One of the rewarding sides to being a part-time unpaid journalist is the surprising discovery that people actually read this column. To me it is equally unexpected that the Ryedale reader should then be bothered to pick up a pen and write.

These missives have the salutary effect of not only making the author more careful but also of different points of view from one's own.

Here are a few of the interesting correspondents I have had over the past few weeks.

- Mrs Webb of York wrote about my "rather strange theories on animal transport", preferring her opinion that animals do become stressed on long journeys.

I accept that there are instances where livestock have suffered as a result of travel but I don't believe sailing should be banned because a few of us get seasick.

Anyone who has travelled with livestock in the back of a vehicle - and I have - will know that distance within reason is not of paramount importance to their comfort. It's rather like a long aeroplane flight where there is quite a bit of activity for the first hour or two after takeoff and then gradually the passengers slip into their own personalised inertia; and so it is with transporting animals with some restlessness over the first few miles and then they settle down.

I don't believe the distances travelled in this country are particularly unacceptable. Many, I am sure, will agree with Mrs Webb.

- Another good lady from Malton, and I am ashamed to say I have lost the letter, wrote to tell me that she had never eaten meat since she learned that animal protein was being fed back to the same animals, which discussion, if you remember, was prevalent around the BSE crisis in 1995.

I would respond that the use of meat and bone meal, both as a fertilizer and as a protein in animal feed has been common practice for the past 100 years at least; and the nation has managed to win two world wars and survive 34 excruciating general elections without falling apart at the seams.

Now that there is no animal protein fed to our livestock (of which the same cannot be said for foreign imports), I would hope that the good lady might return to eating British meat.

- John Brown sent me a note last week to say that he had heard the swill fed at the Heddon on the Wall farm came from an army camp where foreign meat was fed to the troops.

Even if this is untrue, it might give a sufficiently embarrassing jolt to the MOD to review its scandalous policy of buying imported meat for the Armed Services.

You remember just before the outbreak Welsh farmers were refusing the army access to their land until they bought some Welsh lamb.

- Rosanna James from Sleightholmedale has sent me volumes of dissertations on the pros and cons of vaccination. Included in my bundle was a letter from Eddie Tennant, of Roxburghshire, pleading the case for vaccination and asking those who agreed to make their views known to the NFU.

Those wanting to make their own minds up can either ask me for a copy of the letter or you can get further information off the internet on www.sheepdrove.com.

My current thinking, upon which I would welcome comment, is that this Government, led by the Prime Minister, has embarked upon a malicious campaign to persuade the country that the FMD outbreak is due to current farming practices, long haulage, and bad welfare - none of which are true.

The real root of this crisis lies in the Government's total failure to stop imported meat from countries where foot and mouth is endemic.

Two of our main suppliers are Africa and Argentine, where FMD is endemic in the former and the latter has just lost its 'Free of Foot & Mouth Disease Status Without Vaccination'.

The UK long-term objective must be to regain our "Free" status but shorter term tactics could include the use of vaccination.

Just over a week ago, the army was brought in to bring some discipline and manpower; and I think they should be given a further week or so to see if they can reverse the tide of confirmed cases.

The biggest handicap to the army seems to be European regulations which prevent disposal by burial and now I have heard that the Ministry of Health has deemed it fit to intervene to further prevent burial.

On TV last night, it is clear we cannot go on being forced to self destruct by Europe as the backlog of figures is frightening. Around one million animals have been condemned to slaughter but only 630,000 have so far been shot leaving almost 400,000 still alive and potentially infective. Even of those slaughtered there are still 192,000 awaiting disposal; and all these figures are to be weighed against Nick Brown's claim to have the disease "under control".

There are clusters of disaster areas in the North West and South West of the country and, I would like to know whether it would be possible or advisable to consider vaccinating all the stock in those areas to give us some temporary respite. We would then have the opportunity to see if the slaughter policy could contain matters elsewhere in the country whilst ring fencing the hotspots with vaccine.

Vaccination brings with it the inevitable eventual slaughter of those animals that have been jabbed.

Your views, please.

- My friend, Christopher Pitt, is one of Ryedale's lateral thinkers and has been feeding me material over the past few weeks.

His latest finds have unearthed the Spedding Report which was published pre BSE. Part 2 of the Report makes it clear that the Government was made aware of 3 factors:-

(i) The widescale extent of sheep movements.

(ii) The likelihood that the adoption of the EU Ewe Premium Payments would further increase movements.

(iii) That it was a recipe for the spread of disease.

It does make one wonder what is the purpose of having all these Inquiries and Reports if officialdom takes no notice in the end.

Many thanks to all those who have written and keep up the good work.

The Malton end has been beavering away furiously over the last few weeks and the Boulton & Cooper boardroom has been more like the trading floors of the Stock Exchange as opposed to a Land Agents office!

After the disappointing trade of two weeks ago, things seem to have picked up a touch and we are generally achieving some good prices considering the crisis.

The bull trade has bounced up a bit and some of the better end bulls can achieve around 170p/kilo for those with U conformation and better. The average price is running between 160-165p/kilo.

The black and whites are at about 150-155p/kilo with the odd shapely ones getting a fraction more. There is plenty of trade for these Friesian bulls and we can readily get these moved for you.

Clean cattle are good to sell although we are desperately short of those smaller good quality, butcher type heifers which are commanding a good price.

Prices are ranging from a bottom end of about 155p/kilo for the plain or very fat, upto a top of about 182p/kilo for the best 'U' grade.

We are moving all types of cattle and getting sensible prices organised so please keep ringing in when you have stock come fit. Don't hang on too long for a better price as fat cattle will get penalised.

We are very busy moving sheep and have sold well over 1500 this week.

As a practical guide to those of you who still have some to shift, the weight brackets that our buyers are wanting are generally 38-45 kilos and 45-52 kilos so if you are drawing and weighing your sheep it might be worth bearing this in mind.

Hogg trade has firmed a touch and we are running between 190-220p/kilo. Anything lean is being penalised so be wary of trying to squeeze the odd plain one into the batch.

Spring lambs are just starting to warm up and looking like being anywhere between 250-280p/kilo. We only have a handful of spring lambs on our sheets so if you have some which are ready please let us know.

Ewes are still sought after and definitely more profitable to sell through us than through the Welfare Disposal Scheme.

Some of those best end Suffolk type ewes can get up to £65-70 per head and we can often send them with some hoggs which will fill up a load.

David Lindley and Peter Woodall have been enjoying a revitalised pig trade with prices currently running at about 90-95p/kilo.

Good quality pigs in the 85-95p/kilo are now quite hard to find but please keep them informed when you have a batch ready.

They have shifted a good number of sows at about 44p/kilo, ex head which equates to about 27-28p/kilo liveweight.

That about sums up the trade, but there are just a couple of other things I would like to bring to your attention.

On Tuesday, we were inspected and passed as an outlet for the cleansing and disinfecting of wagons for the purpose of moving some stock.

We have one further inspection to come which will uplift the Form D restriction which is currently imposed on the market and once that is done, we hope to have the wash operational by the early part of next week. Please give us a ring if you want further details or want to book a slot.

My last note is to say that we have set up a register for the sale of store stock so if you would like any help in this regard, please let us know.

For further information ring our help lines at Malton on (01653) 697820/692151 and York on (01904) 489731.

On behalf of the whole rural community, can I thank His Grace the Archbishop of York for speaking out against the Prime Minister's plans to hold an election this summer when the FMD crisis is still rampant.

The Archbishop's sympathetic and sensitive comments are in stark contrast to the callous, ignorant disregard that new Labour has for the countryside.

Updated: 09:32 Thursday, April 05, 2001