Plea to abattoirs after survey highlights clipping dangers

More than half of livestock farmers have been injured while clipping their animals, it has been suggested, leading to calls for more abattoirs to offer the service.
By The Newsroom
Published 27th Jun 2011, 14:39 BST

The figures are published by the National Farmers Union (NFU) following an investigation into injury rates during the process.

The union said it found that 57 per cent of people said that they had either been injured themselves or had a member of staff injured, during the clipping process.

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Of this figure 15 per cent said they had suffered head injuries as a result of carrying out the procedure.

The NFU has been concerned about the injury rate for some time and is now calling for more abattoirs to provide post mortem clipping services following the results of its survey into the practice.

The majority of respondents felt that on-farm clipping was an extremely dangerous activity, while 85 per cent of those surveyed said they would like to see post mortem clipping provided in abattoirs.

NFU livestock chairman Alistair Mackintosh said: “This survey highlights how dangerous cattle clipping is. Livestock farmers always strive to produce clean animals for slaughter, but adverse weather conditions can lead to a shortage of bedding materials, which means occasionally cattle need to be clipped. A significant proportion of respondents reported sustaining injuries whilst clipping, and the majority of our members would like to see a post mortem clipping service provided by abattoirs.

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“I would fully support the introduction of clipping facilities within English and Welsh abattoirs where possible. However, we recognise that not all plants would be able to provide this service due to scale of operation, layout of plant and so on. Any costs that may be associated with the service should be taken in an open and transparent manner, kept to a minimum, and only applied to those farmers requesting post mortem clipping.

“We will be sharing our findings with the relative industry bodies to discuss how we can progress this issue and ensure a safer working environment for our members.”

There is no legal requirement in this country for cattle to be clipped ahead of slaughter, with farmers required only to provide clean cattle.

The Health & Safety Executive has run its ‘Make the Promise’ pledge for more than a year to try and make sure farmers are not taking unnecessary risks in their day-to-day activities.