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Threat of Foot & Mouth hangs over organic farm

10 Aug 2007

Compassion in World Farming visited Lee House Organic Farm in West Sussex, just outside the 10km surveillance zone set up following the foot and mouth outbreak on a farm near Guildford. Farmer Grant Roffey told us about the concerns he has for his animals following the latest outbreak of the disease.

Like all farmers close to the outbreak, he faces an anxious wait to see whether infection will threaten his animals, and whether Defra might order a preventive cull on his farm or decide to use vaccination to stop any wider spread.

Grant said: "My first reaction to news of the outbreak on the radio was disbelief. I thought I was listening to a re-enactment of the 2001 outbreak or something fictional. Within a few seconds I started to think 'Oh no' and when they said it was Surrey I nearly crashed the van."

Grant has built up his organic farm over the past 12 years on a 250-acre site near the Surrey-Sussex border. He has a small herd of Sussex suckler cows, about 100 outdoor pigs, mixed-breed sheep and lambs, free range laying hens and turkeys and sells his produce direct to the public at farmers markets.

"We're very close to the surveillance zone here and we're all feeling very nervous and fairly powerless because there's not really much we can do. The prospect of mass culling is not something you really want to think about. I can't imagine what it would be like."

"Vaccination seems to be the only way forward. If there is any alternative to mass slaughter, I can't see what the problem is."

Twiggy and her piglets

Twiggy is a six-year-old breeding sow on the farm. She and her piglets live outdoors in a pen with lots of space to root around and mud for wallowing. Inside their ark, or shelter, is a thick bed of straw to snuggle down in. Once they're weaned, the piglets will be moved to woodland where they can forage freely. Grant knows each of his breeder pigs as individuals: their temperaments, habits and characteristics as mothers.

Twiggy can be a bit jumpy but she's happy for Grant to climb into the pen with her piglets and scratch their backs while they try to eat his boots.

The sheep

Grant keeps different breeds of sheep on the farm including the small but spirited Shetland sheep. Some of the flock on the farm have recently lambed. When CIWF visited, farm workers were rounding up the ewes to check them for any possible health problems which are normally treated with homeopathic remedies. The Shetland sheep gave sheepdog Scarlett a good run round the field, but her skill and determination triumphed in the end.

Dusty the bull and his cows

Dusty keeps a close watch on his small herd of cows and their calves. He's a three-year-old Sussex bull who lives out in the field with his cows, many of which are currently pregnant. They are placid but curious animals and their rich chocolate coats shine with a healthy glow in the sunshine.

The calves are around five months old and still sucking from their mothers.

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