The Link

One could almost think that things were looking up

A reasonably easy corn harvest despite poor yields, in part a legacy of last years backend. An open autumn with potatoes now in the store not in the field, good drilling conditions for next years crop, fuel prices falling, and no new foot and mouth cases since September, one could almost think that things were looking up.

The amount of work is obviously down on last year, spoiling the graph which has shown a steady year on year increase. The downturn is not nearly as much as we expected and we appreciate the support given by members both to the Ring and to colleagues who have had the misfortune of being culled.

Some of the members whose stock was taken in the early stages are now actively looking forward to restocking and a return to normality, whilst those who were caught later and suffered delays in obtaining permission to start cleaning down are now well underway with this.

The Form D notice served on the office (which has no land and is situated in the middle of Thirsk) in July was withdrawn in November. This was a relief to me as I had previously overheard two of the directors wondering how much compensation the Ring could get for me if culled as I was the only animal on the premises.

I have even made my first farm visit since the outbreak started and it was a real pleasure to get out again.

Let us hope that we can put this year behind us and look forward to a new year with only the ongoing concerns of increasing costs and falling market returns to worry about.

These are things we are more familiar with and although they are not totally within your control they can be influenced. As a member you can see the advantages of the Ring but are you using it to best advantage?

Please take some time to review and update the services you have on offer. It is just as important to delete those that have gone as it is to record new acquisitions.

If we don't know you have it we can't ask for it.

Your contact details are also important to us. Please check that we have your current mobile number and e mail address if you have one. Some postcodes have also changed and we may not be up to date with all of these.

Please post the amended forms back in the FREEPOST, no stamp required, envelope

Parts are generally delivered by carrier ex stock on a next day delivery basis.

Several members tried him for the first time this autumn and two of them even phoned up later to say what good value for money the parts they had bought represented. For this to happen they must be good. Why not give him a try?

Cost is not everything but it helps if the quality and service are right without high prices.

If you have never changed, or changed when the market was deregulated and your contract is coming up for review, or dare I say it, a customer of the latest supply company to go into receivership, Enron Direct, why not give the office a call and we will almost certainly be able to save you money.

Ring members could be eligible for up to 75% off the cost of an approved training course. If you are not involved with a Training Group please contact the Ring office and we will put you in contact with the an appropriate training provider who is a member of the Ring.

Advice is available from the Health & Safety Executive and the fuel companies, who can also supply tanks, but remember it is you, the customer, who are responsible for providing safe working conditions for visitors onto the farm.

The main concern was top access. As the size of tackle has grown tanks have been placed on higher plinths to get a better gravity feed. It could be deemed unreasonable to expect a driver to climb a ladder with a hose especially if it is not fixed or adequately guarded. A ground level filling point is a sensible precaution as is a device to indicate contents.

If you intend to modify or relocate any fuel storage tanks it would be prudent to discuss your plans with the Health & Safety Executive to ensure you are not storing up trouble for yourself as well as fuel. (tel 0191 202 6200)

It was interesting to see that of the replies we did receive regarding the proposed Health & Safety discussion evening ? thought it was a good idea , ? would definitely not be interested and ? did not know one way or the other. In the light of this response we decided not to proceed.

It gets harder and harder to think of an appropriate theme for the Ring card and this year was no exception. We wanted to link it to foot and mouth without awakening painful memories, so the idea was "approved" by some of the culled members first. The card had been drawn and copied by the time I read the following article in Farmers Weekly.

"Father Christmas must find alternative transport this year - all reindeers have been grounded because of foot and mouth. DEFRA is banning the movement of the animals because they are cloven - hoofed and capable of carrying the disease. Britain's only herd, at the Cairngorm Reindeer Centre in Scotland has had to cancel their usual bookings for Santa's Grottoes."

Best wishes for Christmas and the new Year from all at RMR

"No longer is farming a pleasant, friendly, spacious occupation. No longer can the farmer continue to farm as in the days of his ancestors, in the sure and certain knowledge that with average luck a pleasant jolly life will be his portion, also that, although he will never amass great wealth, he will never know the pinch of poverty and the fear of bankruptcy. The sense of secure well-being is gone. A farm must now pay the interest on the capital involved in it, plus a living to the farmer, in the same way as any other business."

"Probably one of the hardest things for farmers to realise to-day is that they are considered unimportant people by the majority of the community. When the townsman is hungry the food producer is a very important person, but today the consuming public are being fed by foreign countries very cheaply."

"For any farmer to go round his fields today and view his crops brings him no pleasure. The larger and better the field of wheat, the more useless the whole business appears. He yearns to escape from it, but in most cases he cannot do so: he is caught in a financial cleft stick, and cannot get away. He sends his sons into the police force, into banks, into the Civil Service, anywhere rather than put them into farming."

"It is not pleasant for a man to discover that he is engaged in an occupation for which his country has neither use nor interest. Of course, this business of regarding the other fellow as being of no consequence is not one-sided. Farmers as a class are also rather apt to consider themselves as the sole mainstay of the country, and to regard the town dweller as an unnecessary nuisance."