The next unofficial... Keswick anyone?

Ok fair comment, hadn't really thought about it properly. That makes it worse if anything, esp. for Emma, she is usually flat out round easter, what with selling chickens an all.

Graham

...and Lee_D spake unto the tribes of Usenet, saying...

Looks like a load of balls to me.

During stardate Mon, 24 Oct 2005 18:53:55 +0100, "Graham G" uttered the imortal words:

Thats if they still sell them then :0[

Lee D

-- "I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let's start with typewriters."

- Frank Lloyd Wright (1868-1959)

Quite! Hope for our sakes and everyone elses that they do. Emma is remaining optimistic, she doesn't believe the threat to be that serious atm. What I find worrying is that the government could force her to destroy all her birds (some 3000 plus) and yet offer no form of compensation. She cannot even get insurace because no company seems to recognise chickens as stock worth coverage. Is the same for any other person keeping poultry, could see a lot of businesses go under. In Emma's case she breeds rare breed chickens. She has some 147 breeds, some of which she has the main breeding group in the country. She estimates that if she had to kill all her birds the country would probably loose in the region of 50 breeds for ever, and make many more endangered. She was saying that if it occured they would find themselves only able to sell approx 40 breeds. Apparently there are over 300 breeds of chicken in the UK (then ducks geese etc on top) and she estimates we could loose two thirds. Thats the most worrying thing.

Of course this is ignoring any human spread.

Graham

During stardate Mon, 24 Oct 2005 16:22:20 +0100, "Paul S. Brown" uttered the imortal words:

Close! And yes Jim is a cracking chap... sufferes a VM affliction similar to that I had.

These chaps also run events and are the peeps I'm trying to swing something for us....

...time will tell.

Lee D

-- "I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let's start with typewriters."

- Frank Lloyd Wright (1868-1959)

On or around Mon, 24 Oct 2005 19:16:14 +0100, "Richard Brookman" enlightened us thusly:

I thought that, too. Couldn't work out where they were supposed to fit on a landy.

On or around Mon, 24 Oct 2005 22:23:29 +0100, "Graham G" enlightened us thusly:

All sorts of people had similar problems in the moot an fouth a bit back.

I'd have thought there would be enough outcry about it that they'd have to do some sort of compensation, but you never know. The people who lost out worst in the F&M were the ones like me sister and BiL who were not in a culling zone, but nevertheless weren't allowed to move any stock and lost out bigtime as a result, and, of course, got no compo.

Keep us informed: we can all write to MPs if necessary...

One aspect of that was that you weren't allowed to move stock from whwer they were to bring them inside for lambing, say, and as a result, the sheep ended up lambing in what was by then something rather like a swamp; conditions which baby lambs can't survive reliably. I know me sister was very upset about it.

You need to buy two, stick them in an old sock, and hang from the middle of the rear crossmember...

Sorry to say, but this is a total waste of time.

Best option, IMO, is a pre-emptive strike buy media. Get Radio 4 onto it...

you are preaching to the choir on that one. My best mate had his herd culled, as a result of a ministry man appearing on the farm having got the wrong address. My auntie had all her animals killed as a result of being inside a risk zone. Another friend of mine had all his sheep killed on the welfare scheme, cos he couldn't move them and they were dying in a field of mud. I was lambing sheep for a University at the time, we had to break the rules in order to get sheep out of a flooded field. It was awful, really hope it doesn't come to that again.

The problem at the moment is that for whatever reason the government has yet to recognise chickens as farm animals, and as such no compensation or insurance is available. Seems like nonscence, but its true! Can't remember what they are classified as atm but its something silly like domestic animals not commercial. As you say, you would hope that might change if anything happened, but going on the governments past performance, I won't be holding my breath.

Money issues aside, it would be a real shame to loose so many breeds like that if it were avoidable. Current thinking is that 'farmers' will be made to keep their poultry inside at all times. Those that cannot comply will be forced to enter a compulsory culling scheme. This would have several major implications. Given Emma's chichens are all free range (with little houses) it would be impossible to move them indoors. My fathers rearing enterprise would be in much the same situation as would most free range farms. The result of course would be a move back to intensive systems. Emma also thinks that it would spell the end of any organic enterprises, since disease in houses would be impossible to control without medicines.

Very worrying indeed.

Graham

During stardate Tue, 25 Oct 2005 09:33:11 +0100, Mother uttered the imortal words:

No....it's not on my present list ofconsidered places to shove a old sock.

Lee D

-- "I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let's start with typewriters."

- Frank Lloyd Wright (1868-1959)

I've told you once...

During stardate Mon, 24 Oct 2005 17:25:18 +0100, "Graham G" uttered the imortal words:

Have they got a different off road course now? I think I inadvertently followed a Landrover trying to get to the show ground across the off road course it was quite difficult in my 2wd Granada Scorpio.

:0)

Lee D

-- "I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let's start with typewriters."

- Frank Lloyd Wright (1868-1959)

Oh I dunno. There are over 250 miles of different tracks and courses that have been known to break the most severe offroad prepared Landies ever built. Tis why Ford have agreed to extend the contract to use them and renew the other (very expensive) leases they own there.

(You are talking about Eastnor, aren't you?)

During stardate Tue, 25 Oct 2005 22:09:32 +0100, Mother uttered the imortal words:

If it's the same course the Eastnor Castle show uses yes. If not no. Admittedly we didn't deliberately drive through it, Just followed the Landy havin got lost. Pulled up when we saw an official who advised us we were in the middle of the off road drive but to carry on we'd be ok, probably because it was a Ford site ;-)

Lee D

-- "I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let's start with typewriters."

- Frank Lloyd Wright (1868-1959)

The course(s) used for the LRW show have to be fairly safe. There are several hundred miles of alternatives there - all around Deer Park. I (and Charlotte, who's walked a fair number of them) could show you some routes that'd make you feel unsteady _walking_ them, let alone trying to take a Landie around them :-)

Only trouble is, due to the vehicles they test there, and the use that some of the routes get, they are not easily navigable in an 101 Ambi - lest you want (as I did) to bring back several substantial sized branches...

Have been round several of there different courses and as Martyl says, they range from the sublime to the ridiculous. They do have to cater for freelanders you know ;o)

Graham

We always need substantial sized branches. Steve