Who is Private Eye's "Bio-Waste Spreader"?

[Bald Rick]

As an avid Private Eye reader (giving me a very dyspeptic world view & potential communist leanings), I usually enjoy reading "Agri Brigade" written by Bio-Waste Spreader.
But he/she has gone too far this week by calling on Gove to unilaterally put a stop to dairy cows being housed all year round in order to protect against the rise of the super dairy & to keep the family farm.

Who is he/she?

 

[Formatted]

But he/she has gone too far this week by calling on Gove to unilaterally put a stop to dairy cows being housed all year round in order to protect against the rise of the super dairy & to keep the family farm.

Why's that to far? No reason to house cows 365 days a year other than profit

 

[wasted years]

I think all year housing might do more to save the family farm not sink it.
Less time spent fetching cows in allows time for other things, housed cows muck can go into AD giving other income streams.
The big dairy farms are quite often spring calvers.

 

[Dr. Alkathene]

Given the ‘summers’ we have had in parts of the North, even the dedicated grazers have struggled to graze as much as in the past and / or make enough silage. Or should cows be left wading round knee deep in mud and shite outside? Ruining the land in the process.

Not everyone is down in the tropics, on good draining land, with less rainfall and more sunshine.

 

[Shep]

Loads of reasons, access to grazing cut off by busy roads and irate motorists, heavy land can't take cows at all times but you can get 3 or 4 dry enough spells to get silage made. High rainfall areas to name a few.
It would make milk very scarce and dear though !

 

[Neddy flanders]

Surely if the land isn't dry enough to allow cows out for say 3 months a year you need to question if you should have cows at All? Private eye has a point. We try to kick poultry and pigs outdoors, why should cows be housed 365 in the name of efficiency?

 

[Will Wilson]

I really want to know to. I would guess it is someone from this list ?

That said the PE do use their in house hacks to write under names so it might not be the same person every time? I wish agricultural journalists wrote pieces as in depth/scandalous about our ' masters'.

My favourite section is 'From the Message Boards' some of which is taken from TFF I am sure.

 

[ollie989898]

Various people will know who they are, but you won't get a peep out of them...

Of course stuff is gleaned from TFF!

 

[Dr. Alkathene]

Loads of reasons, access to grazing cut off by busy roads and irate motorists, heavy land can't take cows at all times but you can get 3 or 4 dry enough spells to get silage made. High rainfall areas to name a few.
It would make milk very scarce and dear though !

It is imho dangerous to move stock on some busy roads. Idiots that are too busy / important to stop or wait. Gob full of abuse out of the window, threats or trying to push their way through the herd then kicking off when their car gets damaged.

 

[Boysground]

This farm is most definitely a family farm, but the cows are 365 housed. Why? We made a decision on how many litres we need to produce profitably for the family to live off. As with all farms the first limiting factor is land. Our main grazing area is water meadow flood plain it is not unsual for this to be flooded in April and some years May. The farm is also bisected by the A36 it is too dangerous to cross cows over it . So if I was to be fashionable and go block calving the grazing area could not even come close to supporting enough cows to produce what we need. We are also surrounded by large arable farms, I am not prepared to pay the rent that they are for more acres.

In my opinion saying that 365 housing is the end of family farming is extremely shortsighted and does not appreciate that the geography of every farm is different. As are the needs and interests of every farmer.

Bg

 

[martian]

As an avid Private Eye reader (giving me a very dyspeptic world view & potential communist leanings), I usually enjoy reading "Agri Brigade" written by Bio-Waste Spreader.
But he/she has gone too far this week by calling on Gove to unilaterally put a stop to dairy cows being housed all year round in order to protect against the rise of the super dairy & to keep the family farm.

Who is he/she?

I've been wondering this for some time, but at least we now know who the angry baby columnist is. Quite the best bit for my money, well done Bald Rick...

 

[Bald Rick]

Why's that to far? No reason to house cows 365 days a year other than profit

Profit? I should coco. Housing is extremely expensive high input/high output BUT it is my opinion that cows actually quite like being housed 365 as they get a very consistent diet, are sheltered from the worst of the weather - both hot & cold - and crucially are usually in a very high welfare system and not being asked to walk 00s of metres twice or three times a day.
In fact, IIRC there was a trial in US where the barn doors were left open but the cows refused to go out except at night and that was only briefly.

My point though is that Government should have no place in regulating systems that are not compromising welfare. Ultimately, of course, if the processors demand that we graze our animals, we will concur to the best of our ability given that there may be constraints to doing so.

 

[Exfarmer]

Agri waste spreader isa a relatively new contributor as I believe muck spreader died on the job, most private eye journalists carry on till they die rather like many farmers.
The Eye is normally very receptive to farmers views and has been supportive on the badger problem.
It is very well worth writing a letter pointing out the error of their ways , I have several times and have been published more than once.
I would emphasis the fact A you are a dairy farmer and B the issues printed here such as problems of road crossings and badger security as well.
Sadly the idea of free range dairy appeals to so many who have never tried milking a cow covered in s**t and mud, or spent a fortune repairing the damage done to the grazing grounds in midwinter.

 

[SRRC]

If it's wet enough to grow grass then it's too wet to have hundreds of hooves walking over it.
Why ask cows to eat grass their herd mate has peed/shat over?
Is it high welfare to ask a cow to walk miles for their food?

These are the sorts of questions even Private Eye readers might understand.

 

[RobFZS]

If it's wet enough to grow grass then it's too wet to have hundreds of hooves walking over it.
Why ask cows to eat grass their herd mate has peed/shat over?
Is it high welfare to ask a cow to walk miles for their food?

These are the sorts of questions Private Eye readers might understand.

Yeh but then the Vegan sympathisers go on to ask, why are you farming in such an unsuitable area, been there done that, got the t shirt in this debate

 

[joe soapy]

I really want to know to. I would guess it is someone from this list ?

That said the PE do use their in house hacks to write under names so it might not be the same person every time? I wish agricultural journalists wrote pieces as in depth/scandalous about our ' masters'.

My favourite section is 'From the Message Boards' some of which is taken from TFF I am sure.

Hmm, ag and food is the least of the countries worries,
Seems our defence is f.....ed, the posh type 45 destroyers have the power systems controlled by software
owned and supported by the Americans, Over christmas holiday the doors were locked and nobody would answer the phone.
Also a warehouse full of chinoks, never flown because no software liscence was paid for.
Will be same problems with the new carriers and the planes ordered for them, needing a factory service after every mission.
3 billion of ag support amounts to no more than loose change in the overall scheme of things

 

[betweenthelines]

IMO it's not unreasonable for consumers to expect that cows are out to grass for at least part of the year.

But, depending on location, farm layout, weather etc. this doesn't mean every herd out for 10 months/year-not everyone farms in sunny South Devon or the Cornish Riviera!

 

[FonterraFarmer]

Why's that to far? No reason to house cows 365 days a year other than profit

Its as crazy as snow at Christmas!!!

 

[FonterraFarmer]

It is imho dangerous to move stock on some busy roads. Idiots that are too busy / important to stop or wait. Gob full of abuse out of the window, threats or trying to push their way through the herd then kicking off when their car gets damaged.

I thought the only "car damage" came from swinging or flying waratah standards?

 

[slackjawedyokel]

Best avoid the new issue; Govt should discourage the public from eating beef and lamb in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions