Check your slurry store!

[Cowabunga]

There's been a major failure of a concrete slurry store locally. The whole thing seems to have broken off at the base and the contents flow across a field to the small river and grossly polluted around 4kms, through a village to the sea. Worse effected is another dairy farm that takes their water for the cows from the river.

Cambrian News - local news at the heart of the community

Latest news, sport and what’s on in Wales and your local area.

www.cambrian-news.co.uk

Nobody hurt, so not so bad. Unfortunately there is not much flow in the river right now, and the incident is not that far from the source, so there's not enough water to flush it away and clean it up.

Very stressful for the family involved, no doubt. The implications for possible litigation and the finances of paying a fine and replacing the slurry store urgently all pile up.

This highlights the importance of having more than adequate public liability insurance as well as the real risks of the industry we are in, relative to [lack of] profitability. Old infrastructure that is marginally economic to replace is an increasing problem and likely to get much worse as the cheap food and increased competition policies come to fruition.

Can I justify a new slurry store when my milk price is so volatile that I got 12p/litre last month when at least 27ppl is required to justify any spending over the basic production costs of growing grass? NO.

 

[Bald Rick]

Soon be a Wales wide NVZ so unless the grant is really generous (80%+ ... which it won’t be) , lot of smaller farms, older farmers, farmers without succession and those generally p!ssed off with ever increasing bureaucracy will simply walk.

 

[vantage]

Is anybody sure insurance will pay out? I’m not so sure. A bad situation for all regardless.

 

[Bald Rick]

Is anybody sure insurance will pay out? I’m not so sure. A bad situation for all regardless.

Iirc I have just paid NFU Mutual £168 premium specifically to cover any pollution incident up to £10m

May be wrong though as I have insurances for just about everything now due to regular fingerings

 

[Cowabunga]

Is anybody sure insurance will pay out? I’m not so sure. A bad situation for all regardless.

I see no reason for public liability insurance not to pay any costs incurred apart from any possible Court fine.
What makes you doubt?

 

[Cowabunga]

Soon be a Wales wide NVZ so unless the grant is really generous (80%+ ... which it won’t be) , lot of smaller farms, older farmers, farmers without succession and those generally p!ssed off with ever increasing bureaucracy will simply walk.

In an era where we are urged to be ever more 'competitive' even against products from countries with vastly lower costs and greater economies of scale, with much less restrictions such as NVZ's, plus the inevitable rise of novel proteins, then I'm afraid that the future is not bright for our livestock farmers, young, old, ambitious or not.

My ambition is now to walk away while it is possible to do so with some dignity and capital left.

 

[Bald Rick]

In an era where we are urged to be ever more 'competitive' even against products from countries with vastly lower costs and greater economies of scale, with much less restrictions such as NVZ's, plus the inevitable rise of novel proteins, then I'm afraid that the future is not bright for our livestock farmers, young, old, ambitious or not.

My ambition is now to walk away while it is possible to do so with some dignity and capital left.

No votes in farming ...

 

[Formatted]

Soon be a Wales wide NVZ so unless the grant is really generous (80%+ ... which it won’t be) , lot of smaller farms, older farmers, farmers without succession and those generally p!ssed off with ever increasing bureaucracy will simply walk.

So what? I'm sure they said the same when they abolished child labour. A few older farmers going out of business is not a reason to hold the rest of the industry back

 

[Cowabunga]

No votes in farming ...

Thing is, accidents and mess do happen when things are actually produced. Less so in a nation of urbanites devoted to cutting each other's hair. Incidents like this slurry spill do not help at all but are mostly almost unavoidable. The great unwashed do not want industry in their 'backyard'. They have other priorities and would prefer to see yellow and pink flowers and fluffy bunnies while munching their cheap American burgers during their laid back barbeques.

 

[Cowabunga]

So what? I'm sure they said the same when they abolished child labour. A few older farmers going out of business is not a reason to hold the rest of the industry back

The whole industry will likely be decimated. It isn't the few older farmers that will be devastated, it will be the younger ones who have invested or would [if they could] invest in the job. They will be the ones put under, not the ones who have the option to turn their farm into a park and live on their pension.

