I AM afraid we are headed for a very painful autumn unless the shambolic movement strategy currently proposed by the Government is amended radically.

There appears to be a power struggle going on between DEFRA, which not only helps make policies but also implements them, and COBRA, which is the scientific advisory group headed by Professor King who seems to have the ear of the ministers.

The result is that on the table at the moment we have a real dog's dinner of regulation which is more severe than the current regime and will definitely cause a tremendous amount of hardship.

- Auction markets are to remain closed for the rest of the year, even in areas which are declared provisionally free of FMD. This seems unnecessarily harsh and is certainly at odds with the Scottish Executive policy to allow livestock auctions north of the border opening up in a controlled manner.

Already there have been sales and some of the major markets, such as Thainstone at Aberdeen, are planning to start this week.

- An alternative seemed to be to hold sales of livestock on the farm of origin, but emergency legislation was rushed through at the weekend to close this door and we are told that where livestock is present on a farm it is now unlawful for more persons to be present than the farmer, his agent and two other persons, which would provide slightly inadequate competitive bidding!

- All sheep that are moved this autumn will have to come from blood-tested flocks and there are not the resources in place to carry this out on any sort of scale.

To make matters worse, DEFRA has been told to implement a rule that the test is valid for seven days and yet it takes ten days to get the results back! In practical terms, therefore, one could never sell any sheep as blood-tested because the results would be out of date before the fall of the hammer.

- It is proposed to limit the distance that stock can move to 150 miles within 'at risk' areas and to 250 miles within 'free' counties. I believe the only welfare issue here is not concerned with the transport of animals itself but with the fact that stock may be forced to remain in a farming area of production which is not capable of sustaining feed for the animals over winter.

There has always been a lot of cattle coming out of the south-west up into this part of the world for fattening and if we are not going to have the welfare problems we saw in the spring then this needs to be flexible again this autumn.

I gather that DEFRA is now reconsidering this regulation and may change it to a timed journey of nine hours.

The whole picture looks pretty disappointing for the autumn sales and all sides of industry have been pressing DEFRA to go down the Scottish route of a gradual return to normality.

However, the scientific group, COBRA, led by Professor King, is determined to pursue an eradication policy, whether or not there is any semblance of industry left at the end of it. Professor King himself has, I understand, remained detached from the liaison group meetings where he had been represented by one of his minions who, rather like Pavlov's dog, repeats over and over again the prepared policy statement.

Last week, I gather, the great man turned up and was given a fair old broadside from those of us who have to live with his decisions.

Most organisations concerned with the countryside are backing the call for a public inquiry and this week one of the authors of the BSE Philips Report lent his voice to the ever-growing clamour of dissent. One of the clear messages from that report was that there should be more openness in Government; and that New Labour's proposals to hold three separate inquiries in private smelt of little more than a major cover-up.

They are not impartial and they fall disgracefully short of what is required following the worst debacle in agricultural history in this country.

If you want to add your name to the petition for a public inquiry you can do so by applying to the Foot & Mouth Truth Campaign, PO Box 30, Cirencester, Gloucestershire GL7 2YZ.

It may be that we should get our own petition up in Ryedale.

We are making steady progress with the preparation for the first video auction of the annual Michaelmas Fayre.

Last week we invited a small group of buyers and sellers to look at the draft ideas for a catalogue on screen and we had a very useful discussion.

As a result, we intend now to go ahead, subject to clarification on the movement situation, for a sale in October. The timetable is pretty tight so we do need to know what stock is going to be available for sale pretty quickly. Here are a few points about the operation:

- We need an entry form and a firm commitment to sell

- We will come and photograph and film your sheep

- A full illustrated catalogue will be prepared and put up on the website. It can be downloaded by potential purchasers or we can send the hard-backed version through the post.

- The venue of the sale will be in the Milton Rooms at Malton where computer screens will be available prior to the auction for potential purchasers to look at stock. During the sale there will be a 12ft screen on the stage which will have rolling pictures of the lots being offered.

- We shall sell the lots in the numbers catalogued but with the option for purchasers to cut if they don't want as many.

- After the sale, a day will be arranged for collection. The vendor will be responsible for any blood testing and the purchaser for haulage costs to his own farm.

It sounds fairly straightforward but I am sure there will be many pitfalls on the way. Nevertheless, it is an exciting new venture for Ryedale and seems to be the only way we are going to move any quantity of sheep this autumn.

Please contact those running the show, Charlie Breese at (01653) 692151 and Keith Warters at (01653) 697820.

It is pretty quiet, really, with the remnants of harvest being gathered in.

My predictions for a rise in clean cattle trade are starting to materialise with 'R' grade cattle now pretty steady around 168-172p/kilo and, in fact, in some places we can still get the same sort of money for an '0+' steer.

Bulls are more plentiful than we thought they would be and trade is pretty static for the quality continentals at 160-170p/kilo. Friesian bulls are running from 140p upwards and if anyone has any they are in short supply, possibly because feeders have not been able to restock.

The lamb trade is lifting steadily and a price of 165p is now standard with the better quality continental sheep making up to 170p/kilo.

From the lamb returns, there are quite a few now that are starting to lose their backs and producers need to be thinking about a bit of hard feed for them.

Ewe trade is also better, with prices from 75p-90p/kilo.

In the pig section, trade remains stagnant with the bottom end of the baconers running from 97p-kilo up to 105p/kilo; and the lighter quality porkers running just over 110p/kilo.

Help us to help you and ring our help lines, Malton on (01653) 697820/692151, York on (01904) 489731.

Updated: 09:18 Thursday, September 06, 2001