Hold your breath for Hawnby

Sentinel animals are those which are used in the early stages of restocking farms taken out by the disease and they are closely monitored.

Because of the extensive grazing habits of sheep and the difficulty of diagnosis it was always remotely possible that something might be discovered as flocks come down for lambing but confirmation of an outbreak would be a devastating blow. It is therefore with great relief that we heard Sue MacGregor on Radio 4 announce the first test had proved negative and we now wait for the remainder of the results.

As an observation, the biosecurity arrangements for the animals, farmers and vets are rigidly enforced; and yet all Tuesday's TV news programmes showed the reporters in or around the village. What about introducing a 10km exclusion zone for the media!

The last ten days have seen more markets reopen their doors and offer sales by auction to their customers.

There have been small shows of cattle but respectable numbers of sheep in most markets. The odd market had to cancel through shortage of numbers and the best was Thirsk with nearly 80 cattle and 1200 sheep.

Inevitably there were a lot of watchers from both sides of the supply chain and I am sure numbers will grow but at the moment it is difficult to tempt a full complement of buyers into the ring.

The main obstacle is the current policy of not allowing farmers to attend an auction mart if they have brought stock onto their holding in the previous 20 days.

For a slaughter market, this rule is absolutely meaningless and unnecessary; and, hopefully, the Yorkshire auctioneers are going to band together to lobby DEFRA to come into line with the Scottish ruling.

As far as Ryedale reopening is concerned, the current position is as follows:

Malton has virtually completed all the work necessary, both in the cattle shed and the sheep shed. The store market is forecast to resume within the next fortnight but I will keep you posted.

York has got its operating licence and will be in business today, Thursday, for store cattle and calves.

As far as fatstock is concerned, we do not want to let our customers down by opening up too early but have every intention of doing so when the moment is right. In the meantime, we continue to offer a full marketing service including collection centre and OTMS.

I spent Tuesday in Newcastle progressing a new software package which is going to end up as an auction Bureau Service, available to all markets throughout the country.

There are going to be many tangible benefits such as entering stock on-line for sale and helping with farmers' record keeping.

I get the updated version next week and it should be ready for the computer open day at York on Thursday, March 7.

If you have any interest in the computer courses on offer, together with the demonstration of the market Bureau Service, please come. We shall be operating throughout the day and are planning to start in Malton shortly.

I have lots of bits this week.

New FABBL Standards - I had mixed feelings about FABBL's announcement that its qualifying residency period is to increase from 90 days to 180 days for cattle and 90 days for sheep. The new rules take effect from March 1, 2003, so we have a year in which to prepare ourselves.

FMD Inquiry - To the embarrassment of the UK Government, the European Parliament has started its own public inquiry into the handling of the FMD crisis in four countries. Robert Sturdy, our Yorkshire farming MEP, will be on the 30-strong panel to report on the misdemeanors of the past 12 months.

German Beef Consumption Collapses - The inevitable acceptance by Europe that BSE is present in almost every country has produced a sense of impending doom at the hands of mad cow disease; and particularly in Germany. Beef consumption in that country fell by 40pc last year.

Irish Cattle Imports - In 2001, the Irish managed to export only 20pc of the beef to third countries compared to the previous year. On the other hand, they deposited 65pc more of their meat into the UK, a trend which could well stem the recovery of our own livestock industry.

Telephone Nonsense - An anonymous reader tells of an actual phone conversation with an official doing market research.

Q How many cattle have you?

A About 100.

Q How many of those are under one year old?

A About 50.

Q How many are over one year old?

A Well it must be the other 50.

Q Do you mind telling me how old you are?

A Well, it is my son who is running the farm and he is 38.

Q Are you 40-45?

A My son is running the farm and he is 38.

Q Are you 45-50?

The receiver was gently replaced!

With a lot of cattle coming out of retention on March 1, supplies have been plentiful for abattoirs and demand from the consumers has dropped.

The inevitable consequence has been a dip in trade with 'R' grade carcasses falling to 168-175p/kilo.

The best premium cattle can go up to 190p for the local retail trade but the breaking-up meat has been more difficult to sell.

There are quite a lot of poor cattle about now and there has to be some weight combined with flesh to get a reasonable return. It costs just as much to kill a beast weighing 400 kilos as one weighing 700 kilos.

In the sheep section, the ewe trade finished the week on a high at 140-150p/kilo but the price of lambs is difficult to follow.

The export market has impacted upon the trade by reducing weight limits for certain abattoirs so that they may be capped at 22 kilos.

The price per kilo has compensated a little at around 225-230p/kilo but if one wants paying for more weight one has to accept less price.

Pigs have rallied slightly and certainly the trade for fat sows has been boosted by the ability of the collection centre to gather sensible loads. Sows at the minute can make from 30-50p/kilo dependant on quality.

Bacon pigs are still hovering from 88-95p/kilo with some of the lighter end making a premium.

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

Updated: 10:20 Thursday, February 28, 2002