Farming 'hell' on Anglesey

Farmers face unprecedented pressures

Eifion Foulkes has endured weeks of waking up each morning on his Anglesey farm not knowing if his own flock will be the latest on the island to become infected with foot-and-mouth.

The news never came but after it was revealed a neighbour's sheep had tested positive, he knew his livestock was doomed.

"I bottled-fed my lambs this morning. The quicker they go the better. I care about my animals. Livestock doesn't thrive unless you do

Farmer Eifion Foulkes

Because of the contiguity, Mr Foulkes, 45, and his family are now preparing for the grim task of slaughtering their 2,700 ewes and lambs on site at the farm at Llangaffo.

He said the prospect of officials coming onto his land to kill the animals filled him and his family with "sadness and dread".

"I bottled-fed my lambs this morning. The quicker they go the better," he said.

"I care about my animals. Livestock doesn't thrive unless you do."

He said the outbreak had placed enormous stress on himself, his wife Jane and son Dafydd, 14.

It is hell to go out every morning wondering what is going to happen to your animals

Eifion Foukes

"We have endured five weeks of not knowing what is going to happen," said Mr Foulkes.

"It is hell to go out every morning wondering what is going to happen to your animals."

Having left school at 16 to follow his father into farming, he said the foot-and-mouth outbreak is the single worst experience of his life.

But the latest confusion on Tuesday about whether or not the cull will go ahead as planned has added to his worries.

"I just wish I knew what was going to happen. There has been talk of the cull not taking place.

'A mistake'

"Somebody phoned up saying that somebody was trying to stop it in the High Court."

Mr Foulkes said he wished Maff officials in the Caernarfon district office had been given more powers to deal with the outbreak locally.

"They have not been given the responsibility to take decisions and they're the ones with the local information.

"A lot more could have been done earlier, particularly on the first day with the case at Welsh Country Foods, the source of the first outbreak on the island.

"These lambs were in an abattoir and they could have been dealt with in 4-5 hours, not 4-5 days.

"A stitch in time might have saved the rest of Anglesey."