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The Poultry Keeper
The Independent Forum for Poultry Keepers
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Welsh Duck
Joined: 18 Jul 2007
Posts: 1602
Location: Herefordshire/Welsh Border
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 Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 10:34 pm Post subject: |
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Thats really sad milkmaid  I feel so sorry for the farmers |
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milkmaid
Joined: 19 Apr 2005
Posts: 6741
Location: isle of lewis
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| Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2007 8:07 am Post subject: |
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i looked at my blackies
my favovorite sheep archi and arnie
they would have sold for 6.20 each yesterday ,that nothing the vacinations hepti p ,dipping ,cystlex lick and they have been given a bit of extra hay would cost more
mind you i do know that they had a really good life 
gizzy was almost in tears when she told me ,she said she just wanted to hug him |
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Attila The Hen
Joined: 19 Sep 2005
Posts: 380
Location: Shetland
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| Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 1:18 pm Post subject: |
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| Itsybitsy wrote: | | Attila The Hen wrote: |
Infected meat fed to pigs. Does that make me heavenly?!
Attila |
Not really! Why would it?
"Infected meat fed to pigs"
We all know where the outbreak started and the man in Northumberland who didn't boil his swill shouldn't have been feeding meat products to his pigs anyway but the question which seems to have been forgotten is how did the infected meat get into the country, he didn't exactly culture the virus on his farm did he? - as I said before we are not biosecure and it should be easy being an island. This time it's different though, there's a cry up now that the restrictions were lifted too early, but that takes the media away from the most important question of all and that's the lack of or lapse of biosecurity at the laboratory.
Itsybitsy |
Oh well... my previous post contained a (feeble admittedly) attempt at a humorous wordplay in the context of the post it replied to. I shan't bother with levity in future.
With the greatest of respect, your bald assertion that the UK's borders are not biosecure flies in the face of the evidence and the realities involved. Food containing animal products (this definition includes meat) may trade freely across borders within the EU under the terms of EC Regulation 178/2002, provided all accompanying stamps and documentation are in order. The UK's local authority Environmental Health departments are probably the most stringent in the EU. There are checks and balances throughout the import / food chain. Pre slaughter inspections; at time of slaughter and cutting; either pre-export or post-import inspections on the part of buyers / wholesalers; by Council Environmental Health officers; by end users. Similar, but in some regards more exacting measures exist in the case of third countries.
Between 1954 and 1967 (excluding the 1967/8 outbreak) there were 1002 outbreaks of Foot & Mouth in the UK. This was not unusual - the 2 year period 1963/4 was the longest period in which the UK had been FMD-free since 1908. Of these 1002 outbreaks, 179 were primaries. Of these 179 primaries, 97 were attributed to imported meat. After the 1967/8 outbreak, biosecurity measures similar to those we recognise today were implemented throughout the foodchain, and the only FMD outbreak between 1968 and 2001 in the UK was a contained incidence (Isle of Wight, I believe) in 1981. Clearly some improvements have been made - including this year's outbreak, that's 4 primary outbreaks in 40 years, compared with an average in 1954-67 of 12.8 primary outbreaks per year in the UK.
| Itsybitsy wrote: | | " the question which seems to have been forgotten is how did the infected meat get into the country, he didn't exactly culture the virus on his farm did he? - as I said before we are not biosecure" |
From this, I take it to read that you are not satisfied with the existing system of checks and balances regarding imported meat. (Implicit sarcasm notwithstanding). Presumably you would like to see, in your ideal world, every carcase or individual cut of meat swab sampled for a range of notifiable diseases. That would, after all, provide as near as possible 100% certainty that we were biosecure for imported meat products. Some statistics:
In 2005 meat imports into the UK totalled a value of £3,721 million. To use the 2001 disease pathway as an example, let's focus on pigmeat. Pork, bacon and hams represented a value of £1,118 million. But never mind the value - what does that much pigmeat look like? This financial value represented 715,400 tonnes of meat.
Can you imagine the logistics and cost of swab testing every single piece of meat that makes up 715,400 tonnes? And that's just pork. What about factoring in beef and sheepmeat? In the real world, this level of testing just isn't feasible, practically or economically. On the subject of practicality and cost, what about disinfecting every single vehicle that enters the UK? After all, vehicular transmission is a proven route for FMD to spread... Practically, it's not possible, nor necessary - this is an exercise in risk assessment.
