Red tape, red tractor, and no red cards … James Cossins has had a winter of TB testing, audit headaches, and a well-earned break at AFC Bournemouth
The sun is finally shining and with spring just around the corner we can hopefully look forward to some better weather – and better fortune for us at Rawston Farm.
The dreaded TB testing cycle came round once again in early February: as the majority of the 700 cattle were inside the testing was easier, but did still take up almost four days. The result was not so pleasing though with one beef animal being a reactor and four milking cows becoming inconclusive, despite the fact that 60 days earlier they had passed the dreaded gamma test. So once again we had to send cattle off to the abattoir for TB reasons. The results all came back negative, and now we have to wait until we test again in 60 days time – much to everyone’s frustration.
Having talked about our TB nightmare here in The BV and on the podcast (if you missed it you can listen to James in the January podcast here, he starts at 28:35 – Ed), I have had a number of farmers contact me who are in the same position: the odd reactor being found but no direct evidence of the disease. All we know is that the animal may have been exposed to the disease in one form or another.
I am currently expecting a visit from a government official to hopefully give us some constructive advice as to the way forward.
Red Tractor
We have had our annual Red Tractor audits for milk, beef and crops. A lot of paperwork has to be updated and assembled for these visits, which normally last four or five hours each. Fortunately the assessors are always from a farming background and have a good understanding how a farm works. At the end of the audits we did have a few non-compliances – mainly on updating records, which we have now rectified. Red Tractor is currently under review, with many food producers calling for updates, feeling it has lost sight of its original purpose.
I personally believe there should be better labelling on foods, showing that certain standards have been met and that the food was produced and processed in Great Britain. I also believe that many consumers still do not understand what the Red Tractor logo stands for.
Other food labels have appeared over the years, many claiming to represent higher standards then Red Tractor – and therefore commanding a premium price. Labelling will become ever more important as we face a growing influx of imported foods, often coming with little or no information on their origins or production standards.
Tax rumbles on
The farming industry’s frustration with the Government over the inheritance tax issue certainly isn’t going away. A recent delegation from the farming industry went to meet the Treasury with some counter proposals – which would have raised at least the same amount of taxes – involving taxing the land when it is sold, instead of when it is inherited. The proposal was not even listened to, much to farmers’ frustration.
Last month I spent a day with a number of fellow farmers in Bournemouth Square, meeting the public. We spoke to several hundred people, and all had a positive response to our concerns about the family farm tax. We talked about how food supplies could be disrupted if farms had to be sold off to pay taxes, and we discussed the very real possibility that the land would then be bought by investors or companies who wanted to offset their carbon, such as airline companies.
I’m a fifth generation farmer, and we have a sixth and seventh generation keen to continue. As a family, we’re seeking advice on how to reduce our tax burden to keep the farm viable for the future. It seems strange – almost ridiculous – that ‘working the tax system’ is the government’s own recommendation for lowering the amount of tax we’ll pay!
In other news
The weather will hopefully bring a busy month for all farmers and growers – we have so many jobs to carry out in dry weather such as sowing crops, spreading fertiliser, preparing grass fields for cutting or grazing and hopefully turning out some cattle to grass!
On a very positive note my son Henry and I have watched some really entertaining football matches at AFC Bournemouth recently – especially the most recent FA Cup game which lasted nearly three hours, with extra time, penalties and a lengthy VAR to sit through.
Let’s hope their successful run continues!
