Support your farmers....

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT

The ban on movement of animals susceptible to Foot and Mouth disease that was recently lifted is now back in place due to a further incident in Southern England. It is just over 1 month since the last incident. Exports are again on hold and animals cannot be moved without a specific licence. Dairy cattle can go to be milked and animals that need to visit vets are the only two general exceptions. This latest ban will have a profound effect on our faming community, it is the busiest time of year, it is when a significant amount of livestock is sold, particularly sheep.

Click here to visit DEFRA's website for the latest information.

I thought it appropriate to re-publish Jim Hadwin's e-mail sent out last August.

It is with utter disbelief that we write this statement, and question how this been allowed to happen again? The aim of this brief statement is to make you aware of how things stand with us at Mansergh Hall on Monday 6^th August 2007.

The current situation

Firstly, please order as normal this week as the outbreak has not affected our current supplies. We need to continue as normal to ensure our survival and we thank you for your support.

Our livestock is checked daily as a matter of course anyway, and although we have no reason to believe the disease could have reached our stock we are now looking for signs of the dreaded disease.

Furthermore, we have taken steps to prevent breaches of our farm bio-security.

The forthcoming weeks

Our meat stocks will see us through for sometime so please continue to order, we will update you as our stocks change. We will still be able to source our organic fruit and vegetables boxes, so please order these as normal.

At the time of writing we are not able to move any stock anywhere, which includes to the slaughterhouse. As I have already mentioned we are relying on the meat stocks we have on the premise at the moment, and whilst this does not affect us this week, these movement restrictions have already taken their toll on the following weeks as we will not have stock to hang or dry-cure as we normally would. Obviously, the longer this continues the worse the situation will become.

We will keep you updated of the situation as it evolves, and once again thank you for your continued support. We will not let this beat us!

Martins thoughts...

Support your farmers....