Red tractor spot inspection

[Tamar]

Do you honestly believe that if you do your idea of them is in a sorry state.

You mean that Campbell Ticknell review was flawed !?!





(I guess you don't realise how much I absolutely detest RT @Old apprentice )

 

[Old apprentice]

You mean that Campbell Ticknell review was flawed !?!





(I guess you don't realise how much I absolutely detest RT @Old apprentice )

An exelent job for themselves not for the farmer it's a raket.

 

[JP1]

im so sorry for what you are going through with your partner
And for red tractor to treat you so appallingly is in excusable
I know what you are going through
I lost my father last spring and we had a farm quality insurance inspection booked for the day of his funeral
My inspector couldn't have been more accommodating he told me not to worry he wood gat back to me in a few weeks to set a new date
It was actually 2 months before I had the inspection

And that is the very least you'd expect of a human

Why is it so difficult for a senior within RT to have some discretion

 

[kiwi pom]

Just thought I'd share with you all the privilege I've had with dear old red tractor.

So as most of you know I've been due a spot inspection.

I try and keep my personal life off of here but for the purpose of this I'll share a bit, my partner of nearly 6 years was blue-lighted to hospital on Sunday, where after several hours in A and E he was moved to resus and then quite quickly to intensive care.

We haven't had a diagnosis yet but he's been really not very well, he's got acute kidney and liver failure along with extremely low platelets and haemoglobin levels. They're suspecting sepsis but it's all a bit strange atm as things aren't exactly adding up (bacterial cultures aren't growing etc).

He's been on an a drip since Sunday along with IV painkillers and IV antibiotics and an arterial line put in last night. He hasn't stopped being sick for nearly 72 hours now so is feeling very, very rough.

Anyway, I sent an email to red tractor and my milk buyer on Monday at 1am making them aware that we were in ICU and so I wouldn't be around to pander to there every want and need for this week as I want and need to spend as much time as I can in hospital (obviously phrased it slightly differently).

They replied saying they won't come yesterday and due to the influx of people coming in yesterday doing checks, tests and monitoring I missed the following email (checking my emails was NOT top of my priority list yesterday):

"In the circumstances, we are prepared to avoid attempting to carry out a spot check inspection today, but could I ask that you please contact me by phone later this afternoon once you have a clearer picture of your availability and how you will ensure your cows and your farm are looked after during the coming days. We cannot postpone an inspection indefinitely if you wish your milk to be collected as Red Tractor assured."

I contacted Farm Cornwall who work with RABI, FCN ect and have supported me for the past 12 months if they could deal with it for me as frankly I'm too tired and worried to have to speak to them.

Farm Cornwall contacted them today and red tractor have turned around and said I am having a spot inspection either tomorrow or Thursday and that's all there is to it now.

In all this my cows and youngstock have not once suffered, I haven't left the hospital since sunday nor had any sleep since Friday night. I managed to make arrangements with my aunt to feed the calves, milk and scrape up for me along with my apprentice who has done all the feeding etc
My dad has been amazing and just checked everything over and fixed up the scraper tractor which broke yesterday etc
This was all explained to them by farm Cornwall.

I'm pretty disgusted and upset with red tractor though, but can't say I'm surprised.

I'm going to head home this afternoon when his parents get here for a couple of hours and check everything over (which was the plan anyway) the farm and cows are fine for red tractor to see, but I really could have done without the stress of them coming this week.

I don't think I've been unreasonable in requesting any of the above.

Right I'm going to get in trouble here.
First of all, very sorry to hear about your partner, I'm very aware of what you are going through at the moment.

Having said that I don't have a huge problem with their behaviour, from the information in your post. It would have been better if they had said, we will leave it for THE WEEK instead of today but I do think asking you to call them to make sure animals were being cared for is reasonable.
You do hear of cases from time to time where the farmer was unavailable and animals suffer, one of the first comments then is what about RT, why did no one check/help etc.
I would then expect them to work with contacts you gave them to carry out an inspection, no need for you to be involved surely.

One of the big worries on smaller units is, is there a plan if the wheels fall off.

