

It's been one of those lovely spring days, quite different to yesterday, when the air is soft, and you can almost see the leaves unfurling and the grass growing. The birds are still wonderful, and every day there are more wild flowers. The piglets are jumping from one pen to the other, and hopping over the barrier that is meant to keep them in. Jess and Patch think they are wonderful. Jess herded 2 of them down to the house this afternoon.

The chickens are enjoying going in the fields and up to the lambing shed, where they are scratching around. They are also intimidating the cats and stealing their food.


 

3rd May

Number of premises on which animals have been or are due to be slaughtered - 6,612.

70 more farms today, with another 18,000 animals to be slaughtered. 6,000 cattle, 22,000 sheep, 1,000 pigs have been killed since yesterday. Miraculously, 1,000 goats are now alive, that were reported killed up to yesterday (making the total number of goats killed 1,000 rather than 2,000).

Another good site is Cull Maff . It has links to other sites, more information about misinformation, and details of how to help stop culling.

I was out all day at a meeting of our farm holiday group (www.cornish-farms.co.uk ) . Members nowhere near infected farms have found their business suffering badly. There isn't any FMD further down Cornwall, and it is a lovely place for a holiday. It was good to see some fellow farmering wives. We met at the golf club at Lanhydrock. Just that little bit further West, the trees were much further out, and the hedgerows were full of bluebells.

I am going to bed now. I'll say something about Tony Blair's electioneering tomorrow.

2 heifers under the oak tree yesterday.

 

4th May

The Chillingham Wild Cattle are one of the original herds of emparked wild cattle and still roam in their natural surroundings over about 300 acres of Chillingham Park in Northumberland. They are under threat of culling by MAFF. They are unique in the world. Fax maff on 01228 591900 Andrew Hayward, for the local vet in charge. And fax Brown and email Blair.

10 new cases today, but no more farms affected! I am writing this at 21: 13 and MAFF's site gives the figures for yesterday.

They are probably not wanting the new figures released for the weekend papers. From today's South West region NFU bulletin:

"West Somerset outbreak goes from bad to worse: Two more confirmed outbreaks in the Wiveliscombe area takes the total in this area to four. We fear more will be added in coming days. Disease was confirmed today in a bull (see below) and in a beef calf on a neighbouring farm at Maundown.

It is now clear, from lesions found in the bull, that disease has been present on this farm at Wiveliscombe, which had a herd of goats, for up two weeks. As a result, MAFF are casting the net around "dangerous contact" farms much more widely and plan to slaughter a further 1,116 cattle and 613 sheep on 11 farms where there has been contact with certain people or vehicles. A number of potential links back to outbreaks in Devon are being investigated."

I dread to think what the figures will be when they release them. Why is there such an emphasis on numbers of infections? The numbers of farms with animals destroyed are far greater than the worst case scenario before the contiguous cull was brought in. The animals being culled are not being blood-tested, presumably in a deliberate attempt, either to play down the number of infections, or not to give grounds for objecting to the cull. MAFF win which ever way it's played!


Cock and 3 hens wandering past the house

Read this article from the Sunday Times, "Memorandum of Understanding of Content of Meeting between. Representatives of NSA, Sheep, Veterinary Society (SVS) and Dr Paul Kitching Head of Department of Exotic Diseases R&D at institute of Animal Health, Purbritght, on April 2Oth 2001. " which says interesting things about the infectivity of sheep (not very great) and of the contiguous cull "the greater the number of animals removed the less there will be left to become infected i.e. the same strategy in the prevention of road accidents would entail the removal of motorists and vehicles." It is very relevant after listening to the news tonight and hearing of a woman who is barricaded into her house with her 5 pet sheep, having lost her case in court and may be even now her animals are being killed.............. I've just heard that they were killed an hour ago, after her home was broken into. Blair's brave new world! These sheep were killed because they were within 3km of an infected farm. Our sheep are within 3km of an infected farm. No sense or logic. Miss Hoffe's elderly stepfather was pushed aside by the police and they had a battering ram to knock down her door. These were "dangerously infected animals", but the police wore no protective clothing, and the bodies were loaded onto a landrover and taken away.


Patch and Jess lying in the primroses at the bottom of Lower Racks

We moved the ewe hoggs down to Lower Brake this morning. I left James and Bill sorting out electric fencing and went for a lovely wander down to the Ham to check on the heifers and bullocks. There are still primroses out, and the bluebells are coming out more each day, but everything is very late. The dogs were racing round madly, and Megan got caught by the electric fence by the leat, shot through with a yelp, and then wouldn't come back. She just sat and waited for me. When I stopped calling and walked back up to Under Hill, she decided she'd better risk the fence again and reappeared looking very pleased with her bravery. We moved the cows to Slade and they flung their heels in the air and took great gauges out of the field as they galloped about like young calves. It is lovely being able to see them from the kitchen. My view from the kitchen feels right now. There is usually a cat sitting on the wall, sometimes joined by a chicken and then Jess tries to round them up or lies down on the wall, watching them intently, with the cows under my oak trees behind and the birds singing.

5th May

Yesterday's total is now on MAFF's site. 6,664 farms affected. Another 52 farms up to 19.00 hours yesterday.

The statistics for slaughter are still dated up to 19.00 2nd May, but the figures have changed.

Slaughter/disposal numbers at 19:00 Wednesday 2 May
· 2,518,000 animals slaughtered or identified as being for slaughter.
· 2,411,000 animals slaughtered, of which 59,000 remain to be disposed of.
· 421,000 cattle, 1,877,000 sheep, 111,000 pigs, 1,000 goats slaughtered.
· 107,000 animals awaiting slaughter.

Slaughter/disposal numbers at 19:00 Wednesday 2 May
· 2,542,000 animals slaughtered or identified as being for slaughter.
· 2,429,000 animals slaughtered, of which 38,000 remain to be disposed of.
· 423,000 cattle, 1,893,000 sheep, 112,000 pigs, 1,000 goats slaughtered.
· 112,000 animals awaiting slaughter.

I'll write more later. Just leave you to try and work that one out!

4 Hours later. New figures from MAFF. 6,722 farms affected, another 58 farms more than the figure this morning.

Slaughter/disposal numbers at 19:00 Friday 4 May (4 hours later than the last lot of figures)
· 2,561,000 animals slaughtered or identified as being for slaughter.
· 2,450,000 animals slaughtered, of which 38,000 remain to be disposed of.
· 429,000 cattle, 1,908,000 sheep, 112,000 pigs, 1,000 goats slaughtered.
· 112,000 animals awaiting slaughter.

I'm sorry about all these figures. If MAFF's numbers are right, then in the 4 days from the 1st May, 253 farms have had their stock killed, 18,000 cows, 68,000 sheep, and 4,000 pigs. 90,000 animals. An average of 63 farms a day, 22,500 animals a day.

I have just written a lot that the computer has swallowed. I was sitting here boiling with rage at what I had just read, and writing furiously and now I could cheerfully throw something hard at this computer. I was about to write up notes I'd written out in the field this afternoon, when I read the transcript of Tony Blair's and Nick Brown's press conference on the 3rd May. It's on the MAFF web site. READ IT.

(6th May). I've sat down to rewrite my raging at the following. I'll save that for a letter to Mr Blair. Instead, read this that I've just seen in a diary written by a Minister from a church in Cumbria. "We were almost undone by an entry in the book at one of our churches in which visitors can make requests for prayer. We know that the authors lost their battle against foot and mouth a few weeks ago, and they simply wrote "pray for our animals who served us so well".

Reporter: (UNCLEAR). You mentioned about sixteen thousand farms being released, could you tell us how many farms are still restricted?

TB: Well there are many thousands of farms still obviously in the, in the infected areas that are still under restriction, it is still important to realise though, perhaps, perhaps I can just give you these facts because again this is a particularly important for the foreign media. We have slaughtered in the course of this Foot and Mouth epidemic still less than about five weeks normal food production. You know we, we slaughter for food production in this country around about thirty million animals a year. And as I was telling a, a meeting a couple of days ago something like fifteen million chickens a week in Britain are, are killed. So I just think it is important to put that in context and realise that if you take, not merely the infected farms but the affected farms, it is still a very small percentage of the over all livestock industry in the UK. Now that is not to minimise the importance and, and the importance of it. But the fact of the matter is that we are now back to what is it? Ninety nine percent of normal…

NB: Beef and …

TB: …pig, it is over eighty percent…

NB: …beef and pig are close to normal and sheep are up to seventy percent. We, we…

TB: …so that is going through the normal food production now and I think that again is important to, to emphasise in terms of setting this properly in, in, in perspective.

NB: We have culled out about two and a half percent of the national herd and flock for disease control reasons.

I will try and write what I wrote again tomorrow. I'm too tired now. James read it and he might remember.

Here's James and Jess this afternoon.

(6th May) See what I've written just above the transcript.

Notes written after lunch.

I am sitting in Underhill. We have just finished a picnic lunch. I can hear birds singing (no larks, they keep to the top of the farm, they don't like the enclosed valley), insects humming and buzzing, the river running fast over the rocks and th esound of dogs panting as they come closer to breath in my ear and then run away again. James is lying down asleep. The oak trees will soon be in leaf but their branches are dark and bare beside the hazel, hawthorn and willow where the bright haze of gren is spreading. A little brown frog has just hopped past my foot - Patch has his head down a rabbit hole - I can just glimpse one of the heifers lying down in the Ham and Amity, grazing, is slowly coming into view. The clouds are moving very slowly. It's hot in the sun, but when a cloud covers it it cools down for a while. Now there's a growling, snarling, as all 3 dogs have a play fight. There's some ragwort coming up in the field. We'll pull it up just as it flowers - a good job for WWOOFers in August. It's too peaceful even to write anything now.


Hoggs in Lower Brake. The red mark is to show they've been blood-tested.

I went to sleep then! We checked the bullocks and heifers and put a hogg back over the fence where she'd somehow got out in Lower Brake. We forgot to put the fence back on. Luckily! James had to go back and do it later and found a hogg stuck on her back. She was stopped from rolling over again by the slope up on one side and a tussock on the other. An email from Cathy today will tell you what could hapen then: "Yesterday evening I checked the ewes and lambs and found a ewe on her back and she had been attacked by the birds (rooks/crows) and her face was a mess. There was a lot of blood, it was a horrifying sight, so I brought her in and gently cleaned her head up best I could. Both eyes are very swollen and she can't see out of them. What damage her eyes have taken is hard to say, it is now a matter of allowing the swelling to go down and by then we will know the extend of the damage. I was looking at her this morning while feeding the orphans and had a picture of the rook's beak, ohhhh, it must have been a nightmare situation for her, poor old girl.". It doesn't take long for crows or rooks to find a sheep stuck on her back. She would die anyway, as they can't live for long on their backs. If you ever see a sheep stuck on her back, even if you don't know what to do, just get her on her feet again!


We have the convalescent lambs and ewes in the orchard by the Barn. There are only 2 orphans. While we were down in Underhill, one of the stragglers lambed. Only one to go now! And the next thing is calving.

6th May

6,750 farms affected. That's 86 farms for the 4 cases yesterday. It's not clear if it includes the 4 cases today.

The slaughter and disposal figures are interesting.

Slaughter/disposal numbers at 19:00 Saturday 5 May

2,562,000 animals slaughtered or identified as being for slaughter.
2,459,000 animals slaughtered, of which 38,000 remain to be disposed of.
430,000 cattle, 1,915,000 sheep, 112,000 pigs, 1,000 goats slaughtered.
111,000 animals awaiting slaughter.

Compared with Friday's figures, there are only 1,000 more animals slaughtered or identified as being for slaughter, but there are 9,000 more slaughtered, with only 1,000 fewer waiting for slaughter. But the 9,000 slaughtered are 1,000 cattle and 7,000 sheep. Come to your own conclusions.

I finished writing yesterday's diary this morning. then we went to church in Trebullett. It was the Sunday School Anniversary service, and the chapel was full of children and their families. It was a lovely, happy, moving service, with the children taking a central part. It was followed by a bring and share lunch in the hall. Everyone agreed that foot and mouth is certainly not over and that thre is a real danger in relaxing too soon.

It's been a cold day, quite bright, but with a cold wind again. One of the ewe hoggs is staggering about looking very ill. James has injected her with magnesium. She doesn't have a temperature so it isn't menangitis. It isn't something we've ever had in the flock before, but we have never kept them inside for so long before either.

