A Chance to Beef Up

The National Beef Association is advising farmers that they may be missing out on vital funds, and that millions of pounds are available in grants for the right projects. They state that over £100 million pounds is available for projects linked to livestock, and that cash’s availability will expire in 2013.

At the current rate of distribution, less than the £20 million per annum target, it currently looks likely that monies made available will remain unclaimed, and thus not fully utilised. This is obviously something that the National Beef Association is seeking to avoid, and is determined to remind farmers that the support is ready and waiting for the right projects.

The hefty financial backing includes £56m to improve livestock business competitiveness, £33m for animal health and welfare, and £29m for improving farm nutrient management. Monies are not simply available to aid farmers looking to bring farms up to mandatory industry standards, or to meet legislative requirements. But money is readily available to fund ambitious farmers looking to play a real part in making genuine improvements to the industry.

“This money, which is being siphoned off farmers’ Single Farm Payment (SFP) through modulation, can be recouped by farmers who put together projects which will improve their holding, add value to their end product, help develop infrastructures for water conservation, or assist with diversification,” said NBA chairman, Christopher Thomas Everard.

The money is available through the English Rural Development Programme, and is being distributed via the country’s regional network of Rural Development Agencies. Weighting to the grant availability has been made based on each regions livestock numbers. “Each regional RDA office holds a fund available for livestock projects based on regional stock numbers so, for example, £38.6 million is up for allocation throughout the South West,” said Mr Thomas Everard.

Mr Everard also stressed that the NBA has argued that ordinary sized family farmers should be targeted and given priority, so they can improve their stock care and ongoing viability. And that the association is pleased to know that proposals that aim to improve business cooperation will also be entertained for backing. While the initial uptake of the money available has not met the annual target, and been disappointing, funding has been improved for a range of items, with projects varying from £750,000 to £7 million in cost.

“This money is accessible, there are no queues to claim it, and so a telephone call to the nearest regional RDA office with the right type of idea could be extremely useful,” urged Mr. Thomas Everard.

Egyptian Pig Farmers Suffer From Swine Flu

The confusion over the severity, and possible spread, of Swine Flu continues. Depending on what papers or articles you read, which television coverage you watch or what you have seen through the internet, a multitude of conclusions can be drawn. But they all seem to share a common theme, and that is of confusion and doubt. Last week we wrote about the possible effect this predicted pandemic could have on the British pork industry, both good and bad could be drawn.

Good being that with the levels of regulation in this country, and the respect that the British farmers enjoy, people looking for a quality reared meat might opt for insisting on British produce, regardless of cost. A situation that British farmers may be welcome of, regardless of how it came about.

The possible negative could be panic over the consumption of pork, and a knee jerk reaction by some of the population to remove it from their diet, completely. Fears like this have been quelled by both The World Health Organisation, and our own Environment Secretary, Hillary Benn. Reiterating that it is not possible to pass this flu by the consumption of properly cooked pork, and that there are no cases of this disease being present in the EU, and ongoing continual testing ensues that if it does appear, the affected stocks will be removed from the food chain.

There were some warnings issued about cheap illegal imports, and the health of such animals, but this was probably just a good opportunity to hammer home that advice.

But, rather more predictably, in foreign climes the reaction to Swine Flu has not been so consistent and clear. In Egypt the government ordered the slaughter of all its countries’ pigs. Despite no reported or confirm cases of Swine Flu in the country, the decision was taken to get rid of all the nation’s pigs. Understandably this decision was met with a lot of anger, and there were clashes in Cairo between police and protesters, concerned about this apparent overreaction by the government to slaughter an estimated 300,000 pigs.

Initially the decision was announced as a precaution to prevent a spread of Swine Flu, a move condemned by many experts, who confirmed this action would be completely inappropriate and pointless. However the Egyptian government later conceded that they had used this reason as motivation, and a smoke screen, to attack bigger issues.

Agriculture minister, Saber Abdel Aziz Galal told Agence France-Presse, that wholesale changes were required for the future of pig breeding in the country, and that current conditions were unacceptable. “At the moment the pigs live with dogs, cats, rats, poultry and humans, all in the same area with rubbish. Within two years the pigs will return, but we need first to build new farms," he said.

The Benefits of Keeping Chickens

As the world creeps closer to its most disastrous food crisis in history, individuals are becoming ever choosier in when they eat, what they eat and why they eat it. With fossil fuels in decline and seemingly an increase in natural disasters it is only right that we start to look for new ways to grow our food, whilst being aware of the sources it has come from. An ideal means to start this change of attitude and something that most can do for small cost in their own backyard, is to keep chickens.