As long as things are running well at the farm and stock are looked after I would hope the inspector would postpone noncritical issues for a month.
As we haven't heard the result yet, I don't know if that happened.

 

[som farmer]

Right I'm going to get in trouble here.
First of all, very sorry to hear about your partner, I'm very aware of what you are going through at the moment.

Having said that I don't have a huge problem with their behaviour, from the information in your post. It would have been better if they had said, we will leave it for THE WEEK instead of today but I do think asking you to call them to make sure animals were being cared for is reasonable.
You do hear of cases from time to time where the farmer was unavailable and animals suffer, one of the first comments then is what about RT, why did no one check/help etc.
I would then expect them to work with contacts you gave them to carry out an inspection, no need for you to be involved surely.

One of the big worries on smaller units is, is there a plan if the wheels fall off.

As long as things are running well at the farm and stock are looked after I would hope the inspector would postpone noncritical issues for a month.
As we haven't heard the result yet, I don't know if that happened.

l think we would all like to hear the outcome. And hopefully its a positive outcome all round.

RT is very unpopular with many farmers, very unpopular. Perhaps unfairly, you can have a sensible, practical inspector, in which case its usually a worthwhile inspection, we all need a 'pull-up' on something, often paperwork !

or you can get a right jobsworth, that makes the whole job a bloody nightmare, plenty on here can relate to that. It is those that cause the general distrust, and scepticism, or hatred.

farm assurance, on paper, is a good thing, but it has been allowed to create its own self centred little world, that seems to think it can create its own cash generating business, by including ever more 'regulations'. And, of course, the suspicion that the major retailers ignore it, if it suits them.

cases like this one, really need to have a practical, sensible approach, welfare issues of stock is probably a valid point, one which could easily be checked. One man bands, are a big problem, product price means there are to many. Fine, when things are ok, if not ..............

but we all 'feel' for @Jdunn55 , good keen dedicated lad, who is going through a shite period, and l certainly wish him the best, and hope he gets a 'sensible' inspector.

 

[Clive]

Right I'm going to get in trouble here.
First of all, very sorry to hear about your partner, I'm very aware of what you are going through at the moment.

Having said that I don't have a huge problem with their behaviour, from the information in your post. It would have been better if they had said, we will leave it for THE WEEK instead of today but I do think asking you to call them to make sure animals were being cared for is reasonable.
You do hear of cases from time to time where the farmer was unavailable and animals suffer, one of the first comments then is what about RT, why did no one check/help etc.
I would then expect them to work with contacts you gave them to carry out an inspection, no need for you to be involved surely.

One of the big worries on smaller units is, is there a plan if the wheels fall off.

As long as things are running well at the farm and stock are looked after I would hope the inspector would postpone noncritical issues for a month.
As we haven't heard the result yet, I don't know if that happened.

in the circumstances the last thing anyone needs is a a days worth of box ticking paperwork - an inspection is not a 30min job and usually requires a fair bit of preparation work


just wait until hes better FFS - what harm can that possibly do ? the last thing needed in such situation is additional work or stress

Just shows how utterly inhuman they are

 

[buffalo_soldier]

Right I'm going to get in trouble here.
First of all, very sorry to hear about your partner, I'm very aware of what you are going through at the moment.

Having said that I don't have a huge problem with their behaviour, from the information in your post. It would have been better if they had said, we will leave it for THE WEEK instead of today but I do think asking you to call them to make sure animals were being cared for is reasonable.
You do hear of cases from time to time where the farmer was unavailable and animals suffer, one of the first comments then is what about RT, why did no one check/help etc.
I would then expect them to work with contacts you gave them to carry out an inspection, no need for you to be involved surely.

One of the big worries on smaller units is, is there a plan if the wheels fall off.

As long as things are running well at the farm and stock are looked after I would hope the inspector would postpone noncritical issues for a month.
As we haven't heard the result yet, I don't know if that happened.

Im not sure you understand how disproportionately disruptive these visits are, especially on a smaller unit.
esp as its a short notice one.

