Editor's view
Life of a smallholder
Woken by the cock crow as dawn breaks, lulled to sleep by your cattle lowing. In between, a tough but satisfying day of egg-collecting and hand-milking. The life of the small holder has a powerful romantic appeal to anyone sick of the stresses of city life.
This week Farming Today' is taking a dispassionate look at life on the agricultural margins. Are small holders and hobby farmers bringing fresh ideas to the countryside or do they pose a threat to the agricultural industries?
This morning Anna Hill asks if unregulated part-time farmers keep animals that harbour and spread disease, adding to the risks faced by mainstream agriculture.
Smallholder Editor Liz Wright was asked to reply to the NFU's comments that small farmers are the weak link in the animal disease chain.
She pointed out that all the regulations that apply to larger scale farmers, also apply to small farmers and smallholder such as ear tagging and movement licences, and that many small poultry flocks have registered with the Poultry Register.
She strongly refuted that smallholders were more likely to spread disease through badly managed livestock and pointed out that according to Defra's own small farm practices report, smallholders are more likely not to move their animals except to point of slaughter. Finally, asked about the desire for moving to the country, she said that there is a great desire among people to take charge of their own food production and that was a primary reason for moving to the country and taking up smallholding. For those who cannot yet make the change she suggested using what you have already such as local allotments, to learn new skills and provide some home grown food.
Liz said: " No outbreak of animal disease has been attributed to small farmers so its hard to see where the NFU are going with this one especially as they have their own small farm supporters in the form of NFU Countryside. In my view all producers, large and small, should be working together to improve all aspects of animal disease, welfare and responsible food production; it is not helpful for sections of the countryside community to be perceived by the public to be separate. As for the term hobby farming' I'd like to see that dropped altogether. Many larger holdings did not make money in previous years and relied on their subsidy cheque. Many smallholdings are producing specialist products in a commercial world. It is impossible to generalize."
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CommentPosted by: Jo Knight on 10:10am Wed 19 Mar 08
I really do take umbrage to the NFU's wholly unfounded & frankly irresponsible comments. As Liz rightly points out, smallholders are subject to exactly the same regulations as large-scale farmers; so why we should be subject to even more, is beyond me. Having smaller numbers of livestock to care for means that problems are likely to be identified more swiftly too; & the level of care for indiviual birds or animals is usually far greater & more concentrated than those of commercial-scale flocks or herds.
As for smallholders being a weak link in the disease chain I recall the FMD outbreak of last year. Despite having a CPH we received no information regarding the FMD outbreak whatsoever initially; it was about three weeks before we had defra's first recorded message.
Regardless, we immediately took it upon ourselves to take responsible measures, even though we are in West Wales & the outbreak was in Surrey. The gate at the top of our drive was locked & no visitors were allowed on the premises for the duration of the outbreak. We restricted our own off-farm movements as much as possible & each kept a separate set of 'off farm' clothes. At the top of the drive we had disinfectant mats, a foot bath & vehicle spray; & the gate to our lower yard - where the livestock are kept - had a further disinfectant mat for entry & exit of the yard - even though my husband & I were the only ones working there.
Meanwhile few of the 'mainstream' farmers in the locality, even bothered with a mat; & they certainly didn't restrict access to their farms. As the problem was over the other side of the UK it was unfortunately perceived as 'out of sight, out of mind' by the majority.
As we're retired military officers we perhaps have a greater awareness of biosecurity issues than many; however we were dismayed at the essentially apathetic attitude of larger-scale farmers regarding disease control even though they'd been farming at the time of previous outbreaks, which we hadn't. As I recall this apathy was worryingly highlighted in the farming press at the time of the most recent FMD outbreak.
Unfortunately whilst serious smallholders are dismissed as being only 'hobby farmers', this casual prejudice against them is likely to continue; but it is disappointing that a responsible body such as the NFU should so unjustly point the finger.
I really do take umbrage to the NFU's wholly unfounded & frankly irresponsible comments. As Liz rightly points out, smallholders are subject to exactly the same regulations as large-scale farmers; so why we should be subject to even more, is beyond me. Having smaller numbers of livestock to care for means that problems are likely to be identified more swiftly too; & the level of care for indiviual birds or animals is usually far greater & more concentrated than those of commercial-scale flocks or herds.
As for smallholders being a weak link in the disease chain I recall the FMD outbreak of last year. Despite having a CPH we received no information regarding the FMD outbreak whatsoever initially; it was about three weeks before we had defra's first recorded message.
Regardless, we immediately took it upon ourselves to take responsible measures, even though we are in West Wales & the outbreak was in Surrey. The gate at the top of our drive was locked & no visitors were allowed on the premises for the duration of the outbreak. We restricted our own off-farm movements as much as possible & each kept a separate set of 'off farm' clothes. At the top of the drive we had disinfectant mats, a foot bath & vehicle spray; & the gate to our lower yard - where the livestock are kept - had a further disinfectant mat for entry & exit of the yard - even though my husband & I were the only ones working there.
Meanwhile few of the 'mainstream' farmers in the locality, even bothered with a mat; & they certainly didn't restrict access to their farms. As the problem was over the other side of the UK it was unfortunately perceived as 'out of sight, out of mind' by the majority.
As we're retired military officers we perhaps have a greater awareness of biosecurity issues than many; however we were dismayed at the essentially apathetic attitude of larger-scale farmers regarding disease control even though they'd been farming at the time of previous outbreaks, which we hadn't. As I recall this apathy was worryingly highlighted in the farming press at the time of the most recent FMD outbreak.
Unfortunately whilst serious smallholders are dismissed as being only 'hobby farmers', this casual prejudice against them is likely to continue; but it is disappointing that a responsible body such as the NFU should so unjustly point the finger.
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