The dark side of dairy

good grief. is any one actually happy for our stock to travel huge distances ? and if we are not then why should the general public. Classic farmer behaviour -deflect from the basis of the story and ignore our customers.
 

ski

Member
good grief. is any one actually happy for our stock to travel huge distances ? and if we are not then why should the general public. Classic farmer behaviour -deflect from the basis of the story and ignore our customers.
Good grief indeed. Whether or not live exports is a good thing is not the issue. The BBC effectively acted as a lynch mob. You need to think very carefully about this, because this type of situation is becoming more common, and in this case, as with most lynch mobs there was as much and maybe more inaccurate information as accurate information.

I think the trade is distasteful but it was entirely within the law, getting it stopped should be dealt with by due process.

NFU Scotland letter to members:

As you will be aware, on Monday 10 September, BBC Scotland aired a documentary entitled ‘Disclosure: The Dark Side of Dairy’.

Within this documentary there were a great number of inaccuracies and misleading statements which NFU Scotland believe to be so damaging that we decided to write an official complaint to the Director General of BBC Scotland, requesting a meeting.

The Union has not taken the decision to file this complaint lightly but after watching the documentary and researching the claims made within the programme. The BBC must be held to account for the misrepresentation of our industry.

Indeed, NFU Scotland offered to view the programme in advance. Had the BBC taken up that offer, many of the inaccuracies and misrepresentations could have been addressed.

Through numerous TV and radio interviews and statements to the press, NFU Scotland officeholders and staff are working hard to unpick the damage done by the BBC and rightly restore our reputation for high animal health and welfare standards.

One of the main messages of the documentary was ‘shoot them or ship them’, an overly emotive soundbite which implied to the viewers that the only option for dairy bull calves was to be shot at birth or to be exported. As many will be aware, this is not the case, and the majority of Scottish dairy bull calves are either kept and fattened on farm or sold to be reared elsewhere.

It was extremely disappointing to see so many misleading images and videos being linked with inaccurate claims about the Scottish dairy industry. This included showing clips of English dairy calves at an English Mart, filming a lorry load of Irish cattle going to Italy, Hungarian cattle being loaded onto a ferry in Romania and Australian cattle being slaughtered in Egypt, all the while making points about Scottish dairy bull calves being legally exported to Spain in a manner that met the high standards of health and welfare expected – a fact backed up by Scotland’s Chief Vet in a letter to The Times this week .

In our letter to the BBC, we have raised our frustration at the way in which the BBC journalist edited the interview she filmed with NFU Scotland Livestock Chairman Charlie Adam. During the interview, Mr Adam discusses the different ways which the industry prefers to deal with the issue of male dairy calves, including sexed semen and improving markets for finished dairy beef. These points were ignored, and what was used were soundbites reinforced the programme’s agenda around ‘shoot them or ship them’.

Unfortunately, this misleading reporting has already had an immediate effect on the industry, with P&O Ferries cancelling their live exporting of male dairy calves from Scotland to Northern Ireland.

Backed by the Chief Vet’s position, and that of other industry stakeholders, the BBC Scotland must take responsibility for the impact that its poor, sensationalist programme has had, take our justifiable complaint on board and accept our invitation to meet with myself and other representatives to discuss how we will be able to move forward.

Scotland’s reputation for exceptionally high standards of animal health and welfare must not be undermined by such poor quality journalism.

We fully appreciate that members are also not happy with this documentary. We are working to make our views heard and limit the damage that this documentary has caused to our fantastic industry. If you have any concerns regarding this programme, please do get in touch with one of the team by calling 0131 472 4000.
 

Hilly

Member
good grief. is any one actually happy for our stock to travel huge distances ? and if we are not then why should the general public. Classic farmer behaviour -deflect from the basis of the story and ignore our customers.
Personal what i saw in that program i have no problem with whats so ever, which bit do you have issue with ?
 

