Re: We did nothing to invite disease...

2 messages

Originally from: David Oakes

Elaine,
Am I reading this message correct, my blood is getting to boiling point.Can we
do anything here.???
David

----- Original Message -----
From: ...
Originally from: Elaine Commander <...>
To: <...>
Cc: <...>
Sent: 15 March 2002 00:09
Subject: [farmtalking] We did nothing to invite disease...
Western Morning News back on 6 March 2002:
Extract:
One farmer killed all his cats – hit them across the head with a shovel – because foot and mouth was here on the farm and he didn't want them bringing it onto his land.
Elaine

'WE DID NOTHING TO INVITE DISEASE'
09:00 – 06 March 2002
Jamie McGinnes meets livestock dealer Willie Cleave – the man who brought foot and mouth into the Westcountry
EVER colourful and upbeat, Willie Cleave shrugs off his portrayal as a national villain during the foot and mouth crisis.
The down-to-earth Devon livestock dealer and farmer has no qualms about his conduct during the crisis and the media frenzy that followed when the disease broke out on his farm, at Highampton, near Holsworthy.
"All we were doing was doing our business," he said. "We just carried on as we were.
"Yes I spread it, brought it down from Cumbria, but if it wasn't in the country already I couldn't have spread it. We were in the thick of it, but all we were doing was our business. We had done nothing wrong – if we had done something wrong we wouldn't be here today."
Willie's name was blackened further by newspaper reports that he had received more than £1 million in compensation for his animals that were destroyed.
He said the figure was wrong, and that the money he was actually given falls way short of the losses his business, W J & S M Cleave, made last year.
"We had this freelance reporter come along and talk to us. He found out how many animals we had – 2,850 sheep and 950 cattle – and he took a fast-track price and he got to £1.3 million, which we should have had really. But we didn't. We had £762,000."
He said his solicitor advised against taking legal action against the newspapers' claims.
He added: "It was awful, because all we were doing was just doing ordinary business. We had a fair bit of hate mail, but we had a lot of good letters as well. We had about ten bad ones, but we had a lot of good ones. We had a bit of hassle from people around here when foot and mouth started.
"Some people in our trade called us 'dirty dealers' and things like that. One farmer killed all his cats – hit them across the head with a shovel – because foot and mouth was here on the farm and he didn't want them bringing it onto his land.
"But if I'd lost my marbles, what would have happened to me? I didn't lose my marbles."
An annual turnover of £4 million before foot and mouth has been slashed to under £1 million for the last 12 months, said Willie.
He has used the money from the Government to pay off debts, buy a few new tractors and a new house.
"If you have money you pay off what you borrow," he said. "We've had nothing to live on all year and we've still got nothing to live on. We're just about starting to find something to live on."
At the height of resentment towards Willie, rumours circulated that he had been set upon by other farmers after waving his compensation cheque around in the local pub – which he adamantly denies.
"That never happened," he said. "Someone said I was in the George Hotel in Hatherleigh waving a cheque around, but how could I do that when I had payments coming in direct from MAFF straight into my bank? We never had a cheque."
He said he would not like a repeat of the foot and mouth crisis.
"We're trying to get back 100 per cent where we were before, but we're only, I suppose at about 90 per cent of where we were."
Willie, 45, started farming in Highampton 20 years ago, January just gone. He has two sons, Richard, 18, and Phillip, 13.
His business started out with one calf, before growing into the extensive network he had developed prior to foot and mouth. He owns three farms, rents ten others, and is the largest shareholder in an abattoir in Hatherleigh. He employs more than 40 people.
Altogether, 2,850 sheep and 950 cattle were taken from Willie's farms and abattoirs to be destroyed in the campaign to beat foot and mouth.
He said: "It was 12 months ago tonight (last Friday) that they burnt them. It was terrible really, what with the stink and that. It was just nice to see them out on that fire and being burnt after seeing them in the shed – our livelihood, what we'd built up here."
He is re-stocking with fewer animals and currently has 1,500 sheep and 750 cattle.
Willie is no stranger to controversy. Allegations have been made in the past about him lending out sheep to farmers in time for official visits, in order to get better grant cheques from the Government. He denies the claim.
"There's no truth in it at all," he said. "If you've got a haulier, like on the night I brought down those sheep that had foot and mouth on February 16, he isn't going to stop off and drop one or two sheep here and there. Eight o'clock in the morning and he's here or in the abattoir in Hatherleigh. You don't bring a 46-foot articulated lorry into all these farms and drop off two sheep at a time."
Most of Willie's business – at least 50 per cent – is in providing older sheep, or "cull ewes" for a Muslim festival called Eid Al-Addah.
"We do about 2,000 to 2,500 cull ewes with the lambs each week, every week of the year to places like London, Bristol, Newport and Oxford," he said. "That's why we were in Longtown in the first place, supplying our own business. The festival comes every year – it's their Christmas. The Muslims like the tougher meat from the old ewes. There are thousands of sheep killed all over the world each year for the festival."
Proposals for a new 20-day standstill rule will not affect Willie, he said. "It won't affect my business, because most of our stock – 95 per cent – goes off the farm and straight into the abattoir, so we haven't got a problem with it, unlike many other farmers."
He said that more should be done to tighten up controls on illegal meat imports to lessen the risk of disease such as foot and mouth coming into the country.
"Movement restrictions are holding the farmers back, but the Government has got to do something and we've got to see some restrictions somewhere. We've got these restrictions, but there are no restrictions on what is coming into the country. We can have all this bio-security to do everything, but it's still going to come into the country.
"If the controls were tighter than when we went to Longtown market we would have come down as normal and nobody would have known anything about it. The Government has got to have more controls. They're very tight on the tobacco and alcohol coming in, but not very tight on this."
Willie said that there is no reason to stop moving animals long distances following foot and mouth.
"I don't see why there should be any need for that," he said. "Sheep have moved up and down the country because of supply and demand hundreds of times before and yet foot and mouth didn't break out."
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Originally from: Kittra

