The Regional Monitor

The last 10 years have been anything but easy for the beef and dairy farmers of North Wales. No sooner had a three-year BSE-related beef export ban been lifted than another export ban was imposed in response to foot-and-mouth. That epidemic saw whole herds destroyed – over a million animals in Wales alone.
While financial losses were made good, no amount of insurance or grants could compensate for the bloodlines and herd knowledge that were lost. Many of the farmers who watched their life’s work go up in smoke – literally – still bear the mental scars.
Many others have had to leave farming altogether. According to figures from the Dairy Hygiene Inspectorate, numbers of producers – farms – have fallen by six per cent in Wales over the last year. Fewer than half of the farms that were operating in Wales in 1994 are still operating today.
Against this background, it is easy to see why 3 May was such a momentous date in the cattleman’s diary. That was the day that cattle exports started again and prices for calves began to recover in anticipation. Prior to the ban, bull calves – the by-product of dairy farming – were fetching over £200; during the ban, that price plummeted to just £2. Today, prices are approaching the average of the early 90s again.
One farmer who has yet to enjoy the benefits of the revived export trade is Bryan Jones of Caersws in Powys. His dairy herd is one of 523 in North Wales that are under movement restriction due to the latest disease to hit cattle: bovine tuberculosis (bTB).
“Bovine TB has been creeping up through Powys for a while now,” explains Alan Morris of the Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW), “and although there haven’t been very many incidences of it in North Wales [18 so far this year], many feel it’s only a matter of time.”
Such are the practical consequences of a bTB outbreak, or ‘breakdown’ as it’s termed, that even a handful of cases can have a disproportionate impact on the local economy. At the end of March, nine per cent of herds in North Wales were under movement restriction, meaning that no stock may be moved on or off the farm – effectively ending trade. This status remains until all the animals in a herd pass two consecutive TB tests, each 60 days apart. According to Defra’s own literature, “This process seriously disrupts farm business, and can be very expensive.”
That’s something Bryan Jones knows all about. Two of his 120 cows tested positive in January of this year and were destroyed. Until his farm is given the all-clear – in October at best – his cows are fetching a pitiful £2 at slaughter.
Mr Jones hasn’t bought in any new stock at all for over 30 years and he claims his cows haven’t come into contact with any others. That, he says, is the reason why his farm survived foot-and-mouth without loss, and why he got away with just one case of BSE in 1996. It also explains his certainty when it comes to laying the blame for bTB; he often sees badgers running around among his cattle in the early morning.
Mr Jones is by no means alone in seeing the badger as the culprit; even Defra concedes that, “The consensus of scientific opinion is that badgers are a significant source of TB infection in cattle.”
“Many farmers want limited culling of the animals that spread the disease, i.e. badgers,” says Morris. “I should say that most farmers are delighted to have badgers on their land, as long as they’re healthy badgers. But there is a fear that the whole issue is being distorted by the popular image of badgers being cute, furry animals.”
This is an important point and is what makes the issue a sensitive one. On the one hand, over 20,000 cattle are being destroyed each year and the beef trade is being severely affected; on the other hand, an intensive, proactive badger cull – shown by trials in Ireland to be the only effective type – would be sure to bring protesters onto the streets from Westminster to Llanrwst.
As a result, the Westminster government is “holding consultations” on a cull, while the Welsh Assembly has conducted a four-month survey of dead badgers. “There’s a deep sense of frustration that the government – either the Westminster or Assembly variety – doesn’t seem to be doing much,” says Morris.
To make matters worse, while Bryan Jones’s cows are fetching rock-bottom prices at slaughter, their milk is faring little better. Across Europe, there is a campaign to get the farm-gate milk price raised from 18p per litre to 27p. Mr Jones would be glad of 18 pence a litre – he’s currently getting 14-15p.
The answer, say the FUW, is to strengthen the voluntary code of conduct that exists between the supermarkets and the suppliers. Under the code, supemarkets are not supposed to ask suppliers to undercut themselves or go below the market price, yet many farmers are doing just that because the supermarket contracts are so important.
“There is a feeling that supermarket shareholders are gaining at the farmers’ expense,” says Alan Morris. “The supermarkets are abusing their power and they need to stop, otherwise they’ll kill off the dairy farmers. It wouldn’t take much; after all, as long as farmers are making a bit of a profit, they’re usually happy. They’re not greedy; most of them do the job for the love of farming.”
Bryan Jones puts it more succinctly: “It just can’t go on as it is. If it wasn’t for my wife working, we’d be finished.”