Dave6170

Member
good grief. is any one actually happy for our stock to travel huge distances ? and if we are not then why should the general public. Classic farmer behaviour -deflect from the basis of the story and ignore our customers.
Have you seen how far they haul livestock in australia? 1000s of miles in the heat, but they follow all the rules for breaks and checks just like the haulier did in this program.
 

westwards

Member
NFUS should not pussyfoot about, the only way to stop gutter journalisim like that is to go legal.
The damage is done and a cup of tea and a chat with the BBC will not change the P+O minds.
It was all lies and is going to lead to many more calves being shot, is that what they wanted ?
 

Martyn

Member
Location
South west
Iv just watched it on iplayer, personally we take full responsibility of all our dairy calves, we have never viewed them as a waste product, even under tb we have nether shot any. We sell some to other local farms to rear, and rear a lot to fattern ourselves. How a farmer can sell calves noing they will be exported disapoints me, there seams to be a bigger and bigger divide between agri business, and family farms.
 

deere 6600

Member
Mixed Farmer
Good grief indeed. Whether or not live exports is a good thing is not the issue. The BBC effectively acted as a lynch mob. You need to think very carefully about this, because this type of situation is becoming more common, and in this case, as with most lynch mobs there was as much and maybe more inaccurate information as accurate information.

I think the trade is distasteful but it was entirely within the law, getting it stopped should be dealt with by due process.

NFU Scotland letter to members:

As you will be aware, on Monday 10 September, BBC Scotland aired a documentary entitled ‘Disclosure: The Dark Side of Dairy’.

Within this documentary there were a great number of inaccuracies and misleading statements which NFU Scotland believe to be so damaging that we decided to write an official complaint to the Director General of BBC Scotland, requesting a meeting.

The Union has not taken the decision to file this complaint lightly but after watching the documentary and researching the claims made within the programme. The BBC must be held to account for the misrepresentation of our industry.

Indeed, NFU Scotland offered to view the programme in advance. Had the BBC taken up that offer, many of the inaccuracies and misrepresentations could have been addressed.

Through numerous TV and radio interviews and statements to the press, NFU Scotland officeholders and staff are working hard to unpick the damage done by the BBC and rightly restore our reputation for high animal health and welfare standards.

One of the main messages of the documentary was ‘shoot them or ship them’, an overly emotive soundbite which implied to the viewers that the only option for dairy bull calves was to be shot at birth or to be exported. As many will be aware, this is not the case, and the majority of Scottish dairy bull calves are either kept and fattened on farm or sold to be reared elsewhere.

It was extremely disappointing to see so many misleading images and videos being linked with inaccurate claims about the Scottish dairy industry. This included showing clips of English dairy calves at an English Mart, filming a lorry load of Irish cattle going to Italy, Hungarian cattle being loaded onto a ferry in Romania and Australian cattle being slaughtered in Egypt, all the while making points about Scottish dairy bull calves being legally exported to Spain in a manner that met the high standards of health and welfare expected – a fact backed up by Scotland’s Chief Vet in a letter to The Times this week .

In our letter to the BBC, we have raised our frustration at the way in which the BBC journalist edited the interview she filmed with NFU Scotland Livestock Chairman Charlie Adam. During the interview, Mr Adam discusses the different ways which the industry prefers to deal with the issue of male dairy calves, including sexed semen and improving markets for finished dairy beef. These points were ignored, and what was used were soundbites reinforced the programme’s agenda around ‘shoot them or ship them’.

Unfortunately, this misleading reporting has already had an immediate effect on the industry, with P&O Ferries cancelling their live exporting of male dairy calves from Scotland to Northern Ireland.

Backed by the Chief Vet’s position, and that of other industry stakeholders, the BBC Scotland must take responsibility for the impact that its poor, sensationalist programme has had, take our justifiable complaint on board and accept our invitation to meet with myself and other representatives to discuss how we will be able to move forward.

Scotland’s reputation for exceptionally high standards of animal health and welfare must not be undermined by such poor quality journalism.

