By Gary Ford, PR and policy advisor, BFREPA
It’s been a very busy start to the year for the industry with a lot happening on a range of issues from, in no particular order, politics to disease to the poultry sector assurance schemes. In some respects, the themes have an all too dispiriting and disheartening familiarity as they are variations on a theme that we have tackled frequently over many years. That said it doesn’t make them less intense or any less worrying or concerning for poultry producers and growers.
The ongoing outbreak of bird flu is a prime example. For those that are unlucky – often by virtue of location – to suffer this disease it is a very difficult experience. Presiding over your flock being humanely culled and the financial uncertainty that comes with it is very difficult to take. Farmers are hard wired to look after and to do their best for their livestock who are in their care and to see them humanely culled is the ultimate insult in terms of outcomes. Yes, insurance and compensation (for healthy birds) helps but, as I have found myself of late saying, my house is insured but if it burnt down tomorrow it would be a traumatic experience and extremely stressful and disruptive even though the financial side may be taken care of by the insurer.
It is for some of these reasons and others that we are calling for a housing order for free range layers – yes, for the benefit of the birds given the lower risk but also for the benefit of the farmer and the farm manager who are charged with their welfare and instinctively want to do the right thing by their livestock and that means protecting them from the risk of disease and harm.
I think it is good to talk about our shared concerns and worries – a problem shared is, in many respects, a problem halved. To talk to someone who has the same or similar concerns shows that we are not alone in thinking what we are thinking. Please take some time out of the business – I know it isn’t easy – to attend the various poultry meetings and events that the industry regularly put on. You will hopefully learn something but, more important than the knowledge transfer, is the particular comradery that you can only get from fellow farmers.