As if it’s not bad enough that lamb prices have dropped to a five year low, farmers across Somerset are now having to cope with the threat of sheep rustling.
Avon and Somerset Police report that around 480 lambs, ewes and rams were stolen between May 12 and June 18 in the county. It is believed the sheep are either sold on or slaughtered.
The raids have cost some farmers £10,000 or more, with one overnight theft of 150 sheep from a field in Langport estimated at £30,000. The worst affected areas include Yeovil, Ilchester, Stoke sub Hamdon and East Huntspill but farmers further afield are naturally concerned about this growing threat.
Sergeant Stuart Williams of Avon and Somerset Police Rural Crime team said: "Anyone involved in this crime, whether they are buying animals they know are stolen or their meat, is helping destroy honest businesses and lining the pockets of criminals.
"All the thefts are being investigated, and our units are stopping and checking vehicles capable of carrying livestock day and night to check tags and paperwork."
One victim, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: "It's sickening what these mindless thieves do. The sheep have probably suffered in transit and not been killed humanely."
All sheep are tagged and paperwork must be put in place if they are to be moved off a holding. So if the police find sheep being moved without the appropriate documentation it should be easy to establish that something is awry.
However, understanding the rules regarding ear tagging and movement restrictions is complicated and it is reassuring that the police take this matter seriously.
In June about 60 officers from Avon and Somerset and neighbouring forces in Devon and Cornwall met for a focus on rural crime and were instructed on livestock registration, ear-tagging, movement regulations and what to look for if those rules are being broken.
Sgt Stuart Williams said the training day was “invaluable for making sure that officers covering rural areas have the knowledge to know what to look for when investigating farm and countryside crime.”
Farmers and members of the public who see anything suspicious should immediately report it to the police. They are taking rural crime seriously.
James Stephen MRICS FAAV
Partner
Rural Practice Chartered Surveyor, Wells
T: 01749 683381
E: james.stephen@carterjonas.co.uk
A property blog written and authored by our specialist blogging team, discussing all and any matter relating to the residential, rural and commercial property markets.
Showing posts with label lamb prices. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lamb prices. Show all posts
Friday, 17 July 2015
Friday, 29 May 2015
Wish there was something positive to say...
I wish there was something positive to say in the world of agriculture but today farmers are under pressure across all sectors.
This will undoubtedly put severe strain on some farming businesses where the squeeze on cash flow is going to be a problem in the coming months.
Wheat, milk and lamb prices are now down 32, 26 and 17 per cent respectively compared to this time last year.
Meanwhile, although finished beef cattle prices have only fallen by around five per cent, many beef rearing units are really struggling. This is because they rely on making a margin between the price of the young cattle they buy and the price of the finished product, but this spring they have found the price of young cattle has been very strong, leaving them badly exposed to potential losses if the finished beef price does not rise significantly.
The whole situation is further compounded by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) making a pretty good hash of introducing the new Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) through which farmers receive support payments from the EU.
In the past farmers have become used to receiving these payments in early December but agricultural consultants Andersons are suggesting farmers should not budget to receive this year’s payment until March 2016.
In contrast the RPA chief executive Mark Grimshaw said he would be very disappointed if most claims under the BPS were not paid out by the end of January. Obviously the sooner such payments are made, the better, but even if payments are made by late January this will still be two months later than in the recent past which will put pressure on many businesses.
That is not to say all farmers are struggling and in the milk sector in particular some farmers are still on favourable contracts and are being paid a reasonable price for their milk. In these circumstances good profits can still be made but the gap between the best and the worst milk contracts has widened enormously with the result that some will be losing large sums of money very fast indeed.
However, excluding the lucky few, most farmers are experiencing very challenging times and with the pound remaining strong on the foreign exchange markets this is making our exports less competitive and imports comparatively cheap, which is not helping any of the agricultural produce prices in this country.
Farmers are set for challenging times ahead and at present there are no obvious bright spots on the horizon.
James Stephen MRICS FAAV
Partner
Rural Practice Chartered Surveyor, Wells
T: 01749 683381
E: james.stephen@carterjonas.co.uk
This will undoubtedly put severe strain on some farming businesses where the squeeze on cash flow is going to be a problem in the coming months.
Wheat, milk and lamb prices are now down 32, 26 and 17 per cent respectively compared to this time last year.
Meanwhile, although finished beef cattle prices have only fallen by around five per cent, many beef rearing units are really struggling. This is because they rely on making a margin between the price of the young cattle they buy and the price of the finished product, but this spring they have found the price of young cattle has been very strong, leaving them badly exposed to potential losses if the finished beef price does not rise significantly.
The whole situation is further compounded by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) making a pretty good hash of introducing the new Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) through which farmers receive support payments from the EU.
In the past farmers have become used to receiving these payments in early December but agricultural consultants Andersons are suggesting farmers should not budget to receive this year’s payment until March 2016.
In contrast the RPA chief executive Mark Grimshaw said he would be very disappointed if most claims under the BPS were not paid out by the end of January. Obviously the sooner such payments are made, the better, but even if payments are made by late January this will still be two months later than in the recent past which will put pressure on many businesses.
That is not to say all farmers are struggling and in the milk sector in particular some farmers are still on favourable contracts and are being paid a reasonable price for their milk. In these circumstances good profits can still be made but the gap between the best and the worst milk contracts has widened enormously with the result that some will be losing large sums of money very fast indeed.