Once a residential standard for the supply of eggs and meat, especially in the United Kingdom during and after World War I and II, people’s lives have become increasingly faster and busier. The simple art of keeping a couple of hens in the garden has died out, and it is only in more recent years, as people look to growing their own and eating healthy, that chicken keeping popularity has started to rise. Whilst many may be put off by recent bird flu scares, by thoughts of vermin, smell and noise, the benefits of owning poultry far outweigh any disadvantages and with the correct care these clucking, chortling, happy little birds can become additional members to your family.

When it comes to chicken keeping the first obvious benefit is that of food, of fresh eggs collected in a basket, of omelettes produced by simply popping down the garden for supplies. The more advanced keeper may even prefer to raise a small number of chickens for the oven and though horrifyingly cheap in the supermarket, fresh, own reared meat can taste like no frozen chicken you’ve had before. What’s even more satisfying is that left over kitchen scraps can simply be gobbled up by your new found friends to make new, fresh food! Life couldn’t get much greener than that.

But there are additional benefits. Chickens love insects, snails, dandelions and other weeds that to the average gardener become the bane of their lives. Let out of their coop on a supervised basis your hens can soon help stamp out those garden pests with ferocity. Gardeners can benefit too from the droppings, making excellent manure with the straw composting down into the perfect mulch for your garden borders.

As with all animals chickens also come with fantastic personalities and having hens in your backyard can soon become an addictive fascination. Friendly, curious and often quite tameable, chickens can quickly become much more than a source of food to the average family. The joys of keeping pets with children is most rewarding so why not teach them about caring for hens and supplying home grown food for your table….you may just find that getting eggs into them is suddenly that much easier!

Coming in a range of shapes, sizes and colours there is a chicken variety for everyone, whether it is the standard Rhode Island Red to the incredibly fluffy and flightless Silkie. With most laying daily you’ll never have to buy eggs again, especially if the not so uncommon occurs and you suddenly find that your happy hens are producing more than one egg a day each. They are cheap to care for, hardy and resilient and very easy to look after. The only thing you’ll have to worry about is your growing addiction causing you to want more and more.

Just How Much of a Swine Will This Flu Be?

The nation seems to be awash with Swine Flu this week. Well not literally, as yet, but it certainly seems to be occupying many minds, and be the top topic of conversations amongst the population. In fact the words ‘credit crunch’ seem to have been one of the worst victims of this potential pandemic. Obviously a lot of the concern, awareness and hype is driven by a sensationalist led media, something we seemed to have come accustomed to as a nation. It is very difficult for us ordinary folk, especially when pressed for time already, to read passed the headlines and the short news bulletins that seem to have been dominated the flagship news mediums all this week, and get a proper understanding and accurate grasp of how this may all affect us individually.

This is breeding confusion, and probably some panic and over reaction, as uncertainty and concern combine. And while the current focus seems to be on whether or not this particular strain of flu will actually spread, rather than anything else, there are a few bubbling issues in the background, that are sure to eventually come more to the front. One of the concerns for the pork industry must be the possible impact this is going to have on demand, sales, and price. The right people seem to be moving quickly to stamp on this before it actually becomes an issue.

“The UK and some other members of the European Union undertake routine surveillance to help detect the presence of animal diseases not normally present in the EU and to identify any change in the prevalence of diseases that do occur. Results of our surveillance suggest that this variant of H1N1 does not appear to be present in pigs in the UK or anywhere else in the EU. However we are taking this developing situation very seriously and will maintain our surveillance effort, keeping the public and industry informed of any developments.” Environment Secretary Hilary Benn told the Newspaper Society. He further went on to reassure the public by saying that the EU does not even import any pig products from Mexico.

The World Health Organization itself has also reiterated that it is not possible to pass this type of virus via the consumption of pork, and if the correct steps are taken, and standards adhered to, then any infected pigs would not get that far down the food chain in any case.

By these actions, and statements, the British pork producers may actually benefit from consumers that will, for once, be more focused on quality and source than solely on price. Hence a demand for a quality home assured product that may be slightly more expensive, might actually increase. However there is also the issue that with this flu simply being labeled as ‘Swine Flu’ that as such, the pig may end up carrying the can amongst those confused and knee jerking into a reaction. And that reaction may include removing pork from their diet.

Will the Bee’s Manage to Pull Through?

Farmers, agriculturists and scientists around the world are worried. They are worried about falling bee numbers, about a destructive virus sweeping through productive colonies, about losing the biggest resource to every crop grower in the world. Without Bee’s, apart from losing that wonderful droning on a hot summers day, crops would fail to be pollinated, seeds failed to be produced and the worlds worst starvation ever could occur. But it doesn’t only affect the obvious cereal crops, what about you morning coffee or orange juice, tree’s pollinated by bee’s. What about your fresh milk? If a farmer has less, or inadequate dairy feed, milk production will fall dramatically, pushing up the price of milk and leading to less of it on our shelves.

