Farmer criticises 'mobile burning'

Sheep on the farm will be burned in a mobile unit

Moves to use a mobile incinerator to burn foot-and-mouth animal carcasses dug up after burial in mid Wales has been attacked as a "complete bungle".

Farmer Richard Tutton said the use of a mobile unit would not allay health fears expressed over the use of pyres to burn animals.

The burning of 1,500 sheep at Buttington Hall Farm, near Welshpool, was halted after representations by Dyfed-Powys health officials.

Crisis in Wales

Total confirmed cases UK-wide 1,522 - with 83 in Wales

Powys - 50 cases

Anglesey - 13 cases

Monmouthshire - 16 cases

Caerphilly 1

Rhondda Cynon Taff - 1

Neath Port Talbot -1

Newport - 1

The animals were dug up after it was discovered they had been buried too close to a water supply.

Welsh Rural Affairs Minister Carwyn Jones confirmed on Tuesday that the normal burning methods had been halted, following concerns raised by Dyfed-Powys Health Authority.

Pyres use large quantities of railway sleepers, coal and diesel to burn the carcasses, leading to concerns about the health side effects from the smoke.

Mr Tutton said the use of the mobile unit was a much larger operation than anticipated, with the laying of tonnes of stone into the field.

He said the use of large amounts of material to burn the carcasses undermined the argument against pyres.

There is a mood of despondency among farmers

"This so-called cleaner incinerator burns 400-500 pallets an hour," claimed Mr Tutton.

"I am extremely angry; this has been a complete bungle by officials."

Mr Tutton said the original burial operation on the site by Ministry of Agriculture officials had been conducted very well.

He added that the plans to burn the animals on a normal pyre were proceeding well before the about-turn in policy.

Alternative union

Meanwhile, on Tuesday Welsh hill farmers announced that they are to set up a new breakaway union in response to the foot-and-mouth crisis.

Despite the existence of two farming unions in Wales, hill farmers from Gwynedd and Powys have said they are unhappy with their existing representation at the Welsh Assembly in Cardiff and that they need a stronger voice to argue their case.

The so far unnamed new union - the first in the industry since the launch of the Farmers' Union of Wales in 1955 - will be officially launched at a meeting at Llanberis in north Wales later this week.

A new disposal method is sought

The new body says it has two immediate issues to fight both of which have emerged as a result of the disease outbreak.

They are the Right to Roam Act which gives the public more access to the countryside, and the 20-day standstill rule which prevents sheep being moved for that period after they have been sold.

A third issue said to anger the breakaway group is cheap meat imports from abroad and direct action is already being considered.

Meanwhile in north Wales, an Anglesey farmer who avoided a mass cull only to see his livestock slaughtered after a suspected outbreak on his farm, is still awaiting confirmation that foot-and-mouth was present.

The owners of the farm on Llanddaniel, near Gaerwen on the island - which has been badly hit by the outbreak where more than 40,000 sheep have been culled - had been part of a group who successfully argued against the slaughter of their 60 ewes, lambs and three cattle.

If the virus is confirmed it will be the first case on the island for five weeks and a major setback in the fight to eradicate the disease.

The couple have been dubbed one of the "Anglesey seven" - a group which took a stand against the mass cull policy.

Union leaders have called for livestock on other farms on the island to be culled as well.