There are some interesting stories about the start of this outbreak. From the Newcastle Chronicle " MAFF last night admitted it had been carrying out experiments on the foot and mouth virus before the outbreak, but a spokesman claimed the suggestion the virus had escaped from a laboratory or experimental site was "highly unlikely". "There is not a significant chance this theory is plausible, none of the labs has reported any escapes," he said. " One cannot help but wonder, an unreported escape is not altogether impossible. There is a similar story in the Independent. But Nick Brown said on thursday "....we agree with the view of the officials in France that the first outbreak was the farm at Heddon on the Wall." The officials in France are new characters in the scenario to me.

There is very little about foot-and-mouth on the news now. It is all about opening up the footpaths, and ramblers objecting to having any shut "where there haven't been cases of foot-and-mouth". They don't seem to realise that that doesn't mean there won't be any cases. The Governments propaganda seems to be working for them. Prof King said on Thursday ""The weekly average up to 3 May is now eight infected premises per day. Going back two weeks to 22 April, that weekly average was 16.
Going back two weeks from that, the weekly average was 32," he said. "It is certainly satisfactory to know that the rigorous policy that was introduced has in fact had a very significant effect." What he is not saying is that for the week up to the 2nd May there were almost 100 farms a day with their animals killed. 8 a day is nothing like 100 a day. He is not saying that the sheep on those farms are not being tested so we will never know if they were infected. The goal has always been to stop the infection, not to save animals. So far there have been five times more animals slaughtered than during the 1967 epidemic, when more confirmed cases were actually reported.

"We are on the home straight" (suitable words for Tony Blair's run up to an election, crass words for anyone whose business has been ruined or animals killed). Somerset looks bad. "David Bowman, MAFF divisional veterinary officer, said: "What we are trying to do is to grab it by the throat by taking out as many dangerous contacts as we can as quickly as we can." But one angry farmer said: "Everyone is shocked by the way the ministry seems intent on slaughtering everything, despite what the Government has promised on sparing rare breeds and cattle on contiguous culls. We all believe the rules have been thrown out of the window because the Government doesn't want a fresh outbreak in a new area in the run-up to an election."

The infection was found in 8 cows, then 2 cows and a bull, belonging to an itinerant farm worker, Rob Norman. He was renting two fields, and the bull, I gather was on a farm with 400 milking goats. Rob Norman was trained by MAFF to vaccinate. They ran a course at Hatherleigh, the centre of the North Devon outbreak! If the infection has started with him, then MAFF is very much to blame. The milking goats have been found to have been infected 2 weeks ago. At least 15 farms are now in danger of immediate culling. The Exmoor deer are also in danger. The owner of a herd of nearly 1,000 cattle on Exmoor is fighting against being killed. Anthony Gibson: ": "It is really much worse than anyone imagined. It is almost a microcosm of the start of the national epidemic. For that Exmoor herd to be killed as dangerous contacts is bad enough, but if those animals are found to have developed lesions and that farm becomes officially infected, the culling that would have to go on on all the contiguous farms is unthinkable. This is a black day for Exmoor."

"More worrying still is that among the new cases confirmed yesterday were animals belonging to another dealer, who may be responsible for numerous contacts of his own across the area.......... The situation mirrors that at the start of the national epidemic in Northumberland, where the disease also had a two-week start on the ministry. And the NFU say officials now have not so much a mountain as a vertical cliff to climb to bring it under control. " The slash and burn techmique will be used ruthlessly, I am sure. Why not vaccinate?

Another quote from Tony Blair. It is alarming that someone with so much power should sound so extraordinarily incompetent. The stumblings and repetitions are not my typing but are there in the transcript: " I would simply say to you that an operation of this size where you are dealing with thousands of different farms, hundreds of thousands of millions of farm animals, you know, often in quite difficult farming country in the sense that you are having to you know, visit farms in you know, remote parts of hill land and so on. You are bound to get a situation where you know, from time to time there is a cull done in the wrong place or this type of thing..." he is speaking as if parts of Cumbria were completely wild and uncharted, where the natives are dangerous savages. I have always found the ordnance survey maps reliable. This man once said in an interview "I am a country boy at heart".


While I've been writing this James has been out to the vet's to pick up some 25% magnesium sulphate for the hogg, as we'd only had a calcium / magnesium (5%) mixture, and she wasn't responding quickly enough. It's after midnight now, so bed.

7th May

Number of premises on which animals have been or are due to be slaughtered - 6,866. Another 116 farms, but only
one more case today,
1561 cases

49 cases for the week and 486 farms with all their animals killed

In the seven day period ending Sunday 06 May, there was an average of 7 new confirmed cases each day, compared to 11 in the seven day period ending Sunday 29 April. Sounds much better than the 69.4 farms culled each day in the same time.

Slaughter/disposal numbers at 19:00 Sunday 6 May
· 2,573,000 animals slaughtered or identified as being for slaughter.
· 2,474,000 animals slaughtered, of which 44,000 remain to be disposed of.
· 433,000 cattle, 1,928,000 sheep, 112,000 pigs, 1,000 goats slaughtered.
· 99,000 animals awaiting slaughter.

Another 11,000 animals condemned, Another 15,000 slaughtered. 3,000 cattle, 13,000 sheep. Again the numbers don't add up.


We moved the cows to Barn Park this morning.

MAFF seem to be determined to kill the cows on the Thomas-Everard's farm at Dulverton. The contact with Rob Morman was 11 days ago. The calves that he dehorned have had no contact with the rest of the stock. Mr Thomas-Everard was on the radio this morning. He has the support of his farming neighbours, a MAFF vet inspected his animals and said they were healthy. MAFF are seeking a court injunction to allow them to kill his 980 cattle. If you want to help, phone Labour party headquarters on : 08705 900 200 & 0207 802 1000 . Or go to Cull Maff for more phone numbers etc. Tony Blair's email is surgery@sedgefieldlabour.org.uk.

The slaughter is carrying on in Cumbria too. Tony Blair on Thursday said: "There have been images that have gone around the world that have been I think we all know, highly exaggerated..........and there have been a lot of really exaggerated stories you know." These highly exaggerated images were seen by holiday makers this past weekend as they drove past animals being killed in fields beside the A590.

One of the terrifying things about the slaughter is that so many of those involved on the ground, vets and slaughtermen, feel that their dreadful work is for the greater good. An article in the Telegraph last month.

The sick hogg died this morning. We are not sure what it was (definitely not FMD!). Sheep do die sometimes, but it's good to know why. There are several possibilities.

It's been a glorious day down here. It's difficult to believe that the horror is still continueing. We took sandwiches down to Lower Meadow at lunch time. The trees are an incredibly beautiful range of greens and soft greys and browns.

Looking over the valley, the dairy farm opposite has been cutting a lot of grass. There are no cows visible in their fields. They must be zero grazing. Sitting here it's difficult to think back to this afternoon, and the walk down through the woods to check up on the young cattle in the Ham. There are still some primroses out in the woods. The bluebells are only blooming in the sun on the fringe of the woods. The best of them will be another week or so. We are so fortunate to live here.


I've spent a long time this evening writing emails and faxes about the cull. I haven't had time to find out more about what's going on. I've got to the stage where I can't think straight.

An extract from the diary of Rosie Radcliffe, a Minister married to a Rector in Cumbria. I will put a link to more she's written tomorrow.

"A few weeks ago my husband was asked to bless a little flock of sheep and lambs, who were doomed to die under the cull. As he stood among them their bleatings and calls filled the air, but when he began to speak they stood unnaturally quiet and still. The tears flowed down his face in the midst of the stark reality of "innocent lambs to the slaughter" and the strange sense that they already knew their fate".

"For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence; he will cover you with his pinion, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, or the arrow that flies by day, or the pestilence that stalks in darkness, or the destruction that wastes at noonday." (Psalm 91:3-6)

The pestilence is already here, the enemy running rampant across our fields, but the God who cares for everything He has made is with us, with His help we will come through this and there will be Resurrection.

Revd Rosie Radcliffe
Radcliffes@zoom.co.uk

 

8th May

Number of premises on which animals have been or are due to be slaughtered - 7,132. Another 276 farms. Two more cases today. Now 1565 cases.


The timing of reporting cases could account for the one or two figures that don't agree. But the other figures make even less sense.

2,560,000 animals slaughtered or identified as being for slaughter.
2,471,000 animals slaughtered, of which 44,000 remain to be disposed of.
431,000 cattle, 1,927,000 sheep, 112,000 pigs, 1,000 goats slaughtered.
89,000 animals awaiting slaughter.

13,000 fewer animals to be killed! 3,000 fewer animals actually slaughtered! 2,000 cows surviving the cull, and 1,000 sheep.

The Daily average of animals slaughtered has changed too. On Monday I saw that there had been 18,000 animals a week killed in the week up to the 29th April. That figure has been removed and not replaced.

First, the figures from 1st May
For week ending Sunday 22 April - 42,000
For week ending Sunday 15 April - 61,000
For week ending Sunday 8 April - 62,000
For week ending Sunday 1 April - 53,000
For week ending Sunday 25 March - 34,000
For week ending Sunday 18 March - 20,000

Now the figures for today
For week ending Sunday 22 April - 51,000
For week ending Sunday 15 April - 56,000
For week ending Sunday 8 April - 60,000
For week ending Sunday 1 April - 39,000
For week ending Sunday 25 March - 28,000
For week ending Sunday 18 March - 15,000

The week ending 22nd April has been changed twice. It used to be 32,000. It's a week when the number of cases is meant to have been dropping rapidly. When first on the MAFF web site, it showed that the number of animals killed was half that of the previous week. Now it is 10% less. Either MAFF is being totally incompetent, or deliberately confusing the figures, or both. I tend to think both. Read Magnus Linklater in the Scotland on Sunday . He finishes "For some time it appeared that the driving force was purely economic. That was amoral, but at least it was understandable. Now it seems the reasons are principally political - that being able to present a ‘clean sheet’ on foot and mouth to the British public by June 7 is the overriding consideration. If that is the case, then one can only conclude, with Macbeth:

I am in blood
Stepp’d in so far that, should I wade no more
Returning were as tedious as go o’er. "

I have been thinking for some time that it is impossible for Blair to call a halt to the slaughter. To do so would be to admit that it had been horribly wrong. And anyway, a man who can say "something like fifteen million chickens a week in Britain are, are killed. So I just think it is important to put that in context and realise that if you take, not merely the infected farms but the affected farms, it is still a very small percentage of the over all livestock industry in the UK", a man who can equate a battery chicken, that lives for just 5 weeks from egg to table, with animals that have been raised with generations of stockmanship........once again I can not find the words. But it does put killing the Thomas-Everards cattle in context.

It's late. I wanted to say something about Ben Gill's latest, but it will have to wait for tomorrow. I had to go to a Parish Council meeting tonight. It's been a lovely day. We moved the ewes and lambs down to Lower Meadow (where we had lunch yesterday). I'm always surprised at how quickly they eat the grass.

One of the ewes, who is still in the shed because one of her lambs was not very strong, lay on it last night and killed it. We've checked our lambing record from last year and she lay on both her lambs last year when they were still very small. I remember I had wanted to get rid of her, but James had reckoned she should have another chance. She's unlikely to lay on her other lamb as it is quite big and strong. Bill skinned the dead lamb and put the skin on the smallest of our orphans, the one that has taken least happily to the bottle. It fits really neatly, like a little coat. I took a picture of it and didn't realise that I'd left the lense cap on. The ewe hasn't noticed that her lamb has changed, but then she hadn't noticed that she'd lain on it either. The orphan lamb is big enough not to be squashed (we hope).

Everything is growing wonderfully. The view from the kitchen gets greener by the day. Here are 2 of the hens who have just finished off the cats' food.

 

 

9th May

Number of premises on which animals have been or are due to be slaughtered - 6,981. There are suddenly 151 fewer farms.
Slaughter/disposal numbers at 19:00 Tuesday 8 May (1565 cases)
· 2,609,000 animals slaughtered or identified as being for slaughter.
· 2,522,000 animals slaughtered, of which 58,000 remain to be disposed of.
· 436,000 cattle, 1,968,000 sheep, 116,000 pigs, 1,000 goats slaughtered.
· 86,000 animals awaiting slaughter.

So, 39,000 more animals either "slaughtered or identified as being for slaughter". But 51,000 actually killed. There are 3,000 less "awaiting slaughter". (What an image that phrase conjures up, animals patiently waiting, not knowing what's ahead for them, their owners anxious, frightened, angry ). Of those killed 5,000 are cattle, 41,000, sheep, 4,000 pigs, and the remaining thousand are not accounted for. The daily averages have changed dramatically for every week except the first. I'll write more later. Normally I love working with numbers. You can trust numbers. People can show you the results they want, but so long as you have the basic numbers you can find the truth. I am feeling very angry and frustrated that the figures keep changing.


