bbc article on this morning news feed (export of cattle to middle east for slaughter)

[devonbeef]

I am sure this does happen with cattle and sheep.That is the re-export of stock from EU countrys. It disgusts me as a industry we allow this to happen.Why can the livestock not go on a hook dead .£15 a head is properly average price that a Holstein bull calf is sold for, kindest thing is to shot the poor sods.Long term you dairy farmers if you conscious is concerned about maybe breed less extreme stock a bit more duel purpose ,so us beef men can do something with them. If this is how tight the margins are that we allow these things to happen ,i would question the whole point of rearing stock for meat.It s not like we are being heros feeding are citizens, we are feeding populations abroad (when they are exported)which have nought to do with us or do they care two hoots about us,It is down to greed and money,
I wish i could see more respect for our farm animals ,beyond the farm gate, as i think the uk livestock market is the only way the uk stock farmer has of keeping the few buyers paying anywhere near a fair price,
Meanwhile i will continue to sell deadweight so i can chose the stocks fate and continue to build a direct sale market for my meat locally.
<<,hit like this just gives uk farming a bad name,
Rant over

 

[nelly55]

I have just watched the news and feel bloody sick, I am ashamed that as a country in the 21st century we allow this.If the NFU support this hang your heads in shame.OH already on the phone to another insurance company and as her indoors controls the money I can see my nfu sub stopping.I can hold my hand up and never ,ever will an animal leave this farm to be killed non stun or sold abroad.Yes the trade would suffer but don’t preach top animal welfare only to turn a blind eye at the farm gate.

 

[Woolless]

I haven't seen this item. BBC Scotland aired a programme a couple of years ago ('The dark side of dairy'?), which tried to blacken the export calf trade. There was a suggestion that some may go via ROI to the middle east but they couldn't prove it. That didn't stop them including some appalling footage from a slaughterhouse in Egypt, of course.

Was there definite proof that it was British cattle?

 

[R.Dutchman]

UK ear tags were on show, I was concentrating on something else but it didn't look good.

 

[egbert]

link?

 

[tinsheet]

A link to the article, news please?

 

[JSmith]

For those of us that didn’t see it, is this calves only then?

 

[Filthyfarmer]

Concern over UK cattle slaughtered in Middle East

Undercover footage shows British livestock being transported from Spain to the Middle East.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[milkloss]

Did I hear the line "they get hung upside down by their legs and get stabbed with knives"? So there's probably some inaccurate reporting in that sentence but I sat their thinking 'it's fcking halal mate, goes on in this country too and no one has the balls to paint that in a bad light.

whilst I'm sure the article is based on something that needs sorting out, I just felt it was so vague and inaccurate as to be some implausible animal rights bollo0cks.

 

[Sid]

Once again farmers get the blame for something beyond their control.

How do i tell the buyer of my calves what or how he can keep what is now his animal? Issue is once you ban live exports its closes up a whole host of markets that are actually not detrimental to animal welfare. It may even lead to the stopping of live imports of breeding stock as well.

I would sooner take a ferry from Kent to France than spend hours in a Mini with 4 mates to Scotland(nothing wrong with Scotland, its just a long way away)

 

[Northeastfarmer]

Absolutely diabolical if any cattle are being sent to the Middle East from the uk....I have seen them slaughtered there and turkey and they are hung upside down alive....I will retire if that is the only route for cattle

 

[som farmer]

the meat trade is pretty awful, but, at the moment, we are governed by eu rules, export is allowed, but once it leaves the UK, we have no control over where it ends up, that, may, or not, change with brexit. The days of the UK telling other countries, what they can, or cannot do, are long over. One should be careful of quick interpretation, of photo's or videos, they can, and are, edited for max shock value. And there can be, no excuse, for bad welfare, anywhere, in the system. A question, i have never had answered properly, exported stock, can be pretty expensive, by the time it arrives at it's destination, and i can only see sense, in making sure, it arrives, in a good condition, for it to be abused, like claimed, it would be dead money. Or, the problem is exceedingly rare.
Problems exist in the meat trade, we do not really know, what goes into processed meats, eg horse. But one thing, that does annoy me, is halah non stun slaughter, and a lot of meat, killed that way, ends up in other religions (PC) mouths, without their knowledge, but no one makes that much fuss, do they ? Double standards ?

 

[Dave79]

It says it was an ni animal so probably left through the republic. To stop ni cattle going to Europe you need to stop republic sending animals to eu. Might it have been the only uk tag on the lorry, picked out to suit the story? The calf lying on the ground has apparently succumbed to a respiratory disease picked up on the lorry over to Spain, but that animal is not a calf, it’s a stirk, and therefore has been in Spain for a good number of months in all probability.
It is possible that the whole lorry of cattle were from the uk, and it’s possible the sick calf arrived the day before, but the opposite could be true.
Halal slaughter is abominable, and I would oppose export direct to slaughter, they should be on the hook, but all I can do is the best for my cattle. I can’t control what others do, and I certainly wouldn’t take this article as the gospel truth, and use it to beat uk farmers up about welfare.

 

[Werzle]

Did I hear the line "they get hung upside down by their legs and get stabbed with knives"? So there's probably some inaccurate reporting in that sentence but I sat their thinking 'it's fcking halal mate, goes on in this country too and no one has the balls to paint that in a bad light.

whilst I'm sure the article is based on something that needs sorting out, I just felt it was so vague and inaccurate as to be some implausible animal rights bollo0cks.

They were stabbing at it, looked awful. Ship loads of bulls going from ireland on a regular basis

 

[jendan]

UK ear tags were on show, I was concentrating on something else but it didn't look good.

They were all UK 9. So from Northern Ireland.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

The piece said they were dairy calves exported to Spain where they were reared and fattened then sold live to Libya for slaughter. Once they leave UK shoes we have no control over onward sale.

As a lifelong beef farmer I support an end to live exports except of breeding stock.

 

[thorpe]

The piece said they were dairy calves exported to Spain where they were reared and fattened then sold live to Libya for slaughter. Once they leave UK shoes we have no control over onward sale.

As a lifelong beef farmer I support an end to live exports except of breeding stock.

you have my full support.

 

[betweenthelines]

I don't want to see live animals exported either.

But if there's no UK market for them, then it's slaughter as calves-which repulses me even more.

 

[Werzle]

The piece said they were dairy calves exported to Spain where they were reared and fattened then sold live to Libya for slaughter. Once they leave UK shoes we have no control over onward sale.

As a lifelong beef farmer I support an end to live exports except of breeding stock.

On one of the clips some tidy charolais x bulls were being loaded on the ship

 

[Werzle]

They outlawed the live export of horses for meat from the uk but all that happens now is they travel over to southern ireland to get on the boat.