Western Morning News back on 6 March 2002:

Extract:

One farmer killed all his cats – hit them across the head with a shovel – because foot and mouth was here on the farm and he didn't want them bringing it onto his land.

Elaine

'WE DID NOTHING TO INVITE DISEASE'

09:00 – 06 March 2002

Jamie McGinnes meets livestock dealer Willie Cleave – the man who brought foot and mouth into the Westcountry

EVER colourful and upbeat, Willie Cleave shrugs off his portrayal as a national villain during the foot and mouth crisis.

The down-to-earth Devon livestock dealer and farmer has no qualms about his conduct during the crisis and the media frenzy that followed when the disease broke out on his farm, at Highampton, near Holsworthy.

"All we were doing was doing our business," he said. "We just carried on as we were.

"Yes I spread it, brought it down from Cumbria, but if it wasn't in the country already I couldn't have spread it. We were in the thick of it, but all we were doing was our business. We had done nothing wrong – if we had done something wrong we wouldn't be here today."

Willie's name was blackened further by newspaper reports that he had received more than £1 million in compensation for his animals that were destroyed.

He said the figure was wrong, and that the money he was actually given falls way short of the losses his business, W J & S M Cleave, made last year.

"We had this freelance reporter come along and talk to us. He found out how many animals we had – 2,850 sheep and 950 cattle – and he took a fast-track price and he got to £1.3 million, which we should have had really. But we didn't. We had £762,000."

He said his solicitor advised against taking legal action against the newspapers' claims.

He added: "It was awful, because all we were doing was just doing ordinary business. We had a fair bit of hate mail, but we had a lot of good letters as well. We had about ten bad ones, but we had a lot of good ones. We had a bit of hassle from people around here when foot and mouth started.

