Archived News

26th September 2007

The sixth British Food Fortnight between 22nd September and 7th October is the biggest national celebration of the diverse and delicious food produced in Britain.  Over 40 organisations are involved; retail and catering sectors as well as schools across the country.

For further information, visit www.britishfoodfortnight.co.uk  For schools there are cooking and food related activities for each curriculum and age group, there is guidance for shops, pubs and restaurants promoting regional food and for those who enjoy cooking or eating out there is information about regional events. Please choose the diverse and delicious food produced in Britain and enjoy British Food Fortnight!

25th September 2007

A seventh case of FMD in Surrey has been confirmed as positive.  We are thankful that farmers are checking their livestock and that the disease appears to still be contained within the Protection Zone.

The weather has been dreadful today and has made bio security particularly hard work.  The straw which is spread on top of carpet, has become a filthy wet mass at the top of the main farm yard.  Sam has replaced the straw so hopefully it won't rain too much over the coming days.

I have been trying to source some affordable industrial type disinfectant mats.  As we need three sets we would be looking at about £1,000    My main concern is that we had a pump-action sprayer (for spraying wheels) and two lovely old milk churns (which we used to carry water across to the straw mat at West Lane) stolen during the initial outbreak in August, so there is sadly no sense in buying smart new mats which are very likely to be stolen. It looks like we have to stick with straw for the moment.

Livestock inspections are our main priority and have in fact taken over from all normal productive work, we are determined to ensure that we continue to do all we can to prevent the spread of FMD and support the National Farmers Union and indeed Defra to eradicate this disease from the UK.

We are in the Surveillance Zone so we cannot make any movements of live animals and this is now becoming a problem because grass is running out.  We can take forage out to the cattle but if we put a man onto that job - which is very time consuming, he is no longer available for livestock inspections.  To actually get round to half our locations with feed, will take a day.  We are in a vicious circle.

Two new FMD areas have come in today: FMD Risk Area includes Kent, East and West Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex.  FMD Low Risk Area covers the rest of England and Isle of Whight, outside the FMD Risk Area and Bluetongue Temporary Area.  Please visit www.defra.gov.uk for further information relating to these areas.

A third case of Bluetongue has been detected in Lowestoft and this is certainly not good news for the farming industry, especially as this case is many miles from the first confirmed site. At this stage Defra say there is not enough evidence to confirm an outbreak of Bluetongue.Back