On Fri, 15 Aug 2003 16:45:47 +0100, "Mich"
wrote:


"martin" wrote in message
.. .
On Fri, 15 Aug 2003 12:29:26 +0100, Jane Ransom
wrote:

In article , martin
writes

Many farmers received substantial compensation for foot and mouth

Farmers did *not* receive 'compensation'.
They were paid the market price for the animals that were forcibly taken
from them and destroyed.


Dont want to get into this debate really. But one farmer locally was a
big player in the F&M disaster - lost all his stock on several farms ( he
was not a farmer at all really , more a stock seller).

he got lots of dosh - over a six figure sum - and I hear he went to
Australia on the proceeds.

I have the feeling that as usual the rich got richer and the poor
became bankrupt.


Now I know some real farmers came out of this very badly.
I also remember being very vigilant on my own land when I came home from
travelling to work through an infected area so that I didn't cause any
problem for the local organic milk farmer up the road.

At the peak of F&M we were on holiday first near Whitby and then near
Thirsk, both bad places for F&M. In both areas all the roads had
troughs to contain disinfectant. We never saw a single trough that
actually contained disinfectant. The locals told us that the troughs
were kept topped up for the first week or so and then forgotten. We
watched a milk lorry doing a collection going from farm to farm
everyday. It's hardly surprising F&M spread the way it did in UK. In
the Netherlands when their F&M outbreak was identified the area was
sealed off by the police and all cattle markets were immediately
closed. Result epidemic contained and stopped almost immediately.

I don't know who was to blame for what went on in UK. I think probably
the whole farming system and MAFF.
--
Martin