| 20/09/07           NFU Scotland has welcomed with relief the granting of a further
                relaxation on foot and mouth movement controls. The latest move
                allows animals to move within the same farm business, subject
              to a distance limit of eight kilometres.  
             NFUS president Jim McLaren said:  “This is a desperately needed relaxation which we raised
              again yesterday with government and vets. We have animals calving
              that need to be moved or breeding animals that simply need to be
              taken over the road. There will be some relief amongst farmers
              that they can now do these kinds of moves, subject to the distance
              limit.  “We are working flat out with Government, vets and other
              industry bodies to get the industry out of this current crisis.
              That includes pushing for other vital movement relaxations, in
              particular those from farm to farm and I would hope for some good
              news on that front in the coming days, providing the disease situation
              doesn’t take a turn for the worse  “Clearly, markets and auctions are critical to the Scottish
              livestock sector. We need a mechanism which gives farmers an opportunity
              for a fair price and to get critical cashflow back into businesses.  “It should go without saying that if we could have markets
              back operating as normal now we would jump at it. However, the
              Chief Vet has made it clear from the outset to us and all other
              stakeholders that markets are viewed as one of the highest risk
              activities. Given that background, the next approach is to move
              quickly in stages, perhaps initially with a prime stock market
              but with the option for farmers to take stock home if they are
              not satisfied on price. It would at least be a step towards marketing
              normality.”   FMD Pressure on Livestock Farmers Intolerable 
  NFUS Proposes Options to Alleviate FMD Crisis 
  Keeping Updated on Foot and Mouth News
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