Wales Farmer 2 THISmonth NEWS


Charities cheque out fundraising effortsoffarmers


THE fundraising efforts of


Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW) members have raised morethan £6,000. Awooden horse charity race


night, hosted by the Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW) Gwent and Glamorgan


branches last


September raised morethan £4,000. Acheque for£1,120 has now


been presented to VelindreCancer Centre. “Wereceivedsuch fantastic sup-


PICTURE: k9tales.co.uk


News ...........2-7 Opinions ..........8 Planning advice ....8 Secret to success ..9 Sheepdog trials ...10 Show diary ....14-15 Jersey show ......16 Spring Festival ....18 Equestrian .......20 YFC news ........22 Classified ........23 YFC finals .....24-25 Countryside ......26


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port fromFUWmembers,aswell as members of the community,inrais- ing over £4,000 and we decided to present part of the total amount to ahugelyworthwhile and local cause,” said FUW vice president Lorraine Howells,who hosted the race night at Cwm Carno Farm, near Tredegar. “Wewould liketothank all those


people involved with organising the evening including local members and businesses thatdonated food and provided sponsorship. “The evening would not have


fundraising


worked as well without the tremen- dous support of JoyceMatthews and Cheryl Evans,who prepared the supper meals.” VelindreCancer Centrehead of Andrew


Morris


receivedthe cheque from FUW members at acoffee morning. In west Wales,FUW members in


Pembrokeshireraised morethan £2,000 forthe union president’s chosen charity Cancer Research


Wales.Pembrokeshirecounty branch chairman John Savins pre- sented FUW president Emyr Jones with acheque for£2,152.85, consist- ing of £1,244.71 from the sale of FUW Pembrokeshirecalendars, £500 match-funding from Lloyds TSB Foundation and £408.14 raised through donations and araffle. Following the presentation at a


recent county executive committee meeting the branch receivedafur- ther £21.14 in donations. Mr Savins thanked all the local


businesses thathad sponsored the calendar and Pembrokeshireorgan- ic milk producers Trioni Ltd for sponsoring the competition forchil- dren aged between four and 18. Entrants submitted photographs


–depicting farmlife,the country- side or wildlife within the county – from which the images forthe calen- dar were then selected. “The competition wasaroaring


success,attracting hundreds of entries from across Pembrokeshire,” Mr Savins added. “It ensured thatweasfarmers maintain astrong link with young people so thatthey understand the wayfood is produced in this coun- try.”


Mr Savins offered special thanks


to LloydsTSB’sagricultural business manager Anne Callan based in Haverfordwest, whohelped with the production and sale of the calendar and arranged the match- funding.


HORSING AROUND: FUW Glamorgan county executive officer Rachel Saunders, Andrew Morris, Lorraine Howells, FUW Glamorgan administrative assistant Christine Anstee and FUW Glamorgan county president John Llewellyn at the presentation of a cheque for £1,120.


May 2013


CHEQUE IN: Pembrokeshire FUW county chairman John Savins, Lloyds agricultural business manager Anne Callan and FUW president Emyr Jones at the presentation of acheque for £2,152.85 to Cancer Research Wales.


Farmer finedfor breaking TB rules


NEW MANAGER: Hayley Roberts is the new sales account manager for Osmonds.


New sales manager joins team


AN AGRICULTURAL supplies companyisset to benefit from the wide range of knowledge of its newest member of staff. Osmonds has appointed


Hayley Roberts as its newsales account manager. Hayley has worked in the agri-


cultural supplyindustry forthe past nine years forarange of companies,which has givenher a wide variety of knowledge and experience within the industry. Aspokesman forOsmonds


said: “With her in-depth knowl- edge of animal health sales from aretail and supplypoint of view, we believe thatHayley is the ideal addition to our team.” Osmonds is


based in


Shropshire. Formoreinforma- tion contact 01948 668100, email info@osmonds.co.uk or go to www.osmonds.co.uk.


■ Cow from restricted herd takentoshow


ACARMARTHEN farmer who took acow to the Royal Welsh Show while his stock were under a whole herd TB restriction has been fined £7,000 for ‘putting pedigree live- stock from across the UK


at risk’. About ayear later the cow


which farmer Alwyn Thomas had taken to the showwas found to be aTBreactor and it wasput down.


