The dairy industry has today launched its ‘Action Johne’s’ initiative; a disease control programme developed by the Action Group on Johne’s which aims at engaging eighty per cent of dairy farmers in Great Britain in Johne’s management activities by October 2016.

FUW senior policy officer Dr Hazel Wright said: “The union recognises the importance of tackling this costly disease and has engaged in the development of this initiative in order to give voice to the perspectives and needs of farmers in Wales.  The union will continue to remain involved in order to ensure that the maximum benefits of this valuable initiative are provided to Wales.”

Johne’s disease is a chronic wasting disease in cattle that is found in dairy herds throughout the world.  The disease is caused by a bacterium that primarily attacks the intestinal tract and causes inflammation.  This inflammation reduces the ability of infected animals to properly absorb nutrients from their food and can lead to weight loss, loss of condition and infertility.

The Dairy UK-led 'Action Group for Johne's', which includes the FUW and other industry stakeholders, was established to increase awareness of the disease and ensure more farmers take action to prevent their livestock from catching it.

Dr Wright added that it is vital that we have a viable and sustainable dairy industry and in that respect it is important that we address issues such as Johne’s disease in dairy herds.

“Clinical signs of the disease are not specific to Johne’s and do not show in cattle until they are about three years old. There is no cure for the disease and a lack of clinical signs can lead to cattle being culled for other reasons such as infertility or lameness,” said Dr Wright.

Infection is most common in young animals and occurs through contamination of the environment or ingestion of contaminated milk from an infected cow. It can also be transmitted from an infected pregnant animal to its foetus.

“In the past, the union has highlighted that farmers can actively help to eliminate the disease by reducing the amount of faecal contamination that young calves are exposed to. A non-infected herd generally becomes exposed through herd expansion or replacement animals that are carriers of the disease. It is therefore important to know the Johne’s status of the animals being purchased.

“Given that a Johne’s problem can reduce the life time productivity and health of infected herds, it is essential that we understand how to manage this disease in order to get the best out of our herds,” added Dr Wright.

[caption id="attachment_5110" align="aligncenter" width="173"] Newtown-based area officer David Lush receives the FUW’s annual business award for best managed portfolio in 2014[/caption]

The insurance arm of the Farmers’ Union of Wales has today appointed former FUW Montgomeryshire area officer David Lush to the position of sales manager within FUW Insurance Services.

“David has been a dedicated and successful employee here at the FUW for the last ten years and has almost doubled his GPI in that time. As you can imagine, competition for this role has been fierce and there were applications from several highly qualified candidates, but it was felt that David’s experience and previous achievements set him apart from the competition,” said FUW Insurance Services managing director Mark Roberts.

Prior to joining the union, David worked as the operations manager at Entrepreneur Action where he built a division of business advisers in support of the Welsh Government’s business support programme, he also held the role of area director at Barclays in Kent where he managed 14 senior managers and 37 support staff, and area manager for Barclays in Mid Wales where he managed 35 staff across 3 sites who specialised in the small and medium-sized enterprises market.

“On assuming the role of sales manager David will oversee the area officers’ we already have in place and will also be responsible for training our new starters. He will also assist me in arranging and approving new deals and schemes with our existing insurer partners and potential new partners,” added Mr Roberts.

[caption id="attachment_5107" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Welcoming Mari to the FUW team are (l-r) FUW president Emyr Jones, FUW Denbighshire county chairman John Roberts, FUW Flintshire county chairman Tim Faire and FUW stalwart and former Denbighshire county executive officer Meurig Voyle.[/caption]

A farmers daughter from Ruthin has been appointed as the new Farmers' Union of Wales county executive officer for Denbighshire and Flintshire.

Mari Dafydd Jones, 25, who commenced her role on Tuesday March 17 said: "I grew up on a farm not far from Ruthin and my father has always been a member of the FUW, he farms 250 sheep and 140 store cattle.  I now live on a farm in Nantglyn with my partner Arfon, who has had the pleasure of taking over the family farm from his grandparents."

In her previous role as European funding officer for Denbighshire County Council, Mari was responsible for the monitoring of all European Funded projects within the county and also to assist community groups and departments within the council to secure funding for their projects.

Mari and her partner Arfon currently farm around 100 store cattle which they buy in as calves and are hoping to expand over the next year.

"One of the responsibilities I have within the business and something I really enjoy is to buy in the calves and you will no doubt be seeing me regularly at the farmers markets buying calves.

"I have always wanted to work within the agricultural industry and now I have been given the opportunity to do so which I am very grateful for. The next few years are going to be very exciting and interesting for the industry and I hope as an enthusiastic and passionate young farmer I can make a difference," added Ms Jones.

Tomorrow sees dairy producers in Wales waking up to the abolition of the European quota system that has operated to limit EU milk production for 30 years.

“While Britain remains under quota, the potential addition of more production to the EU milk glut has led the FUW to repeatedly express concern about further increases in price volatility in an already saturated marketplace,” said FUW senior policy officer Dr Hazel Wright. 

Several European countries, such as Ireland, Germany and the Netherlands are already bursting at their quota seams and seem well placed to take advantage of a deregulated production system. 

Although several Northern European countries have their own production constraints – such as the environmental regulations in the Netherlands – it would seem that an increase in EU milk production is all but inevitable. 

Last month, several EU Member States urged the European Commission to guarantee that the post quota milk market will be closely and properly monitored in order to ensure that volatility is not further increased. 

“The union recognises the role of the Milk Market Observatory in monitoring the market and hopes that it will also have an effective role in offering mitigation measures where needed. However, in a quota-less system it becomes much more difficult to justify emergency intervention buying at times when the sector needs desperate support, which is an added concern for the FUW,” added Dr Wright.

Numerous studies have attempted to predict volumes and prices in a post-quota market.  The most concerning post-quota price predictions cite milk price drops to around four pence per litre and, whilst such predictions are extreme, it is impossible to imagine any producer being able to stay in business if prices fell to such a low, even for a short period.

Dr Wright further said that the FUW has been firmly against quota abolition since the idea was mooted almost a decade ago and the warnings and concerns expressed by the union on the implications of abolishing milk quotas are no April fool’s joke.

“Given such warnings, it is imperative that processors work to prevent the type of boom and bust price volatility which could follow quota abolition. Indeed, it is essential that transparency and fairness in the dairy supply chain is improved in order to allow producers and processors to be well placed to  maximise those mainstream and added-value opportunities that are set to arise in the export market following future growth in the demand for dairy products,” she added. 

The Welsh dairy sector is an innovative and efficient sector which produces high quality dairy products from high welfare cows and it is therefore imperative that producers in Wales are able to take advantage of such markets rather than losing them to our European competitors.