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Tuesday, 19 February, 2002, 10:06 GMT
One year on: 'It's knocked us sideways'
![]() Foot-and-mouth hit the UK a year ago
To mark the first anniversary of the disastrous outbreak of foot-and-mouth, this week we are hearing tales from various walks of life about what a year it's been. Here, Warwickshire farmer Adam Quinney reflects on what happens next.
Disclaimer: The BBC will put up as many of your comments as possible but we cannot guarantee that all e-mails will be published. The BBC reserves the right to edit comments that are published.
But the consequences are going to take years to get over. It has knocked our business completely sideways. A good example is our beef stock herd. We're starting off again with young cows and it's going to take two years before they calf and a further two years before we sell their offspring and see a return on our investment. Luckily I have a very helpful landlord and a very helpful bank, but we have to work in the evenings away from the farm to keep things going. I'm training my fellow farmers to use computers; my wife works fulltime teaching. 'Disinfecting all day long' The farm next door got foot-and-mouth right at the beginning - before the contiguous cull was introduced - so we had heavy restrictions placed on our farm.
The disease increased our workload tremendously. We had to look after animals that would normally have been sold in March. We were disinfecting all day long. We had to show the vets around every day, go through the paperwork with them. Most evenings it was at least 10pm before we got in. We didn't realise how exhausting it was. We collapsed in a big heap because we couldn't keep up with it all. Shaken confidence Whatever confidence we do have has turned into grim determination. For one, we can never go back to that level of slaughter and restrictions.
This summer is going to be a crossroads for many farmers as they make the decision whether to carry on or not. In my area, a lot of sons have decided to do something else, and the father is sat on the farm in his late 50s or early 60s wondering what on earth he's doing.
My own children are still quite young so deciding what they do with their futures are many years away. They occasionally express an interest, but I'd hate them to go into farming if they didn't love it the way I do. One year on, send us your memories of foot-and-mouth, and tell us how it's impact is still being felt. Here's some of your comments so far:
Adam Quinney has hit the nail on the head. It is our desire for cheap meat which caused the conditions which led to foot-and-mouth. We must stand up against supermarkets ripping off our farmers. If the farmers can get a reasonable price for their produce, then they won't have to resort to the measures which started this whole thing off.
Modern farming practice does not habour the conditions for the disease. It may have spread more quickly but FMD is far more emdemic in less advanced farming countries. The disease was imported along similar lines to swine fever. We should have the same import controls you see when you visit the US or Antipodes.
Although we didn't have FMD in north-east Scotland, we suffered too. We had only sold one batch of store cattle when the outbreak started and had the additional feed costs for keeping the rest until May. We lost quite a number of calves simply because they were born outside and we didn't get to them in time. We're still struggling with our cash flow as a direct result. Things were tough before FMD, but we were managing to break even (barely).
In the 1980s the Conservatives closed hundreds of unprofitable mines - 20 years later farming is a similar millstone around the neck of our economy and we must take action to rid ourselves of it where appropriate.
The way the government mismanaged this disaster is absolutely scandalous. I feel very sorry for the farmers and their families - the real victims - many who will take years to recover.
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