"Some people in our trade called us 'dirty dealers' and things like that. One farmer killed all his cats – hit them across the head with a shovel – because foot and mouth was here on the farm and he didn't want them bringing it onto his land.

"But if I'd lost my marbles, what would have happened to me? I didn't lose my marbles."

An annual turnover of £4 million before foot and mouth has been slashed to under £1 million for the last 12 months, said Willie.

He has used the money from the Government to pay off debts, buy a few new tractors and a new house.

"If you have money you pay off what you borrow," he said. "We've had nothing to live on all year and we've still got nothing to live on. We're just about starting to find something to live on."

At the height of resentment towards Willie, rumours circulated that he had been set upon by other farmers after waving his compensation cheque around in the local pub – which he adamantly denies.

"That never happened," he said. "Someone said I was in the George Hotel in Hatherleigh waving a cheque around, but how could I do that when I had payments coming in direct from MAFF straight into my bank? We never had a cheque."

He said he would not like a repeat of the foot and mouth crisis.

"We're trying to get back 100 per cent where we were before, but we're only, I suppose at about 90 per cent of where we were."

Willie, 45, started farming in Highampton 20 years ago, January just gone. He has two sons, Richard, 18, and Phillip, 13.

His business started out with one calf, before growing into the extensive network he had developed prior to foot and mouth. He owns three farms, rents ten others, and is the largest shareholder in an abattoir in Hatherleigh. He employs more than 40 people.

Altogether, 2,850 sheep and 950 cattle were taken from Willie's farms and abattoirs to be destroyed in the campaign to beat foot and mouth.

He said: "It was 12 months ago tonight (last Friday) that they burnt them. It was terrible really, what with the stink and that. It was just nice to see them out on that fire and being burnt after seeing them in the shed – our livelihood, what we'd built up here."

He is re-stocking with fewer animals and currently has 1,500 sheep and 750 cattle.

Willie is no stranger to controversy. Allegations have been made in the past about him lending out sheep to farmers in time for official visits, in order to get better grant cheques from the Government. He denies the claim.

"There's no truth in it at all," he said. "If you've got a haulier, like on the night I brought down those sheep that had foot and mouth on February 16, he isn't going to stop off and drop one or two sheep here and there. Eight o'clock in the morning and he's here or in the abattoir in Hatherleigh. You don't bring a 46-foot articulated lorry into all these farms and drop off two sheep at a time."

Most of Willie's business – at least 50 per cent – is in providing older sheep, or "cull ewes" for a Muslim festival called Eid Al-Addah.

"We do about 2,000 to 2,500 cull ewes with the lambs each week, every week of the year to places like London, Bristol, Newport and Oxford," he said. "That's why we were in Longtown in the first place, supplying our own business. The festival comes every year – it's their Christmas. The Muslims like the tougher meat from the old ewes. There are thousands of sheep killed all over the world each year for the festival."

Proposals for a new 20-day standstill rule will not affect Willie, he said. "It won't affect my business, because most of our stock – 95 per cent – goes off the farm and straight into the abattoir, so we haven't got a problem with it, unlike many other farmers."

He said that more should be done to tighten up controls on illegal meat imports to lessen the risk of disease such as foot and mouth coming into the country.

"Movement restrictions are holding the farmers back, but the Government has got to do something and we've got to see some restrictions somewhere. We've got these restrictions, but there are no restrictions on what is coming into the country. We can have all this bio-security to do everything, but it's still going to come into the country.

"If the controls were tighter than when we went to Longtown market we would have come down as normal and nobody would have known anything about it. The Government has got to have more controls. They're very tight on the tobacco and alcohol coming in, but not very tight on this."

Willie said that there is no reason to stop moving animals long distances following foot and mouth.

"I don't see why there should be any need for that," he said. "Sheep have moved up and down the country because of supply and demand hundreds of times before and yet foot and mouth didn't break out."