So, let's revisit that statement of yours: "we are not biosecure". Up to a point, you're right - we do not test every single cut or carcase that enters the UK. That simply is not possible. The scandal of the 2001 outbreak was not the manner by which the disease entered the country (an unfortunate accident - think about this - one infected consignment of pigmeat out of 520,500 tonnes of pigmeat imported in 2001; or to put that in sharper perspective still, one infected consignment out of 5,532,700 tonnes of pigmeat in the decade 1995-2005... Statistically, the fact of this breach of our border biosecurity in 2001 is utterly insignificant.
No, the scandal of 2001 was instead the manner in which the disease was not contained, and was allowed to spread rampantly around the country as animal movements were not restricted and controlled in a sensible manner and timescale.
This time around? A different sort of internal biosecurity issue, as you rightly identify.
Attila |
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milkmaid
Joined: 19 Apr 2005
Posts: 6741
Location: isle of lewis
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debcat
Moderator
Joined: 13 Apr 2005
Posts: 8224
Location: Isle of Lewis
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| Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 4:14 pm Post subject: |
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most of our lambs get sold to hill - not big enough to go straight to slaughter
I refused to sell any of mine this year, they will all go in my freezer or friends freezers
I'm not selling then to hill when I don't know what fate they face, especially at 26p a kilo
I guess thats one of the things with only having a few to sell, I need to buy a new freezer but we won't need to buy meat for at least a year |
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cookie88
Joined: 08 Sep 2007
Posts: 302
Location: ISLE OF LEWIS
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| Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 10:10 pm Post subject: |
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8 farm to be confirmed to have foot and mouth,
the animals where allready slaughted on suspicion.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7021147.stm
| Quote: | Foot-and-mouth disease has been confirmed at a farm in Surrey where cattle were slaughtered on suspicion of being infected.
The government confirmed tests on cattle at the farm near Wraysbury had come back positive.
The farm is within the current protection zone around previously infected farms and minor changes are now being made to the zone.
It is the eighth farm in Surrey found to have the disease since August. |
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milkmaid
Joined: 19 Apr 2005
Posts: 6741
Location: isle of lewis
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| Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 10:32 pm Post subject: |
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According to Jonathan Long, FW Livestock Editor on the FW forum
"I'm told that nine contiguous farms were culled today, as sign of the seriousness of the situation evolving in the PZ as the disease continues to spring up.
Meanwhile, I believe a meeting is underway this evening to establish the protocol for a welfare cull scheme for south east England.....pitiful payments will do little to help the confidence of an industry rapidly descending into crisis."
this was taken from the warmwell site ,as well as the positive farm, nine more were culled out  |
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cookie88
Joined: 08 Sep 2007
Posts: 302
Location: ISLE OF LEWIS
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| Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 10:35 pm Post subject: |
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im just shocked by the like of covage of FM and bluetonuge on BBC news,
have been checking daily and been struggerling to find anything |
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cookie88
Joined: 08 Sep 2007
Posts: 302
Location: ISLE OF LEWIS
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| Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 10:01 pm Post subject: |
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Sussex foot-and-mouth suspected
| Quote: | temporary foot-and-mouth control zone has been set up on the border of East and West Sussex, the government says.
The 3km (1.8 mile) zone was put around premises near Haywards Heath as a precautionary measure after clinical signs of the disease were found.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said laboratory tests were being carried out on cattle.
Movements of animals to and from premises, including into or out of the zone, are not allowed. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7024128.stm |
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milkmaid
Joined: 19 Apr 2005
Posts: 6741
Location: isle of lewis
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cookie88
Joined: 08 Sep 2007
Posts: 302
Location: ISLE OF LEWIS
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| Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 4:58 pm Post subject: |
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| I signed |
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bronskibeat
Joined: 09 Sep 2007
Posts: 1390
Location: Clawddnewydd
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| Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 8:09 pm Post subject: |
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| I've signed too |
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cookie88
Joined: 08 Sep 2007
Posts: 302
Location: ISLE OF LEWIS
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| Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2007 12:03 am Post subject: |
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| any news on F AND M Seems very quite at the moment |
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bronskibeat
Joined: 09 Sep 2007
Posts: 1390
Location: Clawddnewydd
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| Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2007 2:01 pm Post subject: |
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dont be silly  , they are treating us like mushrooms  |
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CP
Moderator
Joined: 13 Apr 2005
Posts: 14072
Location: Hampshire
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| Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 10:47 am Post subject: |
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Don't know if this is a good or a bad thing? 
http://tinyurl.com/2d6vts
If it was the same one, how come the outbreaks were at different times? I don't understand. |
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