Market to reopen on March 15

This will perhaps surprise and confound those harbingers of doom who forecast, or even churlishly hoped, that the Malton auction ring would be silent forever.

We owe a great debt to all our staff and especially Alan Holder, the market foreman, who has worked tirelessly towards the day when the first animals are unloaded.

I have to say also that DEFRA's appointed inspectorate have been understanding and helpful in their determination to get the business going for the benefit of the agricultural community. The two lady vets concerned, Liz Akhzam and Avril Hannam, deserve a bouquet for breathing a bit of life back into Ryedale.

Now to the practicalities:

- The sale will commence at noon

- We do want to try and get all the stock pre-entered

- Lorries with incoming stock must have their wheels washed off before unloading

- You don't need a special licence but only a cattle movement form from our office

- If you want to go into the livestock area and look at cattle you must come with wellingtons and protective clothing

- Farmers and the public not wanting to "touch" the cattle are most welcome but must stick to the designated public areas which include the cattle ring

- Vendors can take stock back home if there are problems but you need a special licence for doing so.

To discuss the regulations, the opening sale itself and the prospects for starting the fatstock market, we are holding an open meeting on Tuesday next, March 12 at noon in the cattle ring.

Please come and let us have your views and support.

Last Thursday, York had its first sale of store cattle and there were 180 forward of all shapes and sizes.

As significantly, the ring was packed with over 300 farmers starved of both human and animal company.

There was a great atmosphere, a good trade and a total clearance.

The odd dairy cow made £530, stirks ranged from £150-£450 and stronger stores made up to £492.

The store sales will continue every Thursday but we are still having a lot of soul searching as to when to open up the fat market with the stupid 20-day rule still in place.

At the moment, we are running a successful collection centre on a Monday, with 170-200 clean cattle and 60-80 OTMS cows. Many of these are Ryedale customers and you can enter them through the Malton auctioneers quite easily.

Farmers Weekly reported in its latest issue that the unelected dictators of Brussels were ordering a massive increase in the testing of sheep for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) because they are concerned that BSE might have spread into sheep, although I hasten to add there is not one shred of tangible evidence of a single instance to show for it.

Despite this absence of any case of BSE in sheep, the Commission will require the UK to test around 70,000 sheep this year for the disease and at a total cost of around £2m per annum.

Worse still, and perhaps as we might expect, the French have reacted by considering more extreme measures. Radio 4 yesterday morning contained a short piece on the subject, during which the equivalent of the Food Standards Agency in France was suggesting that all sheep over 12 months of age be taken out of the food chain; and there were even hints that the same policy may be introduced in the UK.

Has the world gone raving mad? Certainly, ideas coming out of the European think tank are divorced from reality and would meet with pretty strong opposition from various ethnic groups in the country as well as the farming community who rely on the sale of ewes as a valuable by-product.

- Import Control Farce - Despite the fact that illegal meat is discovered every time a plane is inspected at Heathrow, no serious measures have been taken to protect our shores from invading exotic diseases.

Even the former Labour agriculture minister, Nick Brown, is unhappy about the situation, declaring last week: "I don't think just hoping it doesn't happen again is sufficient. There's clearly more we can do to reduce the chances."

We desperately need more controls, with rigourous searches and scanning of luggage for meat and fish; and this is no more than is already in place in many developed countries.

It's just a joke that the best Margaret Beckett can come up with is to post a few notices at airports threatening fines.

- Tax on Stone - With all the other distractions, it may have gone unnoticed that the Government is to introduce a blanket tax on all stone that is taken out of the ground from this April. The tax will be at the rate of £1.60 per tonne plus VAT.

It is quite iniquitous and will put up building and road costs everywhere besides putting further pressure on our haulage industry.

- Camelids from Cambodia - My old sparring partner, Holgate Illingworth, was in Cambodia last week and sent me a cattle movement document entering four camelids for the market, approved by DEFRA and registered with FABBL!

Trade in all species is delicate and a little unsteady.

Pigs have improved but it is very much a hand to mouth market. Baconers are running from 92-98p/kilo with the sweeter gilts going up to 104p/kilo.

The sheep trade has been hovering as though about to take a leap forward but doesn't do it. Hoggs paid at full weight are running from 210-215p/kilo with restricted weights from 220-230p/kilo. A lot depends upon the weight and type of lamb as to where you are going to get the best returns and we will help if you give us a ring.

On the cattle front, the breaking-up meat has been difficult to place, competing with low priced imports. Consequently, the black and white trade has slipped to around 140-150p/kilo.

At the top end, the Intervention-type steers and heifers are still making good money with 'R' grade on 170-176p/kilo and premiums above that. Bulls have slipped a little with many of the big firms pulling back to 170p on an 'R' grade, although there are better deals to be had.

Help us to help you and phone our help lines at Malton on (01653) 697820/692151 and York on (01904) 489731.

Updated: 08:45 Thursday, March 07, 2002