However, excluding the lucky few, most farmers are experiencing very challenging times and with the pound remaining strong on the foreign exchange markets this is making our exports less competitive and imports comparatively cheap, which is not helping any of the agricultural produce prices in this country.
Farmers are set for challenging times ahead and at present there are no obvious bright spots on the horizon.
James Stephen MRICS FAAV
Partner
Rural Practice Chartered Surveyor, Wells
T: 01749 683381
E: james.stephen@carterjonas.co.uk
Wednesday, 11 June 2014
Market trends for the price of farm commodities
Looking at market trends for the price of farm commodities when compared to a year ago does not make for particularly happy reading. The Farmers Weekly magazine publishes these figures each week and when compared to the prices achieved a year ago most commodities are significantly down.
I have written about beef prices before which have fallen sharply. The price quoted in the Farmers Weekly for last week was 345p per Kg deadweight which is down 50p per Kg on the price achieved this time last year although in this area I am reliably informed that one would struggle to achieve 325p per kg in this area. This indicates that the price being achieved for beef across the country varies significantly and we do not seem to be well placed in this area to achieve the highest prices.
These low prices have stimulated the Farmers For Action (FFA) group to launch protests at meat processing plants in the Midlands where there is concern about the amount of Polish beef being imported and processed in this country.
However, it is not only beef which has seen prices fall in the last year. Arable crops have also dropped sharply in value with Winter Wheat down from £180/tonne to £147/tonne and oilseed rape down from £380/tonne to £268/tonne. At today’s prices, profit margins for arable farmers are likely to be squeezed hard although on the reverse side of this particular coin, this should mean the cost of cereal based feed stuffs for livestock will fall.
In contrast lamb prices have remained steady while milk prices are well ahead of those being achieved this time last year but the trend in milk price is now distinctly downwards as the industry is hit by a number of milk purchasers cutting their farmgate milk prices.
For example, Dairy Crest has cut its liquid milk price by 1.25p/litre from July and Arla has dropped it direct-supplier price by 1.5p/litre. Similarly, earlier last week First Milk reduced its manufacturing contract price by 1.15p/litre.
All these price cuts have come on the back of falling world dairy commodity prices where Fonterra’s Global Trade Auction saw prices fall by 4.2% on 3rd June which is the eighth drop in a row for these auctions. Having said that, cheddar cheese prices rose by 8% and skimmed milk powder by 2.1% and so although milk prices are falling sharply at present there is hope they will stabilise and not fall to the desperately low prices which were witnessed two years ago which forced farmers to take direct action, blockading milk processing plants across the country including here in Somerset.
So what can we read in to all these “tea leaves” – well probably not a great deal other than the fact that markets do go up and down and farmers are exposed to the vaguaries of world markets now more than they have been at any time since the end of the Second World War. Therefore in order to survive, successful farmers will always need to keep their costs under control so as to make money in the good times and survive the hard times because market volatility is most definitely here to stay.
I have written about beef prices before which have fallen sharply. The price quoted in the Farmers Weekly for last week was 345p per Kg deadweight which is down 50p per Kg on the price achieved this time last year although in this area I am reliably informed that one would struggle to achieve 325p per kg in this area. This indicates that the price being achieved for beef across the country varies significantly and we do not seem to be well placed in this area to achieve the highest prices.
These low prices have stimulated the Farmers For Action (FFA) group to launch protests at meat processing plants in the Midlands where there is concern about the amount of Polish beef being imported and processed in this country.
However, it is not only beef which has seen prices fall in the last year. Arable crops have also dropped sharply in value with Winter Wheat down from £180/tonne to £147/tonne and oilseed rape down from £380/tonne to £268/tonne. At today’s prices, profit margins for arable farmers are likely to be squeezed hard although on the reverse side of this particular coin, this should mean the cost of cereal based feed stuffs for livestock will fall.
In contrast lamb prices have remained steady while milk prices are well ahead of those being achieved this time last year but the trend in milk price is now distinctly downwards as the industry is hit by a number of milk purchasers cutting their farmgate milk prices.
For example, Dairy Crest has cut its liquid milk price by 1.25p/litre from July and Arla has dropped it direct-supplier price by 1.5p/litre. Similarly, earlier last week First Milk reduced its manufacturing contract price by 1.15p/litre.
All these price cuts have come on the back of falling world dairy commodity prices where Fonterra’s Global Trade Auction saw prices fall by 4.2% on 3rd June which is the eighth drop in a row for these auctions. Having said that, cheddar cheese prices rose by 8% and skimmed milk powder by 2.1% and so although milk prices are falling sharply at present there is hope they will stabilise and not fall to the desperately low prices which were witnessed two years ago which forced farmers to take direct action, blockading milk processing plants across the country including here in Somerset.
So what can we read in to all these “tea leaves” – well probably not a great deal other than the fact that markets do go up and down and farmers are exposed to the vaguaries of world markets now more than they have been at any time since the end of the Second World War. Therefore in order to survive, successful farmers will always need to keep their costs under control so as to make money in the good times and survive the hard times because market volatility is most definitely here to stay.
James Stephen MRICS FAAV
Partner
Rural Practice Chartered Surveyor, Wells
T: 01749 683381
E: james.stephen@carterjonas.co.uk
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