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.
I do not have any confidence in an inspection by the Health and Safety Executive as it is not independent: its staff will soon look for an expedient solution which will not disadvantage fellow public servants.
The overpowering presence of the State Veterinary Service has certainly made things more difficult.
I believe its immediate clamp-down on all movements nationwide of cattle and sheep was excessive in the current circumstances.
Unfortunately there does not seem to be any way in which farmers can challenge this Gestapo-style body.
I would question just who this amorphous body is responsible to - and who picks up the bill when it makes a mistake, as it has almost certainly done in this case.
I do not believe that a nationwide response was required in this case. Now that regional Assemblies have been established, we would not now be in this state of shambles (remember Shambo?) if decisions concerning livestock movement had been devolved to these Assemblies.
In Wales, normal livestock trading could have continued under careful conditions of biosecurity, but any cross border movements from England would be banned.
Such an arrangement would have made common sense to maintaining a sensible supply of meat to the retail sector at sensible economic prices. It would have also received the respect and support of livestock farmers in Wales.
There has been enormous attention paid to this crisis by the national media. The farming industry does not normally expect such attention, but it is time the general public should learn to appreciate the hard work for meagre rewards that many farmers receive.
However, there is a limit as to how much messing around that farmers can stand with in their livelihoods.
My guess is that any one person can only take three attacks before he caves in and accepts the inevitable: that this government really does not like farmers and would prefer to convert the whole country into a wilderness of naturally occurring fauna and flora.
An expanded number of foxes would then be expected to keep this amorphous mass under control.
Unless this outbreak of FMD can be brought under control fairly rapidly, we risk breaking the heart and backs of our livestock farmers.
Successive government policies have already reduced the number of farmers to probably what is less than desirable anyway, but lurching from one crisis to another is not going to encourage any youngsters to invest their future in this industry.