 

[Formatted]

it will be the younger ones who have invested or would [if they could] invest in the job.

This doesn't change the point that I made. If you can't bring your farm up to modern stands, you shouldn't be in farming. This isn't the first slurry polluting incident this month, let alone this year. We wouldn't be having this conversation if it was a livestock welfare issue, it would just be a case of you'd fix. Farmers should treat environmental protection with the same logic because the general public do.

 

[Cowabunga]

This doesn't change the point that I made. If you can't bring your farm up to modern stands, you shouldn't be in farming. This isn't the first slurry polluting incident this month, let alone this year. We wouldn't be having this conversation if it was a livestock welfare issue, it would just be a case of you'd fix. Farmers should treat environmental protection with the same logic because the general public do.

So you are an expert at civil engineering and assessing whether a slurry store, and probably any building and machine and situation presents a current risk of failure. Not many of you about. How much do you charge for your expert opinion? Do you do bridges and skyscrapers as well? They should have got you in to sort out those tower blocks with the cladding before hundreds of people were killed. Maybe you could have led the fire brigade response to the fire as well, and done a far better job.

 

[Formatted]

So you are an expert at civil engineering and assessing whether a slurry store, and probably any building and machine and situation presents a current risk of failure. Not many of you about. How much do you charge for your expert opinion? Do you do bridges and skyscrapers as well? They should have got you in to sort out those tower blocks with the cladding.

Strawman argument, you're not addressing my points, just trying to make me look silly

 

[Cowabunga]

Strawman argument, you're not addressing my points, just trying to make me look silly

I don't have to try very hard.

 

[2wheels]

In an era where we are urged to be ever more 'competitive' even against products from countries with vastly lower costs and greater economies of scale, with much less restrictions such as NVZ's, plus the inevitable rise of novel proteins, then I'm afraid that the future is not bright for our livestock farmers, young, old, ambitious or not.

My ambition is now to walk away while it is possible to do so with some dignity and capital left.

don't wait too long. brother and i always said we would stop before pension age. we had 4 good years in a row, cash in the bank and the fun had gone out of the job. no regrets, still take an interest in what is going on but don't miss farming.

 

[vantage]

I see no reason for public liability insurance not to pay any costs incurred apart from any possible Court fine.
What makes you doubt?

Without knowing the facts of this case, could the insurers make the call that a slurry store wasn’t fit for use and therefore was uninsurable? Obviously I hope not.

 

[Dukes Fit]

Incidents like this slurry spill do not help at all but are mostly almost unavoidable.

Please explain why you think they are unavoidable?

 

[Cowabunga]

Please explain why you think they are unavoidable?

Because in most cases they cannot be predicted. If someone was expecting a major incident, they would not happen because they could then be avoided if given sufficient warning.

Same reason that the tower block went up in flames, although in that case maybe there were warnings, but it still happened.
You could use the same argument for this pandemic, where everyone knew it could happen, or even worse, and the powers that be had even executed a 'what if' exercise, but they did nothing about it and it has happened.

Yet by the sound of it, you expect a higher standard from the humble farmer. How odd!

 

[startinghandle]

Is this a sign of things to come and a warning to others.
Why would the slurry store break off at the base ?
Could it be caused by expansion with
the recent hot weather?
The bungalow where me ,Nell and my brother now live makes creaking noises in the evening when it cools down .
Also one door needs more effort to open in the afternoon but at night no
problem at all

 

[Cowabunga]

Without knowing the facts of this case, could the insurers make the call that a slurry store wasn’t fit for use and therefore was uninsurable? Obviously I hope not.

This is not a case of the slurry tower being insured and they will almost certainly not have had it insured and will not get a payout to compensate for reinstatement of it. This is about public liability insurance. This is the kind of thing public liability insurance is for. To cover the cost of damage to others and incidental costs.