Daily average of animals slaughtered
For week ending Sunday 29 April - 20,000*
For week ending Sunday 22 April - 46,000
For week ending Sunday 15 April - 72,000
For week ending Sunday 8 April - 76,000
For week ending Sunday 1 April - 61,000
For week ending Sunday 25 March - 37,000
For week ending Sunday 18 March - 20,000
*provisional


Piglets escaping down the track. They are getting more adventurous and help to keep us sane!

We have had Sarah and Will for supper. Our first visitors apart from family since this began. They are off to work on a famr in New Zealand on Friday. It's sad to see bright enthusiastic young people leaving this country, but it's lovely for them that they'll have a future that cannot be found in this country. This country does not encourage young farmers unless they have a family farm to take over, and even then it does not make commercial sense for most of them to farm.

I won't write much now. I'm just doing this whilst James goes up to the shed to bottle feed the orphan. It's twin is not totally accepted by its foster mother but not rejected either. The weather is too warm to leave its coat on longer though!

The coat doesn't fit as well as yesterday. It's off just after this was taken.

James has just come back to say we've finished lambing. A last pair of twins. All well.

Some interesting extracts from the NFU bulletin today and then bed.

"MAFF review decision to slaughter on Exmoor: A decision is apparently imminent (i.e. tonight) from the Chief Vet, Jim Scudamore, on whether MAFF will pursue their intention to slaughter cattle on an Exmoor farm as "dangerous contacts". On the information now emerging, it appears that the very low risk of disease does not justify the slaughter of the cattle on this farm. We fully expect MAFF to reverse their decision and reprieve the animals, though veterinary examinations will continue.

There are serious questions to be answered about MAFF's risk assessment procedure and the way they have communicated with the farmers involved. In the future, MAFF must be able to justify contested decisions with accurate information placed in the public arena. The fog of rumour and misinformation surrounding this case has done nothing to improve our confidence in the way decisions are taken...........

Dartmoor Infected Area: As stated above, blood-testing around the Challonsleigh outbreak near Plympton has started, and no sign of residual disease has been detected so far. But even if all of the blood tests turn out to be negative, as have those around the Dunnabridge outbreak, the Dartmoor Infected Area will not be reduced. Why? Because the only road crossing the moor from East to West cannot be used as the boundary because parts of it are unfenced and sheep could wander across from the Infected Area to the At Risk Area, which, of course, is strictly forbidden. The fact that the sheep would have been blood-tested as clear of disease does not, apparently, come into it............

Press Conferences scrapped: MAFF has discontinued its three times a week press conferences at its Exeter office because it claims that they are too "political" to be staged during the General Election campaign. We find this totally baffling. If anything is political, it is the decision to scrap them, thereby seriously reducing the ability of the media to explore and discuss an issue which - election campaign or not - is still of over-riding importance to this region's rural communities.

SoSs - the MAFF explanation: Devon Divisional Vet, Ben Bennett, today gave a reason as to why the results of FMD blood tests are always regarded as totally watertight in SoS cases, but unreliable where disease has already been confirmed. He stated that that, with an SoS, a representative sample of the whole flock is taken, whereas in the wake of a clinical confirmation, it is only the infected animals from which samples are taken.

We remain unconvinced, and have formally requested that full cleansing and disinfection should be required with all SoS's, just in case any of the test results should happen to be false negatives.

Ash Moor - will it ever be used? The Ash Moor burial site - otherwise known as Lebrecht's Folly - will not be used unless there is a dramatic worsening of the disease situation. The site, near Petrockstowe in Devon, is presently the subject of a legal challenge in any case, but even if that fails, MAFF supremo, Peter Greig Smith, said today that "as at present, there are no plans to use it." Suggestions that it is there to cater for a wholesale slaughter of sheep in North Devon were hotly denied. Nor are there any plans to use the Westlake Farm carcass re-load site at Oakford in Devon.

Deer samples negative: Of the 30 samples being tested from deer in the Devon Infected Area, 23 have so far come back negative, with results awaited on the other seven. Reassuring? It depends on the reliability of the test."

I'd like to write more about the figures. Get a calculator and see how the previous figures add up. They don't match the totals. Remember that this outbreak is meant to have peaked in the week ending 1st April, with 43 cases a day. by the week ending 22nd April it is meant to be down to 16 cases a day. Compare the slaughter figures. Remember that the original confirmed figures for 22nd April were 22,000 a day. An email tonight: "Must try to work out what is going on. One explanation is someone realises that the figures are looking bad and they are now declassifying premises that do not have an Agricultural holding number or where the number of animals is too small (i.e..small flocks of pet sheep etc) but probably also incompetence and outright deception "

Any ideas? Explanations?

10th May

Only 30% of animals slaughtered on suspicion of foot-and-mouth were actually infected

MAFF are argueing that the blood tests being negative does not mean that there was no infection. Why say there is no FMD in deer when that opinion is based on blood tests too?

Number of premises on which animals have been or are due to be slaughtered - 7,082.


Slaughter/disposal numbers at 19:00 Wednesday 9 May

2,641,000 animals slaughtered or identified as being for slaughter.
2,547,000 animals slaughtered, of which 49,000 remain to be disposed of.
436,000 cattle, 1,992,000 sheep, 117,000 pigs, 1,000 goats slaughtered.
94,000 animals awaiting slaughter.

Another 32,000 animals identified for slaughter. Another 25,000 killed. 24,000 sheep and 1,000 pigs. Another 8,000 awaiting slaughter. the numbers almost add up.

The cattle on Exmoor are reprieved. Why were the other thousands killed then? Reports vary between 3,000 and 5,000 culled in the same area. One of the arguements used to the Thomas-Everards, was that their animals had to go because "the others hadn't resisted". The animal sanctuary in Scotland has lost its court action. They are still resisting, but the Scots MAFFia are determined to kill them. The infection near their farm was more than 6 weeks ago.

The Cheviots are in great danger. A third of the breed has been slaughtered. More are due to be killed. The nightmare is continuing on a large scale and a small scale. One couple have kept their two pet goats in a shed for seven weeks and MAFF are trying to kill them. "As the Government’s self-fulfilling prediction of zero cases by election day rolls forward, the slaughter of healthy animals has intensified" Magnus Linklater again, this time in the Times

And of course MAFF have stopped their daily press conferences "because of the election".

We are having a day off today. We had lunch at a lovely place at Slaughterbridge, where King Arthur fought his last battle. There was no one else there. Then we went to Trebarwith. It was hot but very hazy.

We got back in time for Primrose to have her calf. It was breach so needed to be pulled out (if they come slowly backwards they can be born suffocated). I'll put up some more pictures tomorrow. James and I are having a holiday. We are staying in our Barn for a couple of nights. It's been empty since February so we want to make sure everything is alright. We've just had supper sitting on the steps outside the kitchen, looking over the Barn orchard. It's amzing how much it fels like going away!

Primrose was a bit astonished at seeing what she'd produced!

11th May

Number of premises on which animals have been or are due to be slaughtered - 7,180. Another 98 farms, and 8 cases (1583)

Slaughter/disposal numbers at 19:00 Thursday 10 May
· 2,696,000 animals slaughtered or identified as being for slaughter.
· 2,612,000 animals slaughtered, of which 53,000 remain to be disposed of.
· 439,000 cattle, 2,054,000 sheep, 117,000 pigs, 1,000 goats slaughtered.
· 84,000 animals awaiting slaughter.

Another 55,000 animals identified for slaughter. Another 65,000 slaughtered. 3,000 cattle and 62,000 sheep. The numbers do at least add up today. But these vast numbers slaughtered are for 5 cases yesterday and 5 the day before. Nick Brown wrote to Ben Gill on the 8th May expressing concern at the delays in slaughter becuase of farmers resising:
"it is a matter of concern that we are meeting quite substantial, and in some cases locally concerted, opposition to the conduct of these policies.............It would be very helpful if you could do whatever you can, both nationally and through your regional offices and membership, to encourage co-operation with the authorities in carrying out the eradication programme. " There are many farms that are trying to resist that "encouragement" and many, many more that are isolated and alone (not all farmers have access to the internet!) and are having their animals killed.

On MAFF's own figures of misdiagnosis, if one then looks at the contiguously culled farms it looks as though 5,512 farms have been culled where there was no case of infection. (See my brother's graph on his site)

A quote from the warmwell site ( an excellent site) "The NFU executive is a non-elected body. Ordinary farmers have no time for microbiology. They look to the Veterinary and Public Health team of the NFU to do advise them. Unfortunately, the present policy of the NFU executive , far from being in the interests of its members, is based simply and solely on fear for the markets." It is worth reading what they have to say about the NFU and vacccination.

We have had our license requests turned down as we are still in an infected area. Our neighbours have had licenses. We want to move animals just over the road. We also want to get some hoggs off to the abattoir. It's frustrating and annoying as we should be able to. more paperwork!

We have been enjoying our 2 afternoons off. We will stay in the barn for a while, it needs to be lived in. It makes a lovely change to be eating breakfast looking out over the orchard at the "nursery" sheep (the lambs and ewes that need an eye kept on them). We had a take away curry tonight, sitting outside till it got dark.

Here are some pictures of the calf being born last night.

James and Bill are pulling on cords tied to the back legs. Daisy is getting in the way.

Holding the calf upside down, taking the mucus out of its mouth and letting fluid drain out. (The calf is small, but James is quite red in the face!)

Calf after having a drink, and it's getting dark.

12th May

Number of premises on which animals have been or are due to be slaughtered - 7,253. Another 73 farms. 6 more cases.

Slaughter/disposal numbers at 19:00 Friday 11 May .
· 2,724,000 animals slaughtered or identified as being for slaughter.
· 2,642,000 animals slaughtered, of which 54,000 remain to be disposed of.
· 441,000 cattle, 2,082,000 sheep, 117,000 pigs, 1,000 goats slaughtered.
· 82,000 animals awaiting slaughter.

Only 26,000 animals identified for slaughter, but 30,000 killed, 2,000 cattle and 28,000 sheep. The numbers awaiting slaughter don't make sense if compared to yesterday's. There should be 6,000 more "awaiting".
"Where a vet is not sufficiently sure of the clinical signs to make a positive confirmation but cannot rule out FMD, all susceptible animals on the farm are 'slaughtered on suspicion'; there have been over 250 such cases. Approximately 15% of laboratory tests in these cases prove positive. We have no wish to slaughter more animals than necessary to control the disease. This is why we refined the contiguous cull policy when the scientific advice was that we could do so. Diagnostic criteria are actively reviewed as the outbreak unfolds and the pattern of disease changes." from MAFF's site yesterday. So more than 200 farms have had their livestock wiped out unnecessarily. "as the pattern of disease changes". Does that mean "as we find we've killed too many healthy animals?" or has it something to do with the figures on the MAFF site changing. How can the epidemioligists know what's happening when no-one at MAFF seems to know how many animals are being killed? And 450 of the 1,579 farms confirmed at the time of a report from Pirbright (see BBC yesterday), did not prove positive when blood tests were carried out.

I would have expected the NFU to be speaking out very strongly about this. Instead: "A spokeswoman for the National Farmers Union said: "It was vital throughout that animals that were diagnosed were slaughtered within 24 hours. Obviously, complicated diagnoses had to be made and difficult decisions had to be made. If you had waited for test results you risk much more farms potentially coming down with foot-and-mouth if that first case had proved positive." Who is this spokeswoman? How many members of the NFU have had their animals slaughtered when not only have they not been infected, but there have ben no cases of infection near them.


Primrose's calf yesterday, less than one day old.

It's been a very hot day. Everything would be perfect if only it was! The grass is growing well, particularly over the road, where we are not allowed to move our animals. All our grazing and conservation plans are totally disrupted and we aren't being allowed to farm properly. What will we do about having our sheep shorn? As the weather gets hot, we will have massive welfare problems if they remain unshorn. We will have to shear them slowly ourselves, a few every day I suppose. Maybe it will get better by next month when shearing is due. I am also anxious about TB. TB in cattle, as in the human population, has been escalating over the last few years. Now no TB testing is being done.
James in Lower Racks.

We moved the one and two year olds from the Ham to Lower Racks. We want to move them to the Upper Mill fields, but that means going up the road 80 yards. We are waiting to get a licence to do so. The alternative is going down through the woods and cutting the fence. One of the jobs I had been going to get done whilst James was away in February was to get a swing shovel in and make a new track down through the woods and across to the Upper Mill fields. FMD put a stop to that. They will be alright for a few days now.

