APPENDIX 30
Memorandum submitted by Mr GH Cole (P31)
1. In Britain and in British farming we
do love our scapegoats.
2. Ever since Compulsory annual routine
testing was discontinued when we thought the disease had been
eradicate this "blame" syndrome has gathered momentum
amongst farmers.
3. The chorus of shouting has been gathering
momentum ever since the late 1960's when for example this farm
became TB free. This chorus has been stoked up regularly but a
succession of NFU presidents anxious to garner votes for the election.
The orchestrated "hue and cry" ABOUT THE BADGER HAS
BECOME AN ABSOLUTE OBESSION WITH FARMERS BLINDING THEM SO THAT
THEY ARE UNPREPARED TO CONSIDER ANY OTHER POSSIBLE CAUSE.
NOTE: the theme
is that THEY (presumably the government)—must do something
about it. Notice that they never suggest that modern farming practices
have any bearing on the problem.
4. The present edition of "The British
Farmer"—enclosed—is a classic example and the
story, which relates to the front cover, is distortion.
5. A young farmer neighbour proudly showing
me his new "shed" asked what I thought I said it would
have been better had only two sides been sheeted against prevailing
storms . . . as you find on farms in the borders on the Duke of
Buccleugh's estates. So long as animals are dry, can lie down
dry, they will take no harm from the cold. However, the NFU and
farmers argue that they don't fatten so quickly, don't yield as
much milk etc unless they are completely under cover.—Echoes
of bank overdrafts/cash flow and all that nonsense under which
good husbandry (meaning lower feed bills) is sacrificed for profits.
6. It should be noted that since the late
`70's new farm buildings have been sheeted all round. Attempts
have been made to improve ventilation with spaced boarding, small
roof vents etc but in all these buildings it is most noticeable
that there is distinct FUG of stagnant air. But the farmer will
never acknowledge having invested his money in such an impressive
construction that the protection against the inclement weather
is actually providing the perfect culture medium for Tuberculosis.
7. On this farm we put up a new shed in
the late 1980's for storage of silage bales implements and use
as a lambing-shed in the springtime. It is totally OPEN along
all one side. The building has its back to the prevailing storms
but I have frequently noticed that whenever we have a "full-house"
of about 30 ewes and their newborn lambs in calm weather conditions
there is always a FUG of stale air . . . (it should be noted that
the barn functions as a maternity hospital and mother and lambs
never spend more than 24 hours in it except in blizzard conditions).
8. As a young man I worked on many farms
in Scandinavia and have visited those countries 16 times or more.
Last summer I took photographs of several farm building new and
post war. All of them almost without exception have electrically
powered ventilation systems to extract foul air.
9. Instead of bleating about the badger
it would be a good idea if Farmers, the NFU and the building manufacturers
carried out some controlled test on the effect of current design
on air quality/air exchange and designed some new building which
maintained a complete air exchange every so many minutes etc.
I think the results would be revealing but as our scientists are
not flavour of the month with British Farmers you would have one
helluva job to change attitudes and practices.
10. I have some pictures of the ventilators
on Danish and Norwegian farm buildings.
11. I do not have the time to precis the
enclosed letter from the Biologist given to me by a friend but
its contents should be widely circulated although it will not
find favour with the scientists in DEFRA of the NFU.
12. I would suggest that the conclusions
are too near to the truth for their comfort. And to me knowledge
Governments have ALREADY WASTED some £40 million on the futile
methods attempted so far over the past 30 years.
Finally, in this country we do not APPLY ELEMENTARY
COMMON SENSE in many situations where caution and precaution would
be obvious .......... WHEN FMD WAS FINALLY DECLARED ENDED IN CUMBRIA
............ you could not believe that the Veterinary authorities
in DEFRA allowed all the big farmers in the county who had lost
their stock and were bursting with compensation money—who
were boasting they wanted to restock quick before the price of
replacements went through the roof—to go ahead and purchase
animals and complete herds in some cases from the south of England
and from areas with known TB hotspots. WITHOUT BLOOD TESTS! Even
an uninformed city dweller would have expected testing to be a
virtual ..... And to do this into a County which had been TB free.
It took some time but the damage was done before the Chief vet
put a stop to it . . . the horse had bolted.
And when Margaret Beckett came to pay us a carefully
stage-managed well choreographed visit she was not told that on
one of the farms she visited owned by a millionaire "county"
farmer a newly "imported" cow from the south of England
had been shot the previous day . . . enough said.
28 January 2003
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