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Bovine TB outbreak could lead to export ban
Page 14
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AS THE UK BRACED itself for a ban on cattle exports to the Continent this week, one of the country's leading livestock haulage experts says that exports have already been so reduced that a ban will have little effect.
The possibility of a ban emerged after British calves infected with bovine TB were exported to the Netherlands. The National Beef Association says the calves were traced to a British farm, which exported the calves in May.
But Eddie Harper, chairman of the Road Haulage Association's livestock group, says that exports have already shrunk so much that a ban will have a relatively small effect on the UK livestock haulage industry. Harper adds: "Frankly, after foot and mouth and Bluetongue, there isn't much going abroad anyway. About the only business left is a few calves."
Harper adds that years of pressure on livestock exports means that livestock hauliers have either abandoned the sector altogether or adapted to UK-only business.
Even though no official ban has yet been placed on UK calf exports to the Netherlands, it is understood that farmers and dealers have made a commercial decision to stay away from UK-bred cattle.
The business is relatively small, with 64,000 calves exported from the UK in 2007. Nearly half of these went to the Netherlands.