 

[thorpe]

Im not sure you understand how disproportionately disruptive these visits are, especially on a smaller unit.
esp as its a short notice one.

not many house husband's would

 

[Princess Pooper]

I was trying to explain the stress of farm assurance to someone last year.

It's not that I don't do paperwork or have a tidy up. It's just that when you have an inspection, you have to have everything completely up to date, every 't' crossed and every 'i' dotted, even if you are in the middle of calving, or another busy time of year, when you just don't have any 'spare time' to catch your breath. If you have been struggling with your health, or just over-worked, or supporting a family member, the paperwork can slip for a few weeks, as your priority is your livestock, keeping them looked after, healthy, fed, watered, milked. It's not that you don't have the information there, it's just not necessarily in the correct format for an inspection. Cow 123 has lost her tag and you haven't ordered the tag yet because you want to check there aren't any more to order at the same time, or you ordered it but haven't re-tagged her yet as you haven't had time. You know she's cow 123 as she has one tag and she also has a great big freezebrand on her arse which isn't going to wash off, besides which you know she is cow 123 as she has a big funny shaped star on her face and an unmistakeable wonky udder.

 

[Hampton]

Thanks everyone

Quick question, anyone got any ideas?

I had a non-conformance for ear-tags last time if I get any repeat non-conformances it will trigger another spot inspection which if I fail they remove my assurance for 3 months and roddas will remove my contract

So obviously keen to avoid another spot check and any repeat non-conformances

I went through all ear-tags last week ordered any and put them in

My apprentice has just said he's found 2 tags that have fallen out today number 16 and 191

What do I do? She is coming tomorrow or Thursday I've missed next day delivery so won't get them until Thursday afternoon?
There's no chance I'll have time to drive to somewhere and get them printed there and then

She won't miss them. She misses nothing.

Are they not just management tags? As long as they have 2 off official tags then that’s fine

 

[Deereone]

How on earth did we ever manage to farm in the past before all these parasitic inspectors were dreamed up.

 

[thorpe]

How on earth did we ever manage to farm in the past before all these parasitic inspectors were dreamed up.

it seem's we farmer's are fantastic for job creation but we can't fund them all!

 

[som farmer]

it seem's we farmer's are fantastic for job creation but we can't fund them all!

and that sums the problem up.

we are unable to generate the required amount of cash, our 'support' and 'supply' industries expect us to.

they are sucking to much out of the industry, hence for a lot of them, the word parasite aptly describes them. Fully accept some, especially contractors, who are caught, and get hammered, by being between us, and suppliers. The latter can maintain profit levels, by raising prices, contractors basically cannot. Quite a number of contractors have sold up, reasons pretty obvious.

farmers have a tendency to happily complicate 'things', and sales reps jump onto to that fact, in order to make their living. Once you make the difficult decision to simplify your system, difficult meaning going against what you have always done, you can really get excited, it really doesn't take a lot to reduce costs, when you seriously start. We have shaved £1,000's off, and more to follow.

an example, @lazy farmer just put in a system to feed 200+ calves, in a block calving herd, for £60 ish, compare that to a computerised automatic system, at about £8,000+. Both work well.
Then there's all the snake oil reps, hundreds if not 1,000's of them, glib tongued...............

our big 'no no', are products in little bags, for the dairy TMR, its urea, bi-carb and minerals, nothing else. We used to add fats, yeast etc, changed nutritionist, they went out, milk went up !

it would be lovely to say prices will rise, to cover everything we would like, prices will rise, but only to a point, where consumers can afford. Guv is desperate to keep food prices from rising to much, probably the reason why SFI is generous in places. But my thinking is, it will reduce production, an ill thought out policy, which will backfire.

any increasing sustainable return, in my opinion, will come from cutting costs, not very easy, but probably cheaper than spending £1,000's, on techno products, which have to be paid back.

 

[Old apprentice]

How on earth did we ever manage to farm in the past before all these parasitic inspectors were dreamed up.

It is time that were do away with we have government agencys. We don't need parasites.
I hope the original poster has got better news and they both are in a better position as soon as possible .