We took some beer down there later and sat at the top of the field looking out towards Bodmin Moor. We didn't get back for supper till 8.30. It was beautiful and peaceful. The long evenings are wonderful. There was a moorhen swiming across the pond on the way back. We saw four babies with a moorhen yesterday.


Walking down through the woods.

 

13th May

Another 300 farms.

Number of premises on which animals have been or are due to be slaughtered - 7,553.
Where have these farms come from? They don't match the slaughter figures.
Slaughter/disposal numbers at 19:00 Saturday 12 May
· 2,732,000 animals slaughtered or identified as being for slaughter.
· 2,657,000 animals slaughtered, of which 40,000 remain to be disposed of.
· 442,000 cattle, 2,097,000 sheep, 117,000 pigs, 1,000 goats slaughtered.
· 75,000 animals awaiting slaughter.

15,000 slaughtered of which 1,000 are cattle and 15,000 sheep. I've given up expecting these figures to make sense.

773 farms for the week up to today so the daily average is 110 farms

198,000 animals killed (199 if you add the sheep, cattle and pig numbers seperately), an average of 28,000 animals a day.

But only 5 cases a day.
So, isn't it good to be on the home straight, Mr Blair? Kill enough animals and there won't be any nasty cases of infection for your re-election.

I didn't feel like writing much yesterday, as we didn't come in till late and then we just sat and talked.

I went to church. I was a bit late as I had been looking for Primrose's calf (we tend not to give names to bull calves as, like this one, they will go for beef when they're 30 months old). It had hidden itself the wrong side of the hedgebank. Primrose was rather anxious, mooing softly. The calf can get under the electric fence and she can't follow it. Chris Tomlinson, the Methodist Minister was preaching. It 's Christian Aid week. He preached on the text where Jesus Says "Peter do you love me?" and Peter says "yes, of course I do". Jesus asks him 3 times, and each time he then replies to Peter's protestations "feed my lambs" "feed my sheep" "care for my sheep". Chris spoke about that horrible picture of a little lamb covered in mud, nothing to eat, nothing it could do for itself. He then said that there were so many people in that same positon, stuck in poverty and starvation and needing our help, and we must help them.

I went to see a friend after that, and didn't come back in the end till about three. James was doing all the work.

 

14th May

140 farms fewer than yesterday!

Number of premises on which animals have been or are due to be slaughtered - 7,413.
Slaughter/disposal numbers at 19:00 Sunday 13 May 22,000 more animals killed.
Numbers for last week then are now 90 farms a day.

· 2,747,000 animals slaughtered or identified as being for slaughter.
· 2,679,000 animals slaughtered, of which 37,000 remain to be disposed of.
· 447,000 cattle, 2,112,000 sheep, 118,000 pigs, 2,000 goats slaughtered.
· 68,000 animals awaiting slaughter.

There were 6 cases today, and 4 yesterday. Two of those were in Devon, one too close for comfort.

"Disease erupts again in Devon: Over the weekend there were two new outbreaks in the region, both in Devon: at Broadwoodwidger in beef cattle and at Knowstone, near South Molton, in beef cattle and sheep. In both instances, MAFF vets believe that cattle may have picked up the infection from sheep when they came into contact either directly with the sheep or indirectly by being put onto pasture previously grazed by sheep.
We are very concerned at reports that MAFF vets have been attempting to shoot the infected cattle in the Knowstone outbreaks with rifles, having previously scattered them far and wide across the surrounding countryside.
Reports from members in the area suggest that at least one additional farm may face having its animals slaughtered as a result." from today's NFU bulletin.

A FARMER who warned that re-opening footpaths to the public would put his farm at risk from foot-and-mouth has been hit by the disease. http://www.fwi.co.uk/Live/fwi-ext.asp?site=email&fileno=21876 Thomas Lord has had his 42 cattle and 197 sheep slaughtered after they became infected. "Ministry of Agriculture officials....... have not ruled out the possibility that walkers spread the disease."

If only we were allowed to vaccinate our animals. We could then relax. And this needless slaughter is continuing. A horrible story in the Western Morning news on Friday. "A North Devon country park has been reopened to the public following the removal for slaughtering of 200 sheep that were grazing on the land....Torridge District Council... worked with advice from MAFF. Councillor Mervyn Lane ...said "This is good news for tourism...The continued closure would have meant we would have lost out on a lot of tourism business".....Golf can once more be played at the Royal North Devon Golf Club, which leases part of the Burrows.." This little story highlights the attitude of MAFF and government. The animals don't matter. Cull them. Tidy them out of the way. They musn't stop people playing golf. I must find out if I can, how many members of this council are also members of the Golf Club. But it is only the same as Tony Blair's making sure the infection is stopped for the election... tregardless how many more animals are killed.

The current edition of the Veterinary Record - May 12, Volume 148, Number 19, pages 600-604 - has two short communications that relate to the current FMD epidemic in the UK. Details on the Warmwell site .The two scientific papers are by veterinary scientists at the Institute for Animal Health's laboratories in Pirbright. The first paper concludes that pigs are very resistant to airborne infection. The second calculates important differences in the likelihood of airborne spread depending on which species of animal is infected, and the size of the herd. "The implementation of the 48-hour contiguous herd culling policy has resulted in the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of animals and created severe disposal problems. "
See the New Scientist for more. In it "Mark Woolhouse, of the University of Edinburgh, one of the key modellers advising the government, says, .... that animals killed through the contiguous cull account for a small fraction of the total". If Woolhouse is telling the truth then MAFF's misleading figures are even more misleading, and the total of infected farms must be far greater. Either way, something is very wrong.


Ewe hoggs finishing the grass in Lower Brake

We moved the ewe hoggs from Lower Brake to Under Hill today. Lower Brake has been grazed far too hard. We had wanted them only to graze there for a couple of days, as it's a small piece of rough grazing that has lovely wild flowers and butterflies later in the summer. Under Hill shouldn't be grazed for more than a couple of days for the same reason. It's lovely in June and July walking across in a cloud of butterflies with the sweetest of scents from the clovers and flowers. The poor ram hoggs are still in the shed eating hay. It is so frustrating when there is plenty of grass over the road. We only have certain fields we can get a tractor on for cutting hay and silage, and some new fields are in conversion to organic, which means doing something fairly complicated with the grazing (involving even more paper-work!).

Ewe hoggs in Under Hill.

Ben Gill is in Australia at the moment. I'm not sure how any "farmers' leader" or anyone who considers himself to be one, could possibly justify being out of the country just now. He's at a farmers conference. I should imagine it's something of vital interest to the agri-businessmen whom he represents. While there he is making strange statements ""There's no doubt foot-and-mouth spread to the UK illegally and, unfortunately, we cannot rule out eco-terrorism....The pressures of the green groups are intense in Europe, and what I understand, building here in Australia ." Foot-and-mouth could easily have come into the country in the legal imports of meat that our Government allows from FMD infected countries. One conspiracy theory I've heard is that it has been spread to put small, environmentally-friendly, farms out of business. For a "farmers' leader" to be speaking out so very strangely about "green groups" as though they are all terrorists is quite mind boggling. I thought being green was what farming was meant to be about?

15th May

Number of premises on which animals have been or are due to be slaughtered - 7,511. Another 98 farms but only one case.

Slaughter/disposal numbers at 19:00 Monday 14 May
· 2,804,000 animals slaughtered or identified as being for slaughter.
· 2,718,000 animals slaughtered, of which 38,000 remain to be disposed of.
· 449,000 cattle, 2,150,000 sheep, 118,000 pigs, 2,000 goats slaughtered.
· 87,000 animals awaiting slaughter

Another 57,000 animals identified for slaughter. Another 38,000 killed, of which 2,000 are cattle and 38,000 sheep. MAFF have obviously realised that no-one is taking much notice of their figures and they show such contempt for the public that they can't always be troubled to make the numbers add up. Press briefings have been suspended "because of the election".

There are many farms in Devon where MAFF are trying to cull animals several weeks after neighbouring farms have had their animals killed. "If the farmer objects they are being threatened with the police and the army." It must be happening in other areas too. One old man of 84 has been told that his 22 pet sheep will be killed seven weeks after infection on the next farm. He is resisting. Our local paper is starting a campaign against the contiguous cull. If you want to pledge your support ring the newsdesk on 01752 765538.

"In the South West, the disgraceful botched slaughter of bullocks at Knowstone in Devon is nearly complete, three days after it was started and four days after disease was suspected. Test results are still awaited on animals slaughtered on suspicion of disease on three farms in Devon, including one deer farm near Okehampton.

"Damning indictment of contiguous cull: A paper written by eminent veterinary scientists, published in The Veterinary Record this week, suggests that MAFF's policy of culling all livestock on farms neighbouring outbreaks is scientifically flawed. The paper (available from us) examines the risk of infection spreading as a result of airborne spread. It suggests that even if 100 infected animals were breathing out the virus on an infected farm, only animals within 200m would be at risk of catching the disease through airborne spread.The paper acknowledges that the difficulty of diagnosing FMD in sheep warrants their slaughter on precautionary grounds, but states that veterinary surveillance of cattle and pigs would be an acceptable alternative to their slaughter on almost all neighbouring farms.This assessment vindicates the position taken by farmers, and by us (to the PM and Ministers - see Bulletins 39 & 41), who opposed the automatic slaughter of cattle on contiguous farms." from today's NFU bulletin (our bulletin's don't come from London, they're from the regional office).

We saw a video of men in white boiler suits running round a field taking shots at terrified animals. MAFF has excused itself by saying the animals were "highly strung". There is no excuse for that barbarity.


Megan on the steps ouside the Barn kitchen.

James moved the ram hoggs onto the lawn in front of the barn today whilst I was out shopping. The grass needed cutting, and it's one way of doing it. We'll need to move them round the back tomorrow. One of the ewes in the orchard has mastitis and isn't very well. The last lambs came out of the shed into the orchard today. The blossom is mostly out now. The hedgerows are looking more beautiful every day.

Ewes and lambs in Lower Meadow.

 

16th May

Number of premises on which animals have been or are due to be slaughtered - 7,541. only 30 more farms. 3 more cases. But 47,000 more identified for slaughter, and 54,000 killed, 1,000 cattle and 41,000 sheep. Somehow, 12,000 animals of an unknown species have been killed. On MAFF's slaughter figures there should be only 80,000 awaiting slaughter.

Slaughter/disposal numbers at 19:00 Tuesday 15 May
.
· 2,851,000 animals slaughtered or identified as being for slaughter.
· 2,762,000 animals slaughtered, of which 38,000 remain to be disposed of.
· 450,000 cattle, 2,191,000 sheep, 118,000 pigs, 2,000 goats slaughtered.
· 90,000 animals awaiting slaughter.

Listen to this morning's Today programme, with Alex Donaldson saying the contiguous cull "may have been excessive", David King saying "Analysis of the outbreak shows that where contiguous cull did not take place, there were still infected premises developing. Very simply, the proof is in the pudding - the policy was implemented at the point at which the outbreak was out of control and it has worked."

But Anthony Gibson, our branch of the National Farmers' Union, called Dr Donaldson's findings "an appalling indictment of a dreadful policy. It is clear that unless animals were within 100 m or 200 m of infected animals, they were at no risk. We have hundreds of thousands of animals being slaughtered unnecessarily, untold human anguish has been caused, hundreds of millions of pounds of public expenditure has been made. It could never possibly be justified."

From Rosie Radcliffe's diary from Cumbria. ".....what was known locally to be two distinct cases have been lumped together as one, and I'm reliably informed that this has happened in other places also. We have also heard that some new cases are not being reported as such but merely as "dangerous contacts" and that this (unofficial) policy will continue until after the election. This may be only the rumour machine which has certainly worked overtime during these weeks, but people on the ground "in the thick of it" are telling us the same story and it's deeply worrying. Are the numbers really accurate and are they falling as fast as official figures suggest?"


The hoggs had to go back in the shed. They have been reaching through and eating my yellow flags. Just 3 or 4 of them would have been a better idea for grass cutting as they've made a bit of a mess.

We spent part of the morning, after the normal jobs, getting started on a huge backlog of paperwork. We were going to spend half the afternoon on it as well, and then we had a phone call from a MAFF vet. She was with us 15 minutes later. She came about our license to move animals across the road and she had to check every animal concerned, by looking at its face, and seeing it walk. She wore the usual disposable boiler suit and rubber gloves. It took a while as we had to go down to Under Hill. We've got our licence but it has to be used within 24 hours of the inspection. James has been pressure washing the trailer and quad for moving the rams, and getting hurdles ready for moving the cows. We decided it would be easier to move the bullocks through the woods as by the time we disinfected 80 yards of road and moved everything else, we'd never get it done.

