JUST seven days ago I speculated that it might not be too long before I would be forced to open a file on bluetongue disease in Scotland. Little did I know it would be only a matter of days before the first case of bluetongue was diagnosed north of the Border.
This plague arrived in a consignment of 35 Holstein heifers imported from Germany by a farmer in Kirkcudbrightshire.
The one infected heifer has since been slaughtered with no compensation paid. My own personal view is that the entire batch shou
ld be culled immediately. The farmer in question , has argued that he was getting good value for money by importing from Germany since the cattle were around £70 per head cheaper.
That is the logic of the madhouse.
Since the news broke late on Friday afternoon I have been besieged by telephone calls and e-mails, the content of the vast majority unprintable. However, I will quote the thoughts of Norman Douglas from Catslackburn, near Selkirk.
He said: "This beggars belief considering what the livestock industry has been through in the last six months. We now find that we have farmers in our midst who are so stupid as to import cattle from suspect areas in Europe.
"Why are we allowing this to happen? We should name and shame these people responsible for this reckless act and call for an immediate ban on all imports. Let's start controlling our own destiny rather than sitting back and allowing these movements to destroy our great livestock industry."
Fortunately the risk of any spread is minimal now that Great Britain has been declared as a "vector-free" zone. Bluetongue is spread by a particular species of midge which cannot survive below 14C. The recent cold snap should have killed off this dangerous vector. Movement restrictions have now been relaxed, but the next high-risk period will be in the autumn of 2008.
TO MORE pleasant matters: I spent three days over Christmas with my daughter, son-in-law and their three rumbustious children on a farm in Essex. Son-in-law Andrew along with his father Victor rear about 1,000 turkeys each year.
Nine of us sat down to a late lunch on Christmas Day to tackle a veritable monster weighing in at a shade over 29lb, and I can say without fear of equivocation that this was the best turkey tasted in many years.
The weather on the big day was foul, but Boxing Day was a huge improvement with a nip in the air. My elder grandson, Fraser, is keen as mustard on all equestrian activities and he duly set off with three of his friends to hack four miles to the meet of the Essex Farmers Hunt in the delightful village of Matching Green.
I have attended this meet for several years now, but this time it was something altogether different. There were about 70 mounted followers, but they were outnumbered by a factor of ten by people who had come to watch. The local pub anticipated this would be its busiest day of the year and accordingly had erected a marquee where mulled wine and other assorted beverages were dispensed.
I have always been a keen supporter of field sports, but my days on a horse are long gone.
I cannot say whether a fox was killed during the chase, but an indiscreet wink from Fraser suggested much.
However, my real point is that the ban on hunting with hounds – I refuse to call them dogs – has had precisely the opposite effect to what those who introduced the legislation intended.
Banning certain activities tends to make them more popular. Prohibition in the US during the 1920s springs to mind.
DURING what little time there was for relaxation I buried my head in a book entitled Essex Farming 1900-2000 by Peter Wormell. It is an extremely well researched publication and proved of great interest in the Scottish context. I had some vague awareness that large numbers of Scottish farmers had in the past "emigrated" to Essex during the early part of the 20th century, but was astonished to discover the true extent.
John Gemmill, who farmed near Kilmarnock, was among the pioneers in 1883. His herd of Ayrshire cows was loaded on to a train at Ayr, then milked at Crewe by a gang of Irish labourers. On arrival at Ongar station the cows were due to be milked again, but the Irishmen were nowhere to be found.
A younger member of the Gemmill family who still farms in Essex told me that his forebears reckoned the Irish gang had gone off in search of two-legged heifers!
The Scots who settled in Essex have prospered and in the early 1920s one of that number, John Lindsay, wrote: "Over 40 years ago the Scots found derelict farms because the natives would not change their hide-bound and obsolete practices."
The exiles, most of who were initially dairy farmers, were quick to recognise the opportunities of selling their milk in London and made fortunes. The cows have disappeared now, but their descendants have proliferated.
A survey conducted in 1997 revealed that of 896 farmers in Essex 109, or 12.1 per cent were of Scottish descent. My two grandsons at Cross Leys Farm will have pushed that figure a little higher.
FARMING MARKETSST BOSWELLS – John Swan sold 123 clean cattle, 17 cows, 3,289 lambs and 390 ewes. The 31 bullocks averaged 131.5p per kg +2.5p on the week and sold to 149p Gross £930.10 Top price bullock 149p from Nisbet. The 90 heifers averaged 132p per kg, +2.0p on the week, and sold to 150p Gross £812. Top price heifer 150p from Longnewton. The 2 young bulls averaged 117.9p per kg, and sold to 120p Gross £690.20. The 14 beef type cows averaged 64.9p per kg, and sold to 76p. The 3 dairy type cows averaged 38.4p per kg, and sold to 45p. The 3,289 lambs averaged 106.6p per kg +14.9p on the week, and sold to 131.3p (£54). The 390 ewes averaged £35.21, +11.79p on the week, and sold to £57.
STIRLING – United Auctions sold 4,327 prime sheep comprising 3,863 lambs averaging 97.7p/kg and £42.84 per head and 509 ewes and rams. Lambs (3,863) Head of Balglass (Tex X) £53.80; Mid Rottearns (Suff X) £48.80; Teasses (Chev X) £48; Shields (Char) £46.80; Blackford Farms (Mules) £44; Kinburn (BF) £43.50. Lambs (3,863) Harviesmailing (Tex X) 127.3p; Head of Balglass (Tex X) 125p; Upper Auchenlay (Char) 115.2p; Seafield (Suff X) 113.8p; Loanhead of Duchally (Chev) 108.6p; Braughty (BF) 105.2p. Ewes (509) Calfward and Stonefieldhill (Tex X) £65; Gloenfalloch and Knowehead (BF) £23.
