The supply of the right amounts of fodder in the right places is critical to welfare over the coming months. Farms which were culled out often have a surplus fodder whereas those under movement restrictions are often more heavily stocked than normal for this time of year and are facing a winter of fodder shortage.

When you and I met in April, and in my letter to you of 12 May, I proposed the provision of welfare vouchers (to permit purchase of fodder especially) as an alternative to slaughter and compensation under the livestock welfare disposal scheme (LWDS). I also requested consideration of slaughter of a proportion of animals on a farm as a means of alleviating problems of fodder shortage. The current situation is just as grave as in the Spring for farmers trapped by movement controls, particularly in upland areas where breeding stock that would normally have been sold at this time have to be retained and fed.

I am naturally therefore pleased to learn that a scheme to provide fodder to needy livestock producers via the Addington Fund is now being extended with matched funding by Defra. However, the Council would urge you to consider increasing the level of Government funding for this very necessary fodder support scheme as an essential contribution to obviating welfare problems. At the same time it is important to ensure that this assistance is directed at farmers who would have had viable production systems under normal conditions and who need short term help.

It has also been reported to us that forward-looking farmers requesting a partial cull (to alleviate their predictable overstocking problems) are being refused under the LWDS until they can show they have totally run out of fodder. This is clearly not in the interests of animal welfare and I would welcome your assurance that these reports are not accurate.

Overall, we are aware that farmers under Form D restriction have been particularly hard-hit by the impact of FMD restrictions. The Council believes that careful consideration should be given to provision of essential management/veterinary advice to help such farmers who, are suffering as much and in some cases more than those whose stock went down with the disease. Such advice is required urgently before the onset of winter.

Restocking

The importance of farmers taking reasonable health and welfare precautions when restocking cannot be overstated. The UK has invested heavily in eradication schemes of diseases such as brucellosis, and other diseases such as tuberculosis and paratuberculosis are geographically confined but would be readily spread by ill-considered restocking practices. The cost of such disease spread in welfare terms, as well as national biosecurity, is incalculable. In addition, the absence of stock on much grazing land for an entire season offers unique opportunities to eliminate parasite problems with the accompanying welfare benefits.

It is vital that veterinary advice is provided at an early stage to farmers who are planning for restocking to ensure all these options are well considered. We have been advised that the funding of veterinary advice under the Rural Development Programme is not currently permitted as part of the five free-days of business consultancy available to farmers. We believe this is an ill-conceived decision and we would encourage you to hold discussions with your colleagues to review it.

Headage payments for Sheep Producers

The eligibility criteria for payments under the Sheep Annual Premium Scheme, based on the requirement to retain the number of eligible sheep claimed during the application period (December to February) until the end of the 100-day retention period (15 May), clearly contributed to the prolific movement of sheep that took place in February 2001 before the detection of FMD. This was exacerbated by the fact that there is clawback of quota from producers if less than 70 per cent of quota is utilised - essentially an incentive to move sheep solely for that reason!

The Council is concerned that this system, in spite of whatever efforts may be made to control movements, will again drive multiple sheep movements in February 2002, as producers have a financial incentive to acquire or hold on to stock that they will find extremely difficult to feed. We consider that the introduction of an Outgoers scheme or some other appropriate mechanism by the Government to purchase quota would go a long way towards redressing the current problem. However, we also believe that a system of payment based upon predicted head count is fundamentally flawed and should, as soon as opportune, be reviewed at EU level and revised.

Biosecurity

We are very concerned that adequate and appropriate national biosecurity measures should be in place to prevent the introduction of exotic disease, including FMD. We appreciate that there may be EU constraints in this area, which limit your ability to restrict imports of fresh meat by private individuals. However, we are conscious of the hazard which this presents, and the fact that countries with recognised FMD-free status, such as the USA, Australia and New Zealand, have stringent biosecurity arrangements particularly in relation to hygiene, control of imports and rigorous penalties for non-compliance. We believe such arrangements could usefully be emulated for the UK.

You will appreciate that these are all matters of great significance and which FAWC believes need urgently to be addressed in order to safeguard animal welfare over the coming winter months. I would be happy to discuss any aspect of this advice with you if that would help you to clarify the necessary action.