Primrose and Daisy find this little tree ideal for scratching their backs. It's not doing the tree much good!

 

17th May

Number of premises on which animals have been or are due to be slaughtered - 7,563. Another 23 farms. No cases. 7,000 animals identified for slaughter. 6,000 killed. 1,000 cattle, 7,000 sheep. The numbers have dropped dramatically for the first time today. But the numbers still don't add up and there is the same number of animals awaiting slaughter. Have they just had a day off? Why are they not getting through the backlog?
Slaughter/disposal numbers at 19:00 Wednesday 16 May

· 2,858,000 animals slaughtered or identified as being for slaughter.
· 2,768,000 animals slaughtered, of which 36,000 remain to be disposed of.
· 451,000 cattle, 2,198,000 sheep, 118,000 pigs, 2,000 goats etc slaughtered.
· 90,000 animals awaiting slaughter.
Daily average of animals slaughtered
For week ending Sunday 6 May - 11,000
For week ending Sunday 29 April - 21,000
For week ending Sunday 22 April - 55,000
For week ending Sunday 15 April - 78,000
For week ending Sunday 8 April - 82,000
For week ending Sunday 1 April - 66,000
For week ending Sunday 25 March - 38,000

These daily averages keep changing. What are the true figures? On the 1st May, the number per day for the 1st April was 39. It's changed 4 times, and is now 66. That's 273,000 for the week jumping to 462,000. These are the figures fed into the epidemiological models, that justified the contiguous cull. Did MAFF tell the epidemioligists that the figures were provisional?

We have been moving animals all day. It's late and I'm too tired. There's lots to write . Look at this site to see what's been happening. They have a good selection of what's in the papers. I need to copy out a lot of what's been in the WMN over the last 2 days

.

Cows over the road. You can just see the roof of the house.

 

 

18th May

Number of premises on which animals have been or are due to be slaughtered - 7,367.
"The figure is smaller than previously reported as data cleaning has identified approximately 200 premises where slaughterings taking place on more than 1 occasion were being counted twice as seperate premises." I'm pleased there are fewer farms than had seemed, but even less impressed by MAFF's data collection. for those who don't know, every farm has a holding number. Presumably every number is fed into a computer.

Slaughter/disposal numbers at 19:00 Thursday 17 May

2,912,000 animals slaughtered or identified as being for slaughter.
2,847,000 animals slaughtered, of which 26,000 remain to be disposed of.
460,000 cattle, 2,268,000 sheep, 118,000 pigs, 2,000 goats etc slaughtered.
65,000 animals awaiting slaughter.

Somehow, even though there were no more cases yesterday (there were 4 today), there were 54,000 more animals identified for slaughter. 79,000 killed . 9,000 cattle, and 70,000 sheep.

I am sorry, but this is going to be another day with not much news. I didn't say, on Saturday, that Bill had left. It's made a huge amount of extra work, not having him here. He'd been with us for 8 weeks and he made life a lot easier for us. We're only fully appreciating how much, now that he's gone. We're missing his cheerful competence, and the animals are mising him too.


James driving hoggs through the woods with Jess.

The fiasco in North Devon. The story is here ." The weapons they used were shotguns, firing cartridges fitted with a single, round shot. But with no rifling in the barrel or on the projectile, the speed of the shot and the killing range were limited. And with spooked, stampeding cattle, mistakes were inevitable." 25 bullets were used to kill 5 of them. Blair and Brown are still smiling. Blair is excusing his deputy for punching a man who threw an egg at him. What excuse wiould he make for this I wonder?

This has just arrived in my inbox:

CHANGING POLICY "Opinion" Editorial, The Scottish Farmer, May 19, 2001, . FOR LONG ENOUGH we’ve known that this Government can be bought for £1m, whether it be to obtain a passport, pander to animal rights activists or to advertise tobacco on racing cars! Added to that list can now be Phoenix the calf and the Mossburn Animal Sanctuary, the price this time though being something less tangible than cash - that of creating a "feel good, I’m in control" factor for Tony and the Labour Party in the run-up to the General Election.
Whether or not the animals at Mossburn should have been slaughtered or not is not really the point. The fact is that Mossburn, supported by luvvies like Joanna Lumley, have changed Government policy in Scotland over the three km cull - and no amount of spin by any politician will convince Scottish farming otherwise.
But, at this moment, we would ask the luvvies, MAFF officials, SERAD etc to spare a thought for (among many others) some hefted Cheviot flocks near Langholm, the Annandale Holstein heifers or some of the irreplaceable beef herds of the area - animals of strategic breeding value whose bloodlines have been lost forever The Prime Minister evidently didn’t think them "sexy" enough for his election campaign. END

From the NFU : "Shear chaos: The new licencing arrangements will not apply until June 1st. In the meantime, on animal welfare grounds as much as anything, the contractors simply must get started, within the Infected Areas as well as outside them. We strongly suggest that if you need your sheep shorn, you contact your contractor, and take it from there."


Polly over the road.

19th May

Number of premises on which animals have been or are due to be slaughtered - 7,433. Another 66 farms, though MAFF still have their message about "data cleaning" up. They don't mention the other farms that disappeared.

I hate to go through these figures. I can't think like Blair and Brown and only see statistics. I couldn't help crying earlier when I read an article by Emma Tennant in the Times. I can't find a link to it, and I haven't got it here with me. It was about the culling of hefted flocks. The protection promised by Blair is, not surprisingly, not forthcoming. How can we stand by and do nothing?

Slaughter/disposal numbers at 19:00 Friday 18 May
2,973,000 animals slaughtered or identified as being for slaughter.
2,896,000 animals slaughtered, of which 24,000 remain to be disposed of.
461,000 cattle, 2,315,000 sheep, 118,000 pigs, 2,000 goats etc slaughtered.
77,000 animals awaiting slaughter.
Another 61,000 animals identified for slaughter (for the 5 cases reported yesterday). 49,000 killed, 1,000 cattle and 47,000 sheep.

The daily average has changed again. Unfortunately I haven't been keeping track of the figures all the way through. Has anyone out there got the real daily figures? I have them for the week ending the 13th. There were208,000 killed that week, and I make that 29,714 as a daily average, rather than the 8,000 that MAFF has on its site.

Their graph looks more in line with the number of cases. It looks much better to have more deaths when they were reporting more cases. Truth does not seem to be relevant.

Daily average of animals slaughtered
For week ending Sunday 13 May - 8,000
For week ending Sunday 6 May - 16,000
For week ending Sunday 29 April - 30,000
For week ending Sunday 22 April - 58,000
For week ending Sunday 15 April - 77,000
For week ending Sunday 8 April - 80,000
For week ending Sunday 1 April - 65,000
For week ending Sunday 25 March - 37,000

I have been sent a rather disturbing email:
"I have just been telephoned by a respected Veterinary Surgeon who is a friend and also is seconded to MAFF. He has confirmed that Vets have been instructed to 'avoid' blood testing to confirm FMD and that where possible i.e. Farmer does not insist on second opinion/blood tests that the farm is recorded as slaughter on suspicion (no need to record this publicly). Blood tests which are taken and prove possitive may be 'lost'. He has confirmed that the 2nd wave will be just after the election. He has asked if we could get journalist interested in investigating this as (he wouldn't give the reason) he and others cannot go public with this from the Veterinary profession. He has said that shearers, movement of animals, illegal or otherwise and farmers becoming complacent will be blamed on the apparent resurgence of the disease. This explains the cattle pens going up at Great Orton, the continuance of digging graves at various sites throughout the UK,the Army being kept in place both in Cumbria and other places, and the Vets remaining on standby."

Someone else has told me that lorries for carrying bodies in Brecon have been booked till Christmas. Other people are reporting that where they know for certain that two adjacent farms have confirmed foot-and-mouth, only one of the farms is going down on the statistics. What exactly is going on? For 208,000 dead animals to turn into 42,000, cannot be explained away as "data cleaning". It seems unlikely that it is just incompetence either, though I keep hearing stories of incompetence, like the farmer in North devon, who heard from a neighbour that a dead bullock was lying in one of his remoter fields with a plastic bag over its head. It was there for 48 hours and MAFF hadn't thought to inform him. It was one of the bullocks that they spent 3 days chasing around the countryside taking pot shots at. They would have removed it without telling him, and he would not have known not to graze any of his own stock in that field.

I heard 2 days ago, that the disinfecting and cleaning on farms where animals have been killed, means that swallows are losing their nests. One farmer described how the swallows that have been coming for generations have been trying to rebuild their nests, but are having them knocked down as fast as they try. I should imagine that this cleaning process will also be disturbing bats and barn owls. It grows worse and worse.

I have had a lovely relaxed evening and I've stayed up late now doing this. We had fun moving the pigs earlier. they are now in the field. I'll just put up a couple of pictures.

20th May

Number of premises on which animals have been or are due to be slaughtered - 7,509. Another 76 farms. When is it going to end?
A friend from the States has sent me a link to Emma Tennant's article. There are several links to articles on the Warmwell site. The Sunday Telegraph has been noticing the number of animals being killed. An article by Christopher Booker points out that in the 10 days before last Thursday, more than a quarter of a million animals were killed on more than a thousand farms.
Slaughter/disposal numbers at 19:00 Saturday 19 May
· 3,030,000 animals slaughtered or identified as being for slaughter.
· 2,952,000 animals slaughtered, of which 28,000 remain to be disposed of.
· 462,000 cattle, 2,370,000 sheep, 118,000 pigs, 2,000 goats etc slaughtered.
· 78,000 animals awaiting slaughter.

Another 57,000 animals identified for slaughter. 56,000 killed, 1,000 cattle and 55,000 sheep. Have you noticed that they are now referring to "goats etc"? That must include the alpaccas and llamas. The figures do not include the lambs at foot. Only weaned lambs are counted.


Jess, lambs and ewes. If these lambs were culled they would not appear on the statistics.

I have been checking the figures for the week up to the 6th May. On MAFF's daily figures, the average per day over the week is more than 30,000 (total of 212,000). MAFF now say it was 16,000. So in the fortnight up to 13th May, MAFF reported 420,000 killed and today on their site it is, somehow, reduced to 168,000. I am just waiting for them to put up a graph of animals killed per day. It will mirror the number of cases. So far this week (today's figures not yet available), there have been 273,000 killed. More than 48,000 a day. But the epidemioligists have been proved right. There were less than 2 cases a day for the week! Only 13,429 (I added the figures on MAFF's site, and it's late and I haven't checked but it must be roughly right) animals on confirmed infected farms killed. So a quarter of a million in 6 days from the contiguous cull.

We went to a wonderful Rogation day service in the open air in Launceston. It was in the carpark up on Race Hill, looking over Devon, with the black smoke from a bonfire in the distance. We sang a hym written by Tony Ingleby, the vicar in the next parish who is also chaplain at the local agricultural college. He wrote it more than a year ago, when we thought farming was going through the "worst crisis since the 1930's". He had written a new verse.

We see our farmers suffering once again
First market prices, then the teeming rain.
Now this disease brings some to dark despair.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our heartfelt prayer.

It was good to see so many people there, and to pray together and sing together, and later to talk. I heard one story that touched me particularly. On one farm the little boy had been rearing an orphan lamb. They came to kill the sheep and his lamb was missing. The slaughterman in his white boiler suit had to go into the farmhouse and up to the boy's room where the tame lamb was hidden in a wardrobe.

We had to go past the pigs. One of the lambs got in with them.

We moved the lambs and ewes up to Bush Park. It was reseeded with a new ley last autumn, but the terrible rain meant it went in late, and it hasn't come to much. The sheep grazing will help to control the weeds and the sparse grass to tiller. If it rains a little and they make it a bit mucky it will be good for sowing some more clover.


Slightly strange angle. Gertie knocked over the water to make herself a wallow. She and Gussie had a bit of a fight when they came out yesterday, but they have settled down now.

 

21st May

Number of premises on which animals have been or are due to be slaughtered - 7,542. only 33 farms. only 20,000 animals killed. In a week when there were only 3 cases a day, 293,000 animals were killed, 41,857 a day. But expect these figures to go up. They are culling 200 farms near Settle in Yorkshire. "Mr Scudamore confirmed that all animals, including cattle, would be culled on neighbouring premises. “The nature of the local farming practices means there can be as many as 16 contiguous premises to each infected premises,” A police spokesman said slaughtering and carcass removal was likely to lead to road disruption and closure and urged motorists to avoid the area.