 

[Suffolk Serf]

in the circumstances the last thing anyone needs is a a days worth of box ticking paperwork - an inspection is not a 30min job and usually requires a fair bit of preparation work


just wait until hes better FFS - what harm can that possibly do ? the last thing needed in such situation is additional work or stress

Just shows how utterly inhuman they are

A spot inspection is rather less than a full audit. The spot inspection is to have a re look at whatever the issue was that triggered the major non conformance. Of course the rest of the farm/paperwork needs to be “audit ready”.
I know because I had one after having enough minor non conformances to make it major.
It really is nothing to fear- just be polite to the auditor!

 

[Netherfield]

I'm so glad to out of this farming lark.

Hope it all goes well for you and your partner @Jdunn55

 

[Bald n Grumpy]

Think the auditor makes a big difference, dreading the day I get a jobs worth. Last audit was booked and then lost a family member, 2 minute phone call to the auditor and audit changed to a month later with no hassle at all.

 

[kiwi pom]

in the circumstances the last thing anyone needs is a a days worth of box ticking paperwork - an inspection is not a 30min job and usually requires a fair bit of preparation work


just wait until hes better FFS - what harm can that possibly do ? the last thing needed in such situation is additional work or stress

Just shows how utterly inhuman they are

Didn't read the OP did you.

From what JD said he was due a spot inspection, the reason for which is unclear but as I read this section regularly, I know he's had a few issues, that he is successfully working through.
He contacted RT to say he wasn't available due to a family emergency.
RT then said they would postpone the spot inspection but wanted to know when he would be available and (more importantly) how stock were going to be looked after.
Unfortunately he missed that email, which perhaps concerned them and they felt that the spot inspection still needed doing to ensure stock were ok, perfectly reasonable in my view and I'd also expect whoever was now on farm to be able to show them what they needed.
This wasn't a full audit as far as I know.

RT would not be doing their job if they got a report that the owner was unavailable and they didn't follow up on animal welfare, especially as they already knew the farm and that it was mostly run by one person.
Bit different to a cereal farm where the owner can be absent for weeks.

Hopefully when more important matters have been attended to JD might be along with an update.

 

[Old apprentice]

Didn't read the OP did you.

From what JD said he was due a spot inspection, the reason for which is unclear but as I read this section regularly, I know he's had a few issues, that he is successfully working through.
He contacted RT to say he wasn't available due to a family emergency.
RT then said they would postpone the spot inspection but wanted to know when he would be available and (more importantly) how stock were going to be looked after.
Unfortunately he missed that email, which perhaps concerned them and they felt that the spot inspection still needed doing to ensure stock were ok, perfectly reasonable in my view and I'd also expect whoever was now on farm to be able to show them what they needed.
This wasn't a full audit as far as I know.

RT would not be doing their job if they got a report that the owner was unavailable and they didn't follow up on animal welfare, especially as they already knew the farm and that it was mostly run by one person.
Bit different to a cereal farm where the owner can be absent for weeks.

Hopefully when more important matters have been attended to JD might be along with an update.

Look th is not required it is just an excuse to take money of farmers to employ people with nothing better to do.

 

[thorpe]

Didn't read the OP did you.

From what JD said he was due a spot inspection, the reason for which is unclear but as I read this section regularly, I know he's had a few issues, that he is successfully working through.
He contacted RT to say he wasn't available due to a family emergency.
RT then said they would postpone the spot inspection but wanted to know when he would be available and (more importantly) how stock were going to be looked after.
Unfortunately he missed that email, which perhaps concerned them and they felt that the spot inspection still needed doing to ensure stock were ok, perfectly reasonable in my view and I'd also expect whoever was now on farm to be able to show them what they needed.
This wasn't a full audit as far as I know.

RT would not be doing their job if they got a report that the owner was unavailable and they didn't follow up on animal welfare, especially as they already knew the farm and that it was mostly run by one person.
Bit different to a cereal farm where the owner can be absent for weeks.

Hopefully when more important matters have been attended to JD might be along with an update.

youve got to much time on your hand's!