[caption id="attachment_3840" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Meinir Bartlett with the Owen Slaymaker award[/caption]

The Farmers' Union of Wales' Carmarthenshire county executive officer Meinir Bartlett has retained the union's Owen Slaymaker Award given annually to the county branch that has best promoted the interests of members and the union.

Mr Slaymaker was the FUW's Carmarthenshire county secretary from 1970-90 and county executive officer from 1990-91 when he died in office.

The award in his memory recognises the county executive officer who uses every opportunity to effectively raise the union's profile through organised events, functions and meetings.

Presenting the award to Mrs Bartlett at the union's recent annual general meeting, deputy president Glyn Roberts said: "Our agricultural policy, public relations and administration departments assess the winner on the basis of what's been achieved during the year and who has gone that extra mile on behalf of members.

"They look for quality of policy consultation responses, press contributions and promoting the union and its activities at every opportunity, whilst taking good care of members' needs."

Mrs Bartlett joined the FUW 16 years ago after working for the Milk Marketing Board and Milk Marque. During her time with Milk Marque she was in charge of the department dealing with the introduction of the automotive data collection department responsible for recording the number of litres collected and quality results from individual farms.

The Farmers' Union of Wales today welcomed a High Court ruling that proposals to cull badgers in England to control bovine TB are legal.

The Badger Trust had challenged the English proposals on three grounds, all of which were turned down.

Responding to the decision, FUW's TB spokesman, Carmarthen dairy farmer Brian Walters, said: "During the hearings the Badger Trust's barrister acknowledged that they were not challenging the science behind culling badgers, but the legality of the decision.

"The judge has made it clear that the English decision is legal and that licenses to cull badgers 'for the purpose of preventing the spread of disease' can be issued."

Mr Walters said that the decision highlighted the extreme contrast between the Welsh government's failure to grasp the nettle and the Westminster government's decision to stand by a robust decision in order to save the lives of cattle.

"The scientific and economical arguments in favour of a badger cull in Wales are irrefutable. The Welsh government's own figures suggest that vaccination will lead to an overall loss of £3.5 million, whereas a cull would have actually saved money as well as cattle lives.

"The Welsh government has bottled it over a decision regarding which the English government has stood its ground."

Mr Walters said he hoped the Badger Trust would not launch an appeal against the decision as this was likely to delay a cull and cause more English cattle to be culled because of bTB.

"The Badger Trust challenged the Welsh decision and ultimately stopped a cull going ahead in Wales. That has led to more cattle being culled and more financial losses and devastation for farming families in West Wales than would otherwise have been the case.

"I hope that they show some compassion over the border and finally accept what needs to be done to control this disease so we can all look forward to badgers and cattle sharing an environment which is free of bovine TB."

[caption id="attachment_3835" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Alwyn Vaughan[/caption]

Family farmer, 53-year-old Alwyn Vaughan of Maesmochnant, Llanrhaeadr Ym Mochnant, is the Farmers' Union of Wales new Montgomeryshire county chairman.

He and his wife Rhiannon have three sons, Rhys (25), Iwan (23) and Sion (19). Rhys works full-time on the family farm while Iwan and Sion work away from the farm but both give 100 per cent commitment to help when at home.

For a number of years, Alwyn has run the farm after being given the reins by his father. He is now the third generation on the family-run farm.

He attended Oswestry/Walford College on day release, studying agriculture for three years. "We farm in the fertile Tanant Valley where we run a 'Dol a Hendre' system (upland and lowland).

"We milk 100 dairy cows, rear all the calves for dairy replacements and beef and have 1,000 mule Texel x mule ewes. We sell milk to Arla, all beef is sold to ABP (Anglo Beef Producers) and all lambs are sold through Oswestry Market."

Farmers in Meirionnydd will be able to air their views on how land drainage issues within their areas should be managed in future at a special meeting organised by the county's Farmers' Union of Wales branch to be held in Dolgellau later this week.

The meeting on Friday evening (July 13) will consider the Welsh Government consultation on the future delivery of the functions of the Internal Drainage Boards (IDBs) and Internal Drainage Districts (IDDs) after a new single environment body has taken over the functions of the Environment Agency Wales, Countryside Council for Wales and Forestry Commission Wales.

The meeting will be held at the FUW's branch office, Ty Mawr, Llys Owain, Dolgellau, at 5.30pm and local AM Dafydd Elis Thomas will be attending at 6.30pm to join in the discussions.

The meeting is be open to any farmer farming within an IDD and further details can be obtained from FUW county executive officer Huw Jones on 01341 422298 orThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.