Slaughter/disposal numbers at 19:00 Sunday 20 May
· 3,050,000 animals slaughtered or identified as being for slaughter.
· 2,972,000 animals slaughtered, of which 26,000 remain to be disposed of.
· 462,000 cattle, 2,390,000 sheep, 118,000 pigs, 2,000 goats etc slaughtered.
· 78,000 animals awaiting slaughter.

Message from the Cull Maff website

Help is desperately needed in the Yorkshire Dales. The latest target for the unscientific mass slaughter is the beautiful, normally serene area around Settle, Malham & SKIPTON. Devoid of tourists, the pubs & hotels are now full of the MAFF death squads. We DESPERATELY need to make the local farmers aware of their rights and counter the bullying & misinformation propagated by MAFF. Can YOU help?

PLEASE PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT NOW - EMAIL (cullmaff@lineone.net), FAX (0870 787 5241) OR PHONE (0870 787 5265)

Also, if you want to make any comments re the massive cull of healthy animals that is taking place round Settle, please contact:

MAFF (London HQ) - 0207 238 6000 (Ask for Nick Brown's office - his secretary is collating information which will be passed on).

State Veterinary Service - 0207 904 6000 (Ask for Jim Scudamore's office - his secretary is very defensive, but is taking messages!)

MAFF (Leeds Office - Animal Health) - 0113 2300 100

CONTACT LABOUR PARTY HQ - Tel 08705 900 200 and 0207 802 1000 Email info@new.labour.org.uk

CONTACT TONY BLAIR - 10 Downing Street, London.

Please tell them:

- They cannot get away with "slaughtering on suspicion" or on the basis of "dangerous contacts", without providing some form of proof, to the farmers & to the general public. Let's have blood testing.

- The Donaldson report in The Veterinary Journal clearly states that the chances of airborne transmission are extremely low. There is therefore no good scientific reason to slaughter on suspicion. The minimal delay involved in blood testing would do no harm, providing good biosecurity measures are in place.

- EU Law specifically forbids the killing of healthy animals where an alternative (ie blood tests & vaccination) exists.

- Without performing blood tests or proper clinical examinations, any vets serving A Notices may be reported to the RCVS and disciplined ( & possibly struck off.)

I am feeling too deeply angry and depressed to write more now.

 

22nd May

Number of premises on which animals have been or are due to be slaughtered - 7,588. Another 46 farms. Another 31,000 animals identified for slaughter. 31,000 killed, 3,000 cattle and 28,000 sheep.

Slaughter/disposal numbers at 19:00 Monday 21 May
· 3,081,000 animals slaughtered or identified as being for slaughter.
· 3,003,000 animals slaughtered, of which 26,000 remain to be disposed of.
· 465,000 cattle, 2,418,000 sheep, 118,000 pigs, 2,000 goats etc slaughtered.
· 78,000 animals awaiting slaughter.

I had an email from the labour party today. It did not answer my question about the culling, and directed me to their web site. There is nothing on it about FMD, nothing even about farming or the countryside. I rang the Bristol office as that was the contact given for the local Labour candidate. I was assured by the man who answered the phone that the foot and mouth crisis was "clearly under control". When I asked him if he knew that there were more than 41,000 animals a day killed last week, for the 3 cases a day, he replied that 3 cases a day showed it was "clearly under control". He had not time to check MAFF's figures himself as he was very busy. When I asked him what his reaction was to the news that there had been so many animals killed, he replied "I am a vegetarian". When I said I would quote him on this page, he said I was "threatening him". I am sorry to be so childish, but this rather silly exchange does highlight for me the blinkered attitude of the Party that will probably be re-elected.

I've just come in from a peaceful time outside. We took a picnic supper to the top of Higher Racks, and sat drinking beer looking out over the valley with the dogs chasing rabbits and the bullocks and heifers standing up near us, looking interested and quietly licking each other. We stayed till we were getting bitten by gnats at about 8.30. The long shadows make the view even more beautiful and the bird song was as deafening as usual. The hawthorn is beginning to bloom and most of the trees are in leaf, but the ash trees are mostly only just breaking.

We are so lucky to be able to live in this beautiful place. It is a great responsibility, too. We must look after it, and leave it beter than we found it. I love this time of year. Everything is full of promise. The promise is not going to be fulfilled in our field of triticale which is yellow with charlock. the bees love it. walking through it, the humming almost drowns out the sounfdof the birds.


Gertie and piglet.

The Labour Party's General Sectetary has written to the broadcasting companies complaining that broadcasters had colluded with protesters to disrupt its campaign. Mr Blair called the row "wallpaper" and added: "The matter's closed as far as we are concerned". He said that voters really wanted to know about "the big policies". But freedom of the media is more than a "big policy". Our freedom depends on it. I've just read Paul's diary for today and, as he says, "surely it is the duty of the press to ask ‘difficult’ questions of our governors. Their mania to control has reached very disturbing levels and very little of what they produce as ‘facts’ can be believed."

The Consevatives have produced a graph showing the way the slaughter figures look from my perspective. Their motives are purely political, but I'm glad they are finally waking up. MAFF, of course, are saying that the figures do not represent reality as there is a backlog in gathering the figures. And the slaughter will be accelarating now that there are more cases of infection in Yorkshire. Tony Blair needs the figures on his graph to continue to go down, regardless of the number of animals killed. From today's Times "On Sunday one farmer, Richard Barron had to tell his daughter Laura, 5, that her pet sheep and its lamb, born only the day before, were going to be killed.
“She took it quite well,” he said. “She just went out and cuddled the lamb and said: ‘Sorry, but they are coming to shoot you.’ That was when it really got to me.”

From Channel 4 news: "Godfrey Haygarth's fields are empty. The Dale's bred sheep he'd taken a lifetime to breed were all slaughtered this week. The summer pastures are now silent. "I couldn't face it, I just could not face it, they were killing me as well. They've killed my sheep and I know everyone...it's horrendous, all they are bothered about is kissing babies and thinking about the election and that's the truth."
And down in the valley the images the government hoped you wouldn't see during this election campaign, the mass slaughter of sheep and cattle.

Sleeping piglets.

From yesterday's WMN , a report on a farm in North Devon where they killed 18 cattle, 210 sheep, 3 goats and 1 pig and "1,200 chickens were also killed as a precaution". The farm was infected, rather than contiguously culled. The farmer is quoted as saying " I watched them do the cattle. I felt I had fed them and looked after them and that I should be with them. But I couldn't watch the sheep, that was too much, some of them were like pets. You get to know them, some of them you've had a long time."

There is an article about Roy Anderson in this week's Private Eye. It is quoting a story in the Telegraph from last year. He is the scientist responsible for the contiguous cull. Draw your own conclusions. Some more articles on the farm-talking website

I have just heard that MAFF have an injunction to kill the healthy animals on this farm. It is suspected that they will make a dawn raid. Several peopl ewill be there to protest. Anyone reading this who can go, please do so. The more people with cameras the better. Beech Grove Farm, Knowstone. Devon. The farm is located just south of the A361 trunk road and is next door to Owlaborough Farm.

23rd May

The number of premises recorded on which animals have been or are due to be slaughtered is currently 7,613. Please note that this figure is subject to revision as data is added to our database retrospectively.

25 more farms. 7,000 more deaths. But if data is added retrospectively, how does that account for figures going down?

Slaughter and disposal numbers at 19:00 Tuesday 22 May
The database shows:
· 3,087,000 animals identified for slaughter.
· 3,008,000 animals recorded as slaughtered (467,000 cattle, 2,421,000 sheep, 119,000 pigs, 2,000 goats) and
· 78,000* animals awaiting slaughter.
· Of those animals slaughtered 26,000* remain to be disposed of.
*Reports from the regional offices suggest that these figures are overstated and that there is no significant backlog of either slaughterings or disposals. Work to speed up data collection is continuing and we expect that the statisitics will soon catch up with the reality on the ground.

Someone at MAFF has realised that people are noticing their figures. Their statement today is rather at odds with thier statement 2 or 3 weeks ago "There was a delay in the collection of these figures at the height of the disease, given the scale of our operations but this has now largely been dealt with and only a residual backlog of data remains to be cleared." I had understood from MAFF that the disease peaked more than 6 weeks ago.

From the Daily Telegraph "THE Ministry of Agriculture is using the Data Protection Act to block information on the numbers and types of most animals culled due to foot and mouth disease, it emerged yesterday. Even parliamentary candidates are being refused statistical information of culls on contiguous farms close to confirmed outbreaks in their own constituencies. " I used to be pleased we did not live in a police state.

The farm I spoke about last night have had their animals killed. We saw them on the news earlier. They looked fit and healthy. The slaughterers were just moving in. It made me feel sick. If this can happen to an elderly couple who have done nothing wrong and who have said they were appealing against the court judgement it can happen to anyone. This time it's farm animals. What will it be another time? An email from a farmer:

"His cattle passed an inspection by MAFF vets at 7pm last night. MAFF returned
today with Trading Standards, a valuer and army personnel and camped
themselves in his yard and said they were going to kill his animals, despite
not having done a blood test, being given a MAFF 'all clear ' 12hrs previous,
and not waiting to hear the outcome of an appeal lodged in court on their
behalf. After 4 hours of further wearing down by MAFF, the 68 year-old,
finally, gave up the struggle, he'd had enough. Both he and his wife have had
10 days of heartbreak and despair, sleepless nights and shed buckets of
tears.

I spoke to the farmer, his wife and his 39 year-old daughter, faxed and
e-mailed material to delay what was to become the inevitable. Another
terrible day for an innocent family and more lives needlessly wrecked. It's
not nice to hear. The slaughter will have begun by now. The question is: why? "



Megan in the charlock. James would probably prefer me not to show this field! But things don't always work out in farming, and the bees are happy1

There is a good article by Simon Jenkins in the Times: "Does the Government care? There is no Government, only politicians fighting an election. Policy on foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is now running on autopilot. Pro-vaccination farmers are in open revolt. Government scientists deride contiguous slaughter. Statisticians are ordered to massage any figure, suppress any outbreak, to prove the “policy is working”. The front pages must be kept otherwise engaged. Everyone is told to keep culling and keep quiet."

24th May

The number of premises recorded on which animals have been or are due to be slaughtered is currently 7,665. Another 52 farms. 20,000 more killed.

Slaughter and disposal numbers at 19:00 Wednesday 23 May

· 3,101,000 animals identified for slaughter.
· 3,028,000 animals recorded as slaughtered (469,000 cattle, 2,435,000 sheep, 122,000 pigs, 2,000 goats) and
· 73,000* animals awaiting slaughter.
· Of those animals slaughtered 15,000* remain to be disposed of.

There is a lot in the Times today, an 8 page supplement. Read the article by Magnus Linklater."..... if the country lies deserted, barren, empty of life, then at least we know that there are no dangerously infective animals wandering round it."

There is excellent coverage in our local WMN as well. I find it so frustrating that the articles are not on the www. "...the face of misery in the countryside which politicians are doing their utmost to hide from the eyes of the national electorate..." There is a quote from Nick Brown, being interviewed about the culling at the Winslade's farm yesterday.."Effectively what issues like this do is to pitch the individual interests of the farmer against the broader interests of society, in particular the rest of the farming community and the tourist and livestock sector." How can that man be so out of touch? The Winslade's interests are my interests and those of society as a whole. If one man's freedom, to raise his healthy animals, in peace, in his old age, is brutally taken from him by the state, then all of us have lost our freedom.
The contiguous cull was described by Anthony Gibson as "one of the most bloody, tragic and disgraceful misjudgements ever commited". The Devon NFU Chairman writes " Has the contiguous cull been an essential tool to combat a virulent disease or the most offensive and cynical use of political will to achieve the background for an election campaign? Or did the lunatics take over the asylum?.......The contiguous cull, misconceived and born in panic, scientifically unsound, random and unfair in application, devastatingly expensive, and, most damningly of all, ommitting to cull animals that actually are at risk, has been applied with zealous and unthinking viciousness to the cream of our farming stock." Mark Daniel writes a long article, finishing "Ever since Phoenix was spared, the entirely spurious image of the countryside rising from the ashes of the early pyres was deliberately promulgated in order to permit an election to go ahead. The outbreak in North Yorkshire has set the embers blazing again, and this time, no amount of spin, no fraudulent protestations of being "in control", no magical little calf, no attempts to suppress news will extinguish them. The country's fate may be decided at the election. The countryside's is already sealed in order to allow that election to take place."

There is a story on FWi about the Winslade's. Apparently they were told they would face a £30,000 bill if they lost their case. They are a 68 year old couple who haven't been making enough out of their farm to qualify to pay taxes.

