Deja vu in the Derwent Valley

• Posted by Arnold Pennant at 11:09 AM | add or read comments (0)

LAST Saturday I had a lovely rail excursion on the Settle railway via the Ribblehead Viaduct.

It provided a beautiful and tranquil countryside scene, but this was not always the case: the Derwent valley, where the railway runs down towards Carlisle, was the scene of utmost carnage during the last outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in 2001.

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Welsh Assembly reveals its true colours in FMD outbreak

• Posted by Arnold Pennant at 7:12 PM | add or read comments (0)

A FORTNIGHT can sometimes seem a long time, particularly if you a livestock farmer in North Wales at the present time.

The announcement of another outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease could not have come at a worse time for many farmers.

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How much more can our farmers take?

• Posted by Arnold Pennant at 12:09 PM | add or read comments (0)

THE scourge of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) has now been with us for one week.

So far the main plus was the prompt action by the Prime Minister and the environment secretary that brought about the rapid disclosure of the source of this virus as the Pirbright Scientific Centre in Surrey.

I believe this centre and all companies operating from there should be shut down until such time as a full and independent investigation as to the actual source of this virus has taken place.

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FMD reaction is OTT

• Posted by Arnold Pennant at 11:36 AM | add or read comments (0)

WE WAKE up to another farming week and another epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease. And yet I am somewhat baffled as to why a total ban has been placed on all livestock movements nationwide.

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The true source of the 2001 FMD outbreak - and what could happen this time

• Posted by Arnold Pennant at 12:50 PM | add or read comments (0)

PERHAPS a better ending to my last blog should have read “Aprés le Shambo, les shambles” - because nobody could have predicted that we were about to have another foot and mouth disease (FMD) fiasco.

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