The bee population is falling dramatically, far more than one may think. In 2008 the British Bee Keepers Association published data accounting for a 30% drop in population between 2007 and 2008. In the same period the European Food Safety Authority published results for Italy, a bee keeping nation on an industrial scale, which showed a startling 40 – 50% drop in population. There is however discussion over the accuracy of these figures. Before populations started to fall there was no established structure for the sharing of data between countries, so whilst this data is worrying, it is not the entire picture.

But the actual reason for this population plummet still remains vague. The Varroa mite is thought to be partially responsible, attaching itself to the insects and sucking their blood, in turn lowering their immune system. Additional environmental pressures such as the use of pesticides and nectar low habitats, and the passing of two wet British summers, are also thought to have led to Colony Collapse Disorder.

With the determining factor in population fall still vague, concerned members of the European Parliament are currently calling for research funding to be pushed through as a priority. Thought’s that high nectar arable set aside locations can be created to aide recovery have also been mentioned but funding will take time, all the while as the bees population continues to slide.

Whilst not directly combating the problem of population fall, farmers and citizens can do their part by establishing new colonies or encouraging nectar rich plants to grow in their gardens. Most hives will provide enough honey for a family, whilst going someway towards stopping this essential insect family from becoming extinct. Time does not seem to be on their side, and if they disappear would be the ones to follow?

Busy Bees

Defra has announced major new funding into the protection and rejuvenation of the bee population. The joint project will mean that £10 Million will be made available, seemingly for research, and is a initiative between the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Defra, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the Wellcome Trust and the Scottish Government. It was announced in January that Defra would be putting £2 Million into research of this type, but now in collaboration with all these organizations, that amount has increased by £8 Million.

Funding will be made available across the UK to researchers, and will be administered through the Living With Environmental Change (LWEC) partnership. This is seen as vital action to increase the understanding of why the numbers of bees has dwindled, and how we are best placed to correct this trend, and thus revive the bee community. Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said “Aristotle identified bees as the most hard working of insects, and with one in three mouthfuls coming from insect-pollinated crops, we need to support bees and other pollinators. This funding will give some of Britain’s world-class researchers the chance to identify the causes of the decline we’re seeing in bee numbers, and that will help us to take the right action to help.”

Bees are vital to the pollination of many crops, and the impact of the decline in their UK colonies has been such that many fear a continuation at this rate will bring very serious consequences to the food production and supply within the country. The British Beekeepers’ Association has been working for the last year on raising awareness of this issue, setting up their own ‘Save Our Bees Campaign’ within that process. Tim Lovett, the President of the BBKA has welcomed this latest announcement. “This news is most welcome and represents a victory for the campaign that the British Beekeepers have undertaken during the last 12 months. It is vital that these funds are committed to the work that can make a real difference and meet the challenges facing honey bees.”

Awareness of this issue is expected to get greater as the season for witnessing bees do their work gets going. The BBC will also be highlighting this issue, in a series of programmes that are exploring and explaining how food gets from the fields to our kitchen tables. One of the shows will be highlighting how the changing weather, warmer winters and wetter summers, is affecting bees, and how vital it is that we understand this process and do what we can to adjust it, and where possible make changes that will reverse this action.

Who Killed The Honey Bee? Will be screened on BBC Four Thursday 23rd April, and repeated several times throughout the following week.

Financial Crisis Leads to Increase in Livestock Rustling

With the financial crisis hitting all business sectors, the farming industry is reporting an increase in livestock theft. The cost of meat is rising, leading to sheep, cattle and pigs being taken from farms. It is suspected that many of the stolen animals are slaughtered inhumanely and incorporated into the food sector for human consumption, bypassing many of the stringent health and safety and hygiene regulations.

Recently nine rare breed cattle worth thousands of pounds were stolen, while sixty Blackface sheep are thought to have been herded up and stolen from a Scottish island in an organised operation and another fifty sheep taken from a farm near Newton Abbot. In Dorset, two rams worth around four hundred pounds each were stolen from a farm. The rams were pedigree Poll Dorset sheep, used for breeding, but are likely to have ended up in the food chain. A farmer in Herefordshire had 200 sheep worth an estimated ten thousand pounds stolen.

There is great concern for the impact on National parks such as Dartmoor, where local breed sheep are hefted and so naturally stay in a restricted area of the feel. If these sheep are stolen it is very difficult to replace them. Local farmers are also fearful of putting their animals out to graze for fear of rustling and this will likely have a knock on effect on the environment and features of the fells.

Unfortunately it is thought that the thefts are being carried out by people involved in the farming industry or at least with a farming background, as to round up several sheep and transport them away, takes a well trained dog and the knowledge and skill to load a large number of sheep into a lorry, usually under the cover of darkness.

Farmers in remote locations are organising their own watch schemes and anyone seeing sheep trailers or lorries transporting animals during the night, should take a note of the vehicle and registration number and report the matter.