It's been a lovely sunny day again. Daisy's calf was already born this morning. She had started to udder up, but hadn't looked as though she would calve so soon, on time to the day! It's another bull calf. Now we need to go through the process of getting a licence to move them over the road to join the cows.

We needed to go to Liskeard to get some more pig food, so we went together and had lunch out, at a little cafe . Later, when I walked down to check the young bullocks and heifers I sat for 20 minutes or so, just listening to the birds and watching the breeze blowing through the long grass. Very peaceful and restful.


The piglets climb right into their trough. They have a "creep" fenced off from Gussie and Gertie. They also eat from G & G's troughs but get tossed in the air (literally) when they get in their way.

 

25th May

The number of premises recorded on which animals have been or are due to be slaughtered is currently 7,691. 26 more farms.

Slaughter and disposal numbers at 19:00 Thursady 24 May
3,105,000 animals identified for slaughter.
3,030,000 animals recorded as slaughtered (472,000 cattle, 2,434,000 sheep, 122,000 pigs, 2,000 goats) and
75,000* animals awaiting slaughter.
Of those animals slaughtered 20,000* remain to be disposed of.
Only 2,000 animasl killed. It sounds much better until you look at the figures again. 3,000 of that 2,000 are cattle and 1,000 sheep have not been killed after all. Are they just playing with numbers? If they don't even know what they are doing...!

I am sorry, everybody. I am going to bed. It's nearly midnight and I 've been vcleaning the Barn all day, ready for our first visitors. It's looking good and I'm tired!

Just had this via someone else. It is "by a farmer- to other farmers"

To Farmers Who Are Affected by Foot & Mouth:

Eight farmers have lost all their stock in Roeburndale valley due to one case. I was one of those farmers. May the Road rise with you is a Celtic blessing which I used for my sheep before they were slaughtered on Wednesday 11 April 2001.
The vets, slaughter men and the army were present.
I found this very appropriate and hope that other farmers in a similar position can use it.

May the road rise with you
May the wind be always at your back
May the sun shine warm upon your face
May the rain fall soft upon your fields
And until we meet again
May god hold you in the hollow of his hand.

Prior to the slaughter I also gave the sheep some Bach Flower remedy called Aspen which is for "Fear of Death" and gives a feeling of fearlessness,
"Once realised, we are beyond pain, suffering, care, worry, fear and become participants of true joy."

I took this remedy as well as some of the other participants.

This remedy was sprayed on the sheep so that it touched their eyes or noses. Within minutes of using it the sheep and lambs settled down peacefully in the pen. I hope that this will help other farmers cope with this devastating time."
Rod Everett (via email)

 

26th May

The number of premises recorded on which animals have been or are due to be slaughtered is currently 7,691.

7 more cases but no more farms. That's good. Unfortunately even though there are no more farms, they have identified another 10,000 animals for slaughter. 22,000 more have been killed, 3,000 cattle and 19,000 sheep.

Slaughter and disposal numbers at 19:00 Friday 25 May
The database shows:

3,115,000 animals identified for slaughter.
3,052,000 animals recorded as slaughtered (475,000 cattle, 2,453,000 sheep, 122,000 pigs, 2,000 goats) and
63,000* animals awaiting slaughter.
Of those animals slaughtered 26,000* remain to be disposed of.

There is more in the papers today. The Telegraph is questioning the figures. The fires are now generally considered to have been bad for human health (quite apart from spreading the disease). :"CARCINOGENIC pollutants from foot and mouth pyres may have found their way into milk, the Food Standards Agency said yesterday. A study has shown that full fat milk from cows grazing within 1.2 miles of burning cattle could contain potentially dangerous levels of dioxins." Look at Warmwell for a good list of news stories. I've just been listening to any answers . The fmd bit is about a third of the way in.

I have a lot of catching up to do. I've just spent too long sitting with James a nd relaxing to write more now. Foot and mouth is not over. People are still being browbeaten into having their animals killed. See the news stories on Heart of Devon..

Join Heart of Devon . From an email: "The WMN and Noel Edmonds have set up the Heart of Devon Campaign to stop this unnecessary slaughter. I think this should become "Heart of the Nation" or "Heart of the Country". We all need to unite and campaign to make people aware of this attrocious situation and get it stopped. The trouble now is that farmers are being "occupied" by disinfecting to stop them campaigning and those with animals are still too frightened to be out and about. A good ploy to keep us all off the election trail! We have already lost half of our sheep and cattle that were on keep on farms that were either "contiguous" or infected. We are now waiting for blood tests to be done on what's left. I thought testing was a good idea but having heard other peoples experiences we are rightly concerned. One vet told me it was very easy to remove all traces of the virus from a test using an ultra-violet light, another that if they want to kill your animals as contiguous and you protest and they take tests the results come back 100% positive. As you are contiguous they don't need to confirm you either! Farmers around Devon are saying the same. SOS means they won't be confirmed. Although they are positive they have the disease, it is swept under the election carpet. Unfortunately the farmer doesn't usually complain as he is worried about his neighbours. Alot of these are being published but only locally." If anyone would like any more information feel free to E-mail me at ilett@freeuk.com Thank you for your support Liz Ilett Tel 01409 261440 .

Our first visitors since this crisis started arrived in the early hours last night. They were here nearly 2 years ago, live in London, and haven't been near a farm since they were last here. It feels reasonably safe. They've parked their car outside the gate. It is lovely to have children here again, and the dogs are really happy! The 2 older children came to help us move the ewes and lambs to Higher Racks. The sheep were so eager for fresh grass that they just followed James anyway.



 

 

27th May

The number of premises recorded on which animals have been or are due to be slaughtered is currently 7,691.

5 more cases up to 16.00 today and still no more farms affected. 16,000 more animals identified for slaughter. 19,000 more animals killed. And no more farms.

Slaughter and disposal numbers at 19:00 Saturday 26 May

3,131,000 animals identified for slaughter.
3,071,000 animals recorded as slaughtered (478,000 cattle, 2,469,000 sheep, 122,000 pigs, 2,000 goats) and
60,000* animals awaiting slaughter.
Of those animals slaughtered 21,000* remain to be disposed of.

I've been feeling angry after reading an article in the Independent today. They quote nameless officials in MAFF, blaming farmers for spreading the disease: "The anger at farmers reaches up to the Prime Minister, who is said to be "fed up" with them. Maff sources say that they have been responsible for much of the spread of the disease and that some have profiteered from it. They cite widespread illegal movements of animals ..."

But in the same paper there is a sympathetic article : "When Nick Brown, the agriculture minister, came to Settle on Thursday there were protesters waiting with handmade placards, claiming that their suffering had been ignored during the election. "It's just so frustrating to see a smiling Tony Blair on the television when we know how dire the situation has been here, when we've been watching businesses go under and the animals getting slaughtered," said Chris Clapham. "Today they're discussing Europe I believe. You think, 'God, why can't he sort out his own country?' " "

From the Manchester Evening News : "A FURIOUS mob of animal lovers attacked a government official as he tried to shoot a cow fleeing from the first foot and mouth cull of animals in Greater Manchester. The Ministry of Agriculture slaughterman is thought to have been headbutted after drinkers at a Salford pub spotted him wading into a canal to kill the cow which had attempted to escape its fate."

One farm in Settle was culled by mistake. Maff admitts that 468 animals were killed "At this stage MAFF can only say that it regrets this action and apologise to the farmer for any distress caused by a genuine mistake." . But the the farmer has confirmed that the real number was 1,100 sheep, 100 cattle. Are all MAF's figures as reliable?

It's been a quiet , peaceful day here. The weather's not as good as it has been. The dogs are enjoying having children to play with. The children are enjoying feeding the orphan lamb. They have been nowhere since coming from London. Are we relaxing our bio-security too much? Nick Brown and MAFF keep saying that people who haven't been on other farms cannot spread foot and mouth. A message on another forum : " What nonsense is this footpath reopening? We were asked to object if our footpath was used by cows- duly did and were granted a continued closure as our cows use the same lane daily and sent nice red posters, but in the same letter told that it likely that we should have to reopen it in a day or two! How can we hope to keep good biosecurity, as advised, when the public + dogs[certainly not always on leads] walk the same way as our cows. I should note that we are the lucky ones as none of our neighbours have had their objections accepted.Does no-one talk to each other in this goverment? "

Tigger is up in the apple tree. The second calf is in the shadows. The black plastic was wrapped round the treee when the rams were in there last year and they were eating the bark.

If you like silly games, Paul Stanbridge has a link to this on his site. It's throwing eggs at Prescott

 

28th May

The number of premises recorded on which animals have been or are due to be slaughtered is currently 7,745. Another 54 farms. 6,000 more animals identified for slaughter. 6,000 killed. There have been fewer animals killed this week. 10,500 a day. But last week it was over 38,000 a day and MAFF puts it at 8,000. The week before it was just under 30,000 a day and MAFF has it as 9,000 now.
Slaughter and disposal numbers at 19:00 Sunday 27 May

· 3,137,000 animals identified for slaughter.
· 3,077,000 animals recorded as slaughtered (479,000 cattle, 2,474,000 sheep, 122,000 pigs, 2,000 goats) and
· 60,000* animals awaiting slaughter.

MAFF admits that its numbers do not include the 500,000 or so sheep taken in the so called "voluntary cull" or unweaned lambs and piglets. So our two sows and 17 piglets would only appear as two.

There has been another case in Devon. About 30 miles away. Bodies from Yorkshire are being trucked down to Exeter for rendering.

I'll paste a letter written by another farmer at the end of today's bit. Do read it as he makes some very good points. And ask your parliamentary candidates what they think about vaccination versus killing and if they agree with the contiguous cull, what is the upper limit to the number of animals they are prepared to kill, before they start using vaccination? 10 million? 16 million? 50% of the herd? 100%?

It's been another quiet day here. It's difficult to believe sometimes that foot-and-mouth is real, and that so many farmers are having their animals killed every day. It's lovely having children around. As they've come from London I can let them have the run of the farm, and they have been outside all day. They take it in turns to feed our one orphan lamb.



There are 2 extra children for a couple of days, again from London. Patch and Megan love children. Jess is fairly indifferent. She prefers sheep, piglets or chickens.

Some friends came to supper, bringing a takeaway curry. I can't remember when we last had friends round. We played scrabble later. Now I'm tired and need to go to bed!

There was a lovely light on the oak trees, looking out from the kitchen.

Here is Andrew's letter to Private Eye.

Thank you for your article giving background information on prof Roy "sheep
killer " Anderson. A man who had previously been conspicuous by his absence
from media criticism of the handling of the foot and mouth crisis.

It is hard to understand why the government and maff are still persisting in
their dogmatic implementation of the Anderson "inspired" contiguous cull
policy, especially when it has been so comprehensively rubbished by some of
the worlds leading experts on FMD. Including Dr Alex Donaldson and Dr Paul
Kitching, of IAH Pirbright Lab, and Prof Fred Brown of the USDA.


Donaldson has shown that the contiguous cull is unjustifiable with regard to
disease control in his articles in the Veterinary Record of the 12th May. Both
Dr Donaldson and Fred Brown have conducted experiments which demonstrate
that aerosol spread from the O strain of virus is minimal under UK field
conditions. In a worse case scenario it would take 100 sheep all showing
symptoms simultaneously to cause infection by aerosol spread to a maximum
distance of 200 metres.

Despite overwhelming evidence from these eminent men, maff and the govt.
have chosen to adopt the 48 hour contiguous cull policy advocated by
Professor Roy Anderson of imperial college. A man who has no veterinary
experience and no specialist knowledge of FMD.

Anderson was "parachuted " in to Tony Blairs FMD think tank when it became
clear that MAFF were failing, and Blair was desperate to get Foot an Mouth
out of the way by election time. It was apparent that, due to the extent of
the outbreak, and the length of time FMD had remained undetected, the
outbreak was going to have a long "tail". Anderson's radical proposals must
have seemed like an attractive way of reducing the chance of embarrassing
future flare ups of the disease .

Ironically, an article by Woolhouse et al(including Donaldson) in Nature
(May 17), states that the epidemic was already "under control" by the time
Anderson's policy was implemented. Under control, by Anderson's own
definition, meaning that every infected premises discovered gives rise to
less than one further infected premises, so the disease is on a downward
curve. I believe the govt. panicked, and instigated Anderson's policy without
considering the logistic and environmental problems posed by such wide scale
slaughter and disposal of livestock.

