This was really informative, Helen -- thanks! I hope UK laws improve in this manner and you soon have access to a local abattoir. Small farmers are angels on earth.
When I started we had 5 within 7 miles of us. Now Henfield have to book three months in advance. So this is first year since 1967 that I have no pigs. No more Gloucester Old Spots .
I’d not actually herd for Henfield until I did my research for this post. Crazy that you have to book 3 months in advance, Newmans would turn us away if we tried to book more than 2 weeks in advance!
Why don’t the City of London oligarchs and all their sycophants just be unabashed from 2025 on, and mandate that all British farmers and their families wear a yellow star?
Seriously, get your paperwork in order so you can leave in a hurry when necessary, because it sure looks like everything is rapidly deteriorating there. Your article shows how local farmers are the pre-selected group they’ll frame, for the mass famine so clearly being orchestrated for UK.
Oh dear, but then, did I hear that Starmer thinks we should eat bugs. If that is true then the government will not want to help the meat industry at all.
What caused the collapse in numbers of abattoirs? ISTR something about EU regulations causing a large number of smaller abattoirs to close several years back, or should I say the overzealous application of thise rules by petty bureaucrats in the UK. I suspect the French just ignored them 🙂
Yes. The EU started the decline in the early 1980’s. Most closed then. My father invested and now we are the last one in the whole of Monmouthshire. I have been called an idiot for voting for Brexit many times. But when I start with my multiple examples of why the EU has been working against the UK farming and meat trade they lose interest as I have a reasoned response, not just immigration. The UK civil service are useless and trying their best to cripple the trade with costs. Vets are milking the system.
It is a problem we have in the US as well. My imperfect solution is always to do it myself. I am lucky to have a local to me butcher that I trade milk for processing, but local for me is still an hour drive to his place. People need to embrace those who feed them, and very soon or they will lose all choice. Food security is viral to healthy communities.
This was really informative, Helen -- thanks! I hope UK laws improve in this manner and you soon have access to a local abattoir. Small farmers are angels on earth.
Thanks for the feedback Moorea and thank you for reading!!
When I started we had 5 within 7 miles of us. Now Henfield have to book three months in advance. So this is first year since 1967 that I have no pigs. No more Gloucester Old Spots .
I’d not actually herd for Henfield until I did my research for this post. Crazy that you have to book 3 months in advance, Newmans would turn us away if we tried to book more than 2 weeks in advance!
Sorry to hear Helen. Why are they closing?
Same as every abattoir does, rising costs, short staffed, underfunded, protestors…
Why don’t the City of London oligarchs and all their sycophants just be unabashed from 2025 on, and mandate that all British farmers and their families wear a yellow star?
Seriously, get your paperwork in order so you can leave in a hurry when necessary, because it sure looks like everything is rapidly deteriorating there. Your article shows how local farmers are the pre-selected group they’ll frame, for the mass famine so clearly being orchestrated for UK.
Oh dear, but then, did I hear that Starmer thinks we should eat bugs. If that is true then the government will not want to help the meat industry at all.
Is there no one who could buy Newmans to keep this abattoir open?
What caused the collapse in numbers of abattoirs? ISTR something about EU regulations causing a large number of smaller abattoirs to close several years back, or should I say the overzealous application of thise rules by petty bureaucrats in the UK. I suspect the French just ignored them 🙂
Yes. The EU started the decline in the early 1980’s. Most closed then. My father invested and now we are the last one in the whole of Monmouthshire. I have been called an idiot for voting for Brexit many times. But when I start with my multiple examples of why the EU has been working against the UK farming and meat trade they lose interest as I have a reasoned response, not just immigration. The UK civil service are useless and trying their best to cripple the trade with costs. Vets are milking the system.
It is a problem we have in the US as well. My imperfect solution is always to do it myself. I am lucky to have a local to me butcher that I trade milk for processing, but local for me is still an hour drive to his place. People need to embrace those who feed them, and very soon or they will lose all choice. Food security is viral to healthy communities.