Livestock Fury as Defra abandons changes
to carcase splitting rules • Government backtracks on promise • Decision costs sheep farmers £24m • Farm leaders still push for changes
lambs born from 2018 onwards is likely to cost the sheep sector £24m, say farm leaders. Defra has confirmed that plans to use a fixed cut-off date of 30 June to age lambs instead of checking teeth – a practice known as dentition – have been delayed due to Brexit uncertain- ty. The change was due to be im- plemented this year.
A
Civil servants informed indus- try leaders of the decision at a De- fra meeting on 4 March. They said government ministers were wor- ried that pushing ahead with the change could make it difficult for the UK to gain an EU third coun- try listing in the event of a no-deal Brexit or delay to talks. Current Transmissible Spon- giform Encephalopathy rules re- quire spinal cord to be removed from animals slaughtered when they are more than 12 months old – a practice that reduces carcase values by as much as 40%. Age is usually determined by
checking each sheep to see if it has permanent incisors. But that system was due to be replaced by the fixed cut-off date – a change signed off at a UK and EU lev- el and due to be implemented as soon as the Food Standards Agen- cy was ready.
Risk assessment National Sheep Association chief executive Phil Stocker said: “We were told a risk assessment had been done, everything had been cleared and, as the weeks pro- gressed, we were being led to be- lieve all we were waiting for was FSA to agree implementation pro- cedures.”
government decision to abandon changes to car- case splitting rules for
The apparent u-turn came just
days after the resignation of Defra minister George Eustice, who quit the government after Prime Min- ister Theresa May said she would allow a House of Commons vote on whether to delay Brexit beyond 29 March. Mr Stocker said: “Anyone still thinking that departure from the EU will result in freeing agricul- ture from nonsensical rules and regulations should think again. We have been told now that formal legislative change is needed, and this will require a consultation.” Some people had made busi- ness decisions based on expecta- tions that the rules would change this spring, added Mr Stocker. The NSA would continue to push the issue and try to ensure it remained at the top of Defra’s agenda, he said.
“
The delay in implementation is a huge setback
Completely unacceptable “I’d like to apologise if we have become tangled up with giving what have become incorrect mes- sages to industry. All I can say is that we were acting in good faith and working to keep industry in- formed.”
NFU livestock board chair-
man Richard Findlay said he too had received assurances the rules were due to change. He added: “It is unacceptable that this has now been completely overturned with no indication of when it will be im- plemented.” Changing the way lambs were aged from dentition to a cut-off date would improve accuracy and ensure farmers were fairly paid
Strategic farmer Mark Jelley says his business has benefited from the programme. Photo credit: Mark Jelley
New recruits sought for Strategic Farms
Five new farms are being sought to take part in an AHDB Beef & Lamb initiative to improve live- stock business performance. The Strategic Farm Pro-
gramme, which started in 2017, showcases best practice on farms to improve business. The hope is that more sheep producers can be recruited to join 11 mainly suck- ler farms already taking part in the programme.
Beef & lamb head of knowl-
edge exchange Clive Brown said participating farms had seen some real benefits over the past 18 months. Each farm had mon- itored performance by regularly weighing and benchmarking us- ing the AHDB’s Farmbench tool. “All activity carried out on the
farm was shared at open farm meetings, which provided at- tendees the opportunity to learn from the host’s experience. Even
for the value of their product. “The delay in implementation is a huge setback for the UK sheep sector,” said Mr Findlay. “Defra’s failure to follow through on its commitment is ex-
though it’s been a relatively short period in terms of livestock pro- duction, we’ve already seen im- provements across all the busi- nesses.”
Strategic farmer Mark Jelley
said joined the scheme to move his beef herd forward – and hoped to increase its output without need- ing more land, while also reap- ing benefits from improvements in herd health. “We’ve made significant im- provements to our grazing prac- tice and understand far more about the extra quality and quan- tity of grass available on farm as a result and we’ve made chang- es to our breed choice to reflect the changing desires of the mar- ketplace.” The closing date for strategic farm applications is 13 May. For full details about the programme, visit
http://bit.ly/StrategicFarm.
tremely frustrating. The decision also continues to load costs on to the industry as it spends an esti- mated £24m a year on dentition checks, which would be unneces- sary if a cut-off date were used.”
APRIL 2019 • ANGLIA FARMER 57
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