Tony Blair and Nick Brown did not reach their current positions by being
stupid, as the evidence against the contiguous cull mounts up they must be
aware that they have made a terrible mistake. It is not just the fact that
they have slaughtered too many animals, a lot of the electorate probably
don't care about this, it is the wider implications of the unnecessary and
unjustified contiguous cull; the pollution of drinking water with BSE prions,
cancer causing dioxins from pyres, the near bankruptcy of whole sections of
the tourist industry, which are almost inconceivable. This has to rank as
one of the biggest scandals in British political history. To make a U turn in
policy so close to the election would be political suicide. Tantamount to
admitting they were wrong all along, that they killed millions of healthy
animals and wasted millions of pounds of taxpayers money for nothing.

Try putting as positive spin on that.

They can't. So they cynically continue with the needless destruction of the
life's work of decent hard working people, just to satisfy their own desire
for a second term.

Although I am a farmer, I have never voted conservative (or new labour), I
am not concerned with the politics of this, I simply feel that I must speak
out against the kind of abject cynicism that allows millions of healthy
animals to be slaughtered needlessly for the sake of short term political
gain. In my opinion if Tony Blair isn't man enough to admit he was wrong,
then he isn't fit to be prime minister. A simplistic view I know , but I am
a simple son of the soil after all.

I think Blair is aware that this is a real problem, he may be able to sweep
it under the carpet as far as the election is concerned, but it may yet come
back to haunt him. He knows that Roy Anderson, a thoroughly unpleasant and
arrogant man by all accounts, has dropped him in it, an 'insider ' tells me
that during a briefing with anderson and chief scientist David King,
when Anderson left the room Blair said: "that man is a bastard and a
wanker."


So much for Roy's knighthood then, unless of course Gordon Brown gives him
one in recognition of his contribution to shafting Tony.

Andrew Byron

Elms Farm,

Denstone,

Uttoxeter,

Staffs

andrew@elmsfarm.freeserve.co.uk

29th May

The number of premises recorded on which animals have been or are due to be slaughtered is currently 7,763. 18 more farms. 21,00 more identified for slaughter, 18,000 more killed. 2,000 more cattle and 18,000 more sheep, but 2,000 dead pigs alive after all..
Slaughter and disposal numbers at 19:00 Monday 28 May
· 3,158,000 animals identified for slaughter.
· 3,095,000 animals recorded as slaughtered (481,000 cattle, 2,492,000 sheep, 120,000 pigs, 2,000 goats) and
· 63,000* animals awaiting slaughter.

A good article by George Monbiot in the Guardian. In it he says " it isn't hard to see why some people are claiming that the spread of the disease through Britain is a government conspiracy. The obvious flaw in this theory is that it credits the ministry with both a coherent strategy and the capacity to implement it."

Nick Brown , as he "bears down on the disease"(dreadful expression), "I really do have to ask everybody to bear with us and work together while we cull it out. We are just over 11 weeks into this and we are on the home straight and very soon we will have got the last case culled out". Why can't he say what he means? "We are killing all your animals but be cooperative, carry on trying to run your businesses under impossible restrictions for you and your families, because soon there will be so many animals killed, there won't be any further cases of infection."

The farmer , Bill Saunders, near Wembworthy in Devon, does not underestand how his cattle could have caught the disease. "He said he had taken every possible precaution...."right from the word go we've left the car and the pick-up outside the farm. We've always been very careful - I really don't know what mpore we could have done". It is a dairy farm in an infected area so he would have had regular MAFF inspections, plus the milk tanker. Horrible. "when I stopped milking and opened the cow's mouth yesterday evening I had the shock of my life - there was an ulcer on it's tongue half the size of the palm of your hand. It was about 3 hours before the vet came and the cow started to deteriorate in front of my eyes - it's anabsolutely evil, disgusting and viscious disease." His 175 cattle and 145 sheep have been killed, together with the livestock on 4 neighbouring farms, 31 cattle, 2,057 sheep and one pig.

Copy of email: "Here in Devon there are plenty of "disturbing" experiences. You only need to talk to the vets, friends, other farmers or read the Western Morning News, NFU, Farmgate sites to know whats really happening. It is a complete disgrace.

The WMN and Noel Edmonds have set up the Heart of Devon Campaign to stop this unnecessary slaughter. I think this should become "Heart of the Nation" or "Heart of the Country". We all need to unite and campaign to make people aware of this attrocious situation and get it stopped. The trouble now is that farmers are being "occupied" by disinfecting to stop them campaigning and those with animals are still too frightened to be out and about. A good ploy to keep us all off the election trail!

We have already lost half of our sheep and cattle that were on keep on farms that were either "contiguous" or infected. We are now waiting for blood tests to be done on what's left. I thought testing was a good idea but having heard other peoples experiences we are rightly concerned.

One vet told me it was very easy to remove all traces of the virus from a test using an ultra-violet light, another that if they want to kill your animals as contiguous and you protest and they take tests the results come back 100% positive. As you are contiguous they don't need to confirm you either! Farmers around Devon are saying the same. SOS means they won't be confirmed. Although they are positive they have the disease, it is swept under the election carpet. Unfortunately the farmer doesn't usually complain as he is worried about his neighbours. Alot of these are being published but only locally.

I have attached is you are interested the details of our Campaign. if you know anyone that is running any other campaign please let me know so that I can contact them.

If you or anyone you know wants copies of newspaper articles, experiences I can be contacted on ilett@freeuk.com or 01409 261440. Liz Ilett

A story from the North West Eevening Mail MASS CULL FOR FELL SHEEP IF DISEASE IS CONFIRMED. SLAUGHTERMEN are on standby in case a scorched earth cull of sheep is needed on the Furness fells just after the general election. "It is very possible fell sheep are diseased and farmers are drawing their own conclusions about this 'wait and see' testing policy introduced after the election date was set - although the timing is probably a coincidence." .

The children found where the hens are laying. In the unkempt garden, against the wall of the farmhouse. There were 11 eggs. later there were 2 more. They left 3 eggs in the nest, and I think Megan must have eaten them. We'll have to watch her.

I went to the farmers' market in Launceston this morning. I hadn't been since February. It was good to see a lot of people I haven't seen for a while. Neil is selling bread instead of his lovely sausages. He can't get a licence to have pigs slaughtered and then take them back to his farm for processing. It is a nightmare for him.

Little J had her calf round about lunch time. She wasn't showing any immediate signs this morning. Little J is Primrose's mother. One of the children in the barn is having her 6th birthday on Thursday, so she is naming the calf for a birthday present.

The farm cats are very tolerant of the children.

 

30th May

The number of premises recorded on which animals have been or are due to be slaughtered is currently 7,792. 27 more farms.

Slaughter and disposal numbers at 19:00 Monday 28 May . Same date as yesterday's figures but very different figures. Another 25,000 animals identified for slaughter, another 30,000 killed (including the 2,000 pigs). So the real total for Monday 28th is 46,000 more identified for slaughter, 48,000 killed
for more details, MAFF now break down the figures

3,183,000 animals identified for slaughter.
3,125,000 animals recorded as slaughtered (484,000 cattle, 2,516,000 sheep, 122,000 pigs, 2,000 goats) and
58,000* animals awaiting slaughter.

I am wondering if there is any point in taking any notice of these figures. MAFF obviously doesn't know what it is doing. I am assuming incompetence rather than deliberate deception. Am I wrong? Yesterday it put " In the week ending 27 May, 58% of infected premises had slaughter completed within 24 hours of the first report of disease by the owner. 100% were slaughtered within 36 hours " Today it puts the figures for the week ending 2 days later "In the week ending 29 May, 67% of infected premises had slaughter completed within 24 hours of the first report of disease by the owner. 87% were slaughtered within 36 hours." It makes even more of a mockery of the contiguous cull.

Excellent news item on Channel 4 tonight. Read it. "So Kitching's plan was to work slowly and surely, culling farms proven to be infected and the direct contacts. It would have meant far fewer animals being killed - but it would have taken longer to wipe out the disease. That was deemed unacceptable: but Professor King refutes the allegation that that Downing Street set a deadline.
"I think it's quite possible to turn the question on its head and say, how was the date determined when we were having a General Election. I'm not saying that date isn't unrelated to the prediction on when foot and mouth disease would be under control."" It finishes with Nick Brown, looking and sounding like a cornered rat, repeating again and again "we're on the home straight" "bear down " "cull out" "urge farmers" "bio-security". One email just now says "why doesn't he blink when he's interviewed. Is he an alien?"

We moved the bullocks and heifers from lower racks to the Upper Mill fields. Or rather , James moved them. I went down with the children to help, but James called them, and they followed and we lagged behind. We had to take them through the woods and over the stream, and cut through the fence, as the normal way would have involved 80 yards up the road and we would have needed a licence

.

We bought Upper Mill fields just over a year ago. They are very rough , full of bracken and brambles and overgrown hedges. But they are also full of wild flowers and very pretty. We had a farm valuer look at them and he advised us to "save your money for better fields". But they join our farm, and, as I said, they are very pretty. We want to do some clearing work over next winter. I hope it will be safe to have volunteers back on the farm by then. If so, we'll try and organise a week of WWOOOFers.

They are down by the stream, enjoying the shade.

The children went outside the farm for the first time today. They went through the disinfection procedure and their mother washed their clothes when they came back. Izzy has written an invitation to us and the dogs for a birthday lunch tomorrow.

 

31st May

No more farms. 1 case yesterday. 8 cases at 17.00 hours today (MAFF seem to have stopped working overtime). The statistics are still Monday's, except in the table they have started to put up, dated yesterday, where the animals killed is 3,145,909. 21,000 more killed.

Tony Blair was on Question Time last night. He said "The method we have chosen to deal with this disease, ghastly though it has been, is the only method I know which could have dealt with it, and we did this, incidentally, with the full support of the farmers' leaders, which is to cull out the infected animals and if necessary the neighbouring farms in order to stop the disease spreading. I can promise you this, - if there had been another way of dealing with this I assure you we would have dealt with it in another way." No-one challenged him about vaccination. No-one chalenged him about the unnecessary killing. No-one asked him why he had compared the deaths of cows, sheep and pigs, to 15 million chickens.FMD does not even get a mention in the local Labour manifesto that has come through the door this week - this is Cumbria

An article in the Times today. "Professor David King urged farmers not to relax infection precautions in a mistaken belief that their livestock was safe. .....He said that he took “some scientific pride” in the knowledge that the epidemic was now approaching its end, but suggested that the final case would not been seen until late July or the middle of August......Jim Scudamore, the Government's Chief Veterinary Officer, said yesterday that the disease had now been eliminated from a large swathe of Britain..." I found this article deeply sinister. I have a horrible vision of great swathes of Britain lying devoid of animals. And David King smiling smugly at the graph which shows no more cases because most of the animals are dead.

There are widespread fears that an extended cull is planned as soon as the election is over. From a letter in today's Telegraph: "There seems little doubt that the Government is planning the elimination of vast numbers of animals immediately after the election, and expects strong resistance from a thoroughly worn-out farming community."

"NFU argues Britain has "too many small farmers" (Mail)" . This was on the today's news section of the NFU site. I haven't been able to find anything else about it, yet.

We had a lovely birthday lunch in the Barn today. I can't think of anything else much. It's been a wonderfully clear day. Cool and breezy with beautiful views

.


 

 

Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Saviour.

The Sovereign LORD is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to go on the heights.

Hab. 3 17- 19

Read this aloud. Reading it quietly to yourself is not the same. Read it aloud and you will be there with the man who wrote it, more than two thousand years ago............. and be there with the farmers who are saying it now, in faith, but with their voices breaking.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have been telephoning or emailing any farmers I know (and some I don't). I know from myself that we feel very isolated from the world just now. It is wonderful to get all your emails. If you know a farmer, even if you don't know him well, telephone, write or email. It doesn't need to be more than a brief word. Write to a farmer that you've read about in the paper. You don't know what a difference it will make.

"We took on board what you said about telephoning a farmer near to you just to let them know we are supporting them and so we telephoned one of our local farmers who lives no more than quarter of a mile away from us. She was so delighted to speak to us. She told us that she has "battened down the hatches" and won't allow anyone onto her farm. She said that there are times when she feels so alone and gets depressed at the thought of what might come and it was just nice to hear a voice on the other end of the telephone." (an email received on the 26th March.


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Cathy's emails

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Home (advertising our holiday accommodation)
Emails I have had from other farmers I haven't kept this updated.
If you have anything to say about farming I haven't kept this updated either. Sorry!

Please email a message (rather than phone). I might not reply but it makes me feel less isolated. Everyone round here is being wonderfully supportive, but no-one is visiting farms at the moment , no-one would want to be the means of spreading infection (except see 4th March). It is wonderful though how very kind people here are.

For some pictures of the animals inside click here.

More Pictures taken 1st March 2001.

 

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