Snow-hit farmers call for free carcass collections

Chris Sercombe, livestock board chairman of the National Farmers’ Union, wants the Department for the Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the National Fallen Stock Company (NFSCo) to help farmers facing real financial hardship as a result.

Mr Sercombe said: “We are receiving reports of farms with hundreds of breeding sheep that have been lost in drifts; aside from the long term impact that losing this number of breeding animals has on the farming business, they will now be faced with a bill of several thousand pounds for disposal.”

Defra has permitted the on-farm burial or burning of carcasses for those affected by the bad weather but the scale of some losses makes it practically impossible, he said.

A Defra spokesperson said: “We know the recent bad weather has been a severe blow to British farmers, making it extremely difficult for farmers to dispose of carcasses. During these exceptional circumstances, farmers will be allowed to bury or burn animals on the farm land.”

Defra said it had relaxed rules on driver hours to allow essential deliveries of animal feed to reach farms while tractors using red diesel are permitted to help grit and clear snow from public roads during the bad weather.

Defra added that it had asked NFSCo to consider cutting the cost for multiple collections of stock from the same farm.