ONE of the less savoury features of the last six months has been our experience of hollow promises given to a suffering farming fraternity by those who should, and often do, know better.

Can we ever forget Nick Brown's Ides of March announcement that the disease was "under control"; or the Prime Minister's infamous electoral lie in April that it was "all over".

Those of us marketing livestock have been faced with a very different set of rules from those we have been used to in the auction market, where generally the fall of the hammer means the bargain has been struck.

It is not so in the deadweight world, where often the negotiated terms are a far cry from the final payment. There seems to be an inexhaustible range of reasons for cutting back our returns, some of which are acceptable but others need debating.

The main difficulty we face is the variable deductions before the bottom line cheque is made out.

Too much weight and fat, or poor quality, are all understandable reasons for lowering the price, even though we are disadvantaged by not having a representative to argue our case at the point of assessment.

Other "knock-offs" do want standardising and, in the case of cattle for example, these deductions can be as little as £5 per head to cover the MLC levy up to £15 per head for certain abattoirs where they include classification charges and SBO disposal.

However, the most iniquitous means of reducing the price is the dressing specification adopted by abattoirs.

There are at least four different dressing specifications for carcasses which are acceptable to the authorities, ranging from the old UK spec up to the new EC spec and there are no prizes for guessing which is the farmers friend! The new EC spec can reduce the price by anything from 3-7p/kilo, according to the MLC. We have got to have a level playing field if we are going to operate in this deadweight world.

The latest false promise comes out of the lips of the Safeway chain which had a news release last week headed "Safeway reduce costs for UK lamb farmers".

The scheme is for Safeway to build on-site disinfection and inspection points at their abattoirs, bringing down costs to the farmer to approximately £1.30 per lamb. The supermarket chain claims that sheep producers wanting to sell their lambs liveweight are currently forced to make an additional journey to a collection centre to disinfect their vehicle and have the lambs inspected at an extra cost of around £3 per lamb.

As far as the York Collection Centre is concerned, this is an outright lie.

Provided we have an order book - and this is increasing week by week - farmers can bring their lambs to the market where the stock is inspected and the vehicles washed without any charge whatsoever.

So, Mr Safeway, the truth seems to be that far from an extra cost of £3 per lamb being charged in Yorkshire, it is the supermarket abattoir itself which is profiting by around £1.70 per lamb.

My point is that in these quite unique and difficult times, things are not always what they seem and we need to be prudent but searching in our dealings.

One remark most commonly made to me recently is: "We never realised how much we needed markets until we haven't got them." With the autumn store and breeding sales season approaching, there is more urgency than ever to try and get some form of trading centre established if we are going to avoid a lot more suffering over winter.

Auctioneers don't seem to have any friends in high places now, and we can't expect any favours from the DEFRA Minister, Lord Witty, who has announced that markets will play a diminishing role in the future.

However, devolution has had one advantage, in that Scotland can make up its own mind; and this week the first auction sale of 500 store cattle was held in the Orkneys.

As to the rest of the country, DEFRA is starting to address the problem but their statements are full of "maybes and probabilities".

At present, counties which have been free of FMD for over three months will be considered as potential areas in which markets could reopen under strict movement conditions. One of these regulations will be the highly impractical 20 Day Standstill Order on any stock moved onto a holding; and it looks as though we shall have to put up with this for the autumn at least.

There is a lot of feeling in the countryside that we shouldn't lose our livestock markets, which are seriously threatened by the compulsory cessation of business without compensation.

At Bakewell ten days ago, a thousand farmers met to express their anger at the lack of progress in reopening marts.

In the meantime, because North Yorkshire is still being plagued with the tail end of FMD, we are having to look at alternatives for the autumn sales.

We have had our first in-house trial run of video sheep sales and the catalogue looks very respectable.

Provided we can get through the next week or two without further outbreak, I think we shall make plans towards a sale in late September. Please contact Charlie Breese or Keith Warters for further detail.

It has always puzzled me why the Irish manage to take over and purchase our unprofitable meat plants, but the answer may lie in the exploitation of their own farmers back at home.

Last week, Irish farmers were angry and frustrated by falling prices and accused the meat factories of profiteering.

For example, the 'R3' steer in Ireland has dropped to 137-141p/kilo, which is around 17p/kilo less than three weeks ago and compares to the UK price of around 160-170p/kilo for the same animal.

It's no wonder that Irish meat is now competing with our home product at this side of the water and, whilst I have no quarrel with competition, this type of downward pressure smells more of cartel tactics.

With harvesting progressing in hiccups, farmers have been distracted from livestock sales and supplies generally have been short. This is perhaps a good thing as the weather and cheap imports have flattened demand.

Heaven help us if we ever get like the Irish, with their meat plant domination and lack of any sort of competition.

Cattle trade has been fairly steady, with little movement, although there are signs that the better quality could lift a little.

Clean cattle are certainly more scarce than bulls, with the 'R' grade quality commanding 160-170p/kilo and the breaking-up cattle from 140p upwards.

The OTMS Scheme is under way and you need to make a written entry through the market to get onto the list.

Sheep numbers are down and trade has held firm around 160p/kilo, with some of the best retail lambs going up towards 170p. Cull ewes are steady around 75-80p/kilo.

In the pig section, prices have been kept surprisingly level, between 98-112p/kilo dependent on quality.

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

This week, spotted on a vet's surgery wall, was the following Ode to the EU:

Germany makes the rules

UK keeps the rules

France bends the rules

Italy breaks the rules

Spain & Greece don't know the rules

What chance have we?

(With acknowledgement to Raymac Signs)

Updated: 09:34 Thursday, August 23, 2001