We fully appreciate that members are also not happy with this documentary. We are working to make our views heard and limit the damage that this documentary has caused to our fantastic industry. If you have any concerns regarding this programme, please do get in touch with one of the team by calling 0131 472 4000.
Perhaps the NFU
Good grief indeed. Whether or not live exports is a good thing is not the issue. The BBC effectively acted as a lynch mob. You need to think very carefully about this, because this type of situation is becoming more common, and in this case, as with most lynch mobs there was as much and maybe more inaccurate information as accurate information.

I think the trade is distasteful but it was entirely within the law, getting it stopped should be dealt with by due process.

NFU Scotland letter to members:

As you will be aware, on Monday 10 September, BBC Scotland aired a documentary entitled ‘Disclosure: The Dark Side of Dairy’.

Within this documentary there were a great number of inaccuracies and misleading statements which NFU Scotland believe to be so damaging that we decided to write an official complaint to the Director General of BBC Scotland, requesting a meeting.

The Union has not taken the decision to file this complaint lightly but after watching the documentary and researching the claims made within the programme. The BBC must be held to account for the misrepresentation of our industry.

Indeed, NFU Scotland offered to view the programme in advance. Had the BBC taken up that offer, many of the inaccuracies and misrepresentations could have been addressed.

Through numerous TV and radio interviews and statements to the press, NFU Scotland officeholders and staff are working hard to unpick the damage done by the BBC and rightly restore our reputation for high animal health and welfare standards.

One of the main messages of the documentary was ‘shoot them or ship them’, an overly emotive soundbite which implied to the viewers that the only option for dairy bull calves was to be shot at birth or to be exported. As many will be aware, this is not the case, and the majority of Scottish dairy bull calves are either kept and fattened on farm or sold to be reared elsewhere.

It was extremely disappointing to see so many misleading images and videos being linked with inaccurate claims about the Scottish dairy industry. This included showing clips of English dairy calves at an English Mart, filming a lorry load of Irish cattle going to Italy, Hungarian cattle being loaded onto a ferry in Romania and Australian cattle being slaughtered in Egypt, all the while making points about Scottish dairy bull calves being legally exported to Spain in a manner that met the high standards of health and welfare expected – a fact backed up by Scotland’s Chief Vet in a letter to The Times this week .

In our letter to the BBC, we have raised our frustration at the way in which the BBC journalist edited the interview she filmed with NFU Scotland Livestock Chairman Charlie Adam. During the interview, Mr Adam discusses the different ways which the industry prefers to deal with the issue of male dairy calves, including sexed semen and improving markets for finished dairy beef. These points were ignored, and what was used were soundbites reinforced the programme’s agenda around ‘shoot them or ship them’.

Unfortunately, this misleading reporting has already had an immediate effect on the industry, with P&O Ferries cancelling their live exporting of male dairy calves from Scotland to Northern Ireland.

Backed by the Chief Vet’s position, and that of other industry stakeholders, the BBC Scotland must take responsibility for the impact that its poor, sensationalist programme has had, take our justifiable complaint on board and accept our invitation to meet with myself and other representatives to discuss how we will be able to move forward.

Scotland’s reputation for exceptionally high standards of animal health and welfare must not be undermined by such poor quality journalism.

We fully appreciate that members are also not happy with this documentary. We are working to make our views heard and limit the damage that this documentary has caused to our fantastic industry. If you have any concerns regarding this programme, please do get in touch with one of the team by calling 0131 472 4000.
I sincerely hope the NFUS lead a class action against the BBC and their progamme makers for damages including any consequential losses.
 
Because they had an agenda. According to the detail above, the NFU chap interviewed discussed sexed semen but it was edited out.
Sorry didn’t read the rest of the thread, IMHO I think the public has a right to know that dairy farmers and other industry bodies are doing something positive to solve the problem such as the use of sexed semen. This sort of program is portraying the fact that no one is doing anything to lessen the problem when indead they are
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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