Thomas,ofFfynnondafolog,


Penybont, pleaded guilty to a range of offences relating to cat- tle on his farmatCarmarthen magistrates court last Tuesday. He wasfined atotal of £7,000


with £9,000 costs.Consideration wasgiventohis guilty pleas and the court also accepted thatthese acts were not deliberate. The case wasreferred to Carmarthenshire County Council’spublic protec- tion department after officers from the RuralInspectorate Wales,and veterinary officers from the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency discoveredanomalies with record keeping.


Therewerealso discrepancies


with the ages of some cattle at Ffynnondafologduring aroutine cattle identification inspection and tuberculosis test, when sever- al of the cattle at the farm appeared to be much older than the agerecorded on the passports. Thomas pleaded guilty to 13


separatecharges relating to the movement of acow from his farmwhile under aTB2 whole herdrestriction, which prohibits the movement of abovine from a farm. Forthese offences he was fined atotal of £5,000. He also admitted failing to


notify the National Assembly within threedaysofthe details of abovine which movedonto his farmand an offence of failing to notify the Assembly of the details of abovine which movedfrom his farm. He wasfined £250 for each of these offences under the Cattle Identification (Wales) Regulations 2007. Thomas pleaded guilty to


three offences of failing to notify the National Assembly within sevendaysofthe details of deaths of cattle and wasfined £250 on each charge.Healso admitted four offences of failing to notify the National Assembly within sevendaysofthe birth of cattle.Noseparatepenalties were imposed forthese offences. The final offence wasunder the Business


Protection Misleading from Marketing Regulations 2008, in relation to


New regulations set to offer better protection


ADDITIONAL bovine TB measures designed to delivera higher levelofprotection to cat- tle have come into force. Some cattle and surveillance


controls changed on April 1st, mainlyrelating to movements from markets and common land. The previous exemption relat-


ing to movements from markets will in futureonlyinclude bovine animals returning from market to the holding from which they travelled. In addition, the exemption for


movements between premises sharing aright of common will nowonlycover bovine animals travelling between their regis- tered holding and commons in relation to which their keeper has rights of grazing. Natural resources minister,


selling abovine animal at amar- ketwith apassport which had an incorrect date of birth recorded in it which waslikelytodeceive tradersand effect their economic behaviour.For this offence Thomas wasfined £750. CarmarthenshireCounty


Council executive boardmember forenvironmental and public


For the latest Wales farming news: walesfarmer.co.uk By Debbie James


Alun Davies,who took over the bovine TB portfolio from John Griffiths after last month’scabi- net reshuffle, reminded farmers to preparefor the newarrange- ments.


Although the Welsh


Government abandoned a planned pilot cull in favour of a vaccination programme,Mr Davies insisted thatthe govern- ment wascommitted to tackling bovine TB,one of the biggest problems facing cattle farmers in Wales.


“Thereisnoquick fixtotack-


ling this disease,’’hesaid. “It demands asustainableand long-termapproach


that


includes arange of different measures including strict bio-


protection Cllr Jim Jones said: “This is ashocking case wherea cowwas taken to the RoyalWelsh while its herdwas under TB movement restrictions.The mag- istrates viewedthese offences as being extremelyserious,which mayhaveposed


an


unnecessary threatand could have had asignificant impact on


security protocols and cattle movement restrictions.The changes to these rules arebased on the latest information and guidance.” The newTBmeasures follow


arecommendation from the European Commission’s Food andVeterinary Office (FVO). Further changes to bring Wales in line with European Union directivesmean thatmovements of cattle in Wales from TB restricted herds,other than to slaughter,must, from 1April, be made within 30 days of aclear TB test. Additionallythe licensing of


newapproved quarantine units (AQUs) is suspended in Wales. Existing AQUs have until the end of the year to destock before closing.


the farming community. “I am delighted thatwehave


had such asuccessful result from our trading standards and animal health officers,working together with officers from the Rural InspectorateWales and veteri- nary officers from the Animal Health


and Veterinary Laboratories Agency.”


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