Fazor Banned on Stock Feed Potatoes

California

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
South Lincs
Just had an email from AHDB saying that the the label has changed on all Maleic Hydrazide products (Fazor, Source etc.) to say that potatoes treated with it can no longer be fed to stock.
So apparently they are fine for human consumption but not for feeding to animals! I'm sure there must be some science of some sort behind it but it does seem a little crazy.
As growers of chipping potatoes MH is a pretty vital part of stopping them sprouting in store and we usually just give outgrades to local stock farmers (and have done for many years), Guess we'll have to dump then now which seems very wasteful.
 

Al R

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
West Wales
It could be down to licensing where the manufacturer has gone for the bare minimum on the license to keep it and produce trial data..
There’s a lot of sprays certified for sugar beet but not for fodder beet, purely because there is less “need” for them for fodder beet and the returns from FB wouldn’t cover the trial work for the licensing..
 

Fubar

Member
It's going to cause a lot of headaches. Most outgrades are fed to cattle round here. Maybe have to look for a digester go take them now. Dumping them and the problems that leads to is not an option.
 

Full of bull(s)

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
North Yorkshire
But the potatoes are fine for human consumption...????

Maybe it’s to do with the muck when it comes out the other end of livestock. There is a grassland spray can’t remember the name, that if used on silage ground it stays in the grass, goes through the cattle and if the manure is then spread on potato ground the following year it will wipe out the crop. I guess not too many people spread their own??
 

California

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
South Lincs
Maybe it’s to do with the muck when it comes out the other end of livestock. There is a grassland spray can’t remember the name, that if used on silage ground it stays in the grass, goes through the cattle and if the manure is then spread on potato ground the following year it will wipe out the crop. I guess not too many people spread their own??
Just read the AHDB info and apparently the reason "new label" product can't be used (old label is fine) is due to a "data gap in the latest round of product reviews" It has nothing to do with any risk of harm to stock or the following crop presumably as it states on the AHDB website that imported potatoes treated with MH can be fed to livestock with no issues and likewise any potatoes treated with the same product but the old label.
It's another of those crazy but very worrying situations unfortunately!
 

Al R

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
West Wales
Just read the AHDB info and apparently the reason "new label" product can't be used (old label is fine) is due to a "data gap in the latest round of product reviews" It has nothing to do with any risk of harm to stock or the following crop presumably as it states on the AHDB website that imported potatoes treated with MH can be fed to livestock with no issues and likewise any potatoes treated with the same product but the old label.
It's another of those crazy but very worrying situations unfortunately!

So it’s a licensing problem like I said then....
 

B'o'B

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Rutland
Maybe it’s to do with the muck when it comes out the other end of livestock. There is a grassland spray can’t remember the name, that if used on silage ground it stays in the grass, goes through the cattle and if the manure is then spread on potato ground the following year it will wipe out the crop. I guess not too many people spread their own??
That would likely be Clopyralid. We had a field of beans wiped out after feeding beet pulp to cattle and spreading the muck.
 

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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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