A tradition to be revived

A revival of an ancient summer tradition is set to kick off a renewed marketing campaign for Welsh Lamb across the UK.

2016’s summer and autumn PGI Welsh Lamb campaign, run by Meat Promotion Wales (HCC), will take place across a wide range of different media. It will feature chefs and food writers as ‘lambassadors’, new booklets containing simple and tasty summer lamb recipes, competitions for consumers, and will also see events to inaugurate ‘Welsh Lamb Day’ or ‘Llamb’s Day’ on August 1 to coincide with the best new season lamb being widely available.

“The idea behind celebrating Welsh Lamb at the beginning of August is to build on old feasting traditions across Europe, which commemorate this day as the first harvest festival - known as Calan Awst, Lammas or Lughnasadh,” said Prys Morgan, HCC’s head of operations. “Marking August 1 as Welsh Lamb Day is a great opportunity to celebrate the arrival of new season PGI Welsh Lamb, and eventually to emulate Australia Day, where locally-reared lamb has over the years become the centerpiece of family celebrations.”

The day will kick-off a number of marketing initiatives, which will again involve many stakeholders within the industry. Demonstrations and tastings will be held in supermarkets during August, which will build on the year-round marketing efforts of HCC in the UK and export markets.

The campaign builds on the advertising and branding work carried out in 2015 when -despite reeling from a perfect storm of unfavourable exchange rates and a flood of cheap imports - the Welsh red meat industry pulled together to mount a powerful campaign to promote the PGI Welsh Lamb brand across Britain, leading to an increase in sales and shelf space.

Prys says: “Last year, the whole industry pulled together to promote consumer awareness of PGI Welsh Lamb as a premium product. The legacy of last year’s united response remains strong, as the marketing campaign for Welsh Lamb enters a new phase.” A renewed marketing drive is essential in the face of continuing economic and political uncertainty, adds Mr. Morgan. “HCC is determined to use a combination of media advertising and grass-roots marketing such as supermarket tastings to bring PGI Welsh Lamb to even more consumers.”

‘Welsh Lamb Day’ will be promoted to English consumers across the UK as ‘Llamb’s Day’ to build on the 2015 Welsh Lamb Campaign. The purpose of this marketing convention is to attract consumer interest, attention and awareness of the brand by introducing a new, premium category distinction for Welsh Lamb.

What price on a farmers’ health?

The past couple of weeks have seen the UK’s agricultural industry focus on farm safety, not only in the way farmers, members and their families deal with machinery in the fields and around the farmyard, but also in the unpredictable nature of having to work with animals.

Highlighted has been the dilemma of a West Country father-of-two, 58-year-old Stephen who lives and farms with his wife Angela on their holding in Cornwall - Stephen considers himself extremely fortunate to have survived an incident with a group of 75 Simmental cattle on the farm just a couple of months ago.

He recalls: “It was a Sunday morning and I went as normal to scrape the yards and place silage in the feeders. I opened the gate for the cattle to go into the smaller lower yard like every other day so I could scrape out. The cattle were quiet and around 15 Simmentals had walked quietly down into the lower yard when I noticed a young heifer was in season.

“Like many times before, I needed to identify the ear tag number so quietly approached the group of cattle. Meanwhile the remaining group of Simmentals (beef cattle) were unexpectedly spooked for no apparent reason - it might even have been just a butterfly!. There was nothing to hint at what was to come…

“Suddenly the cows in the top yard were racing towards me at what seemed to be 100 miles an hour. I had nowhere to go and knew that I was in serious trouble. My initial thought was to try and stay standing, but it was to no avail.”

Stephen was knocked over by the stampeding cows and trampled on. He managed to extract himself from underfoot and made his way to his tractor where he realised that he couldn’t use his arm. His wife Angela drove him to A&E where doctors X-rayed him and declared his arm broken in three places.

“It wasn’t their fault,” Stephen is quick to point out. “They set each other off and, to be honest, I think I got off lightly as I know others who have been less fortunate in this situation.”

In the wake of the accident, Angela was marvellous and helped where possible, but there were many jobs Angela was unable to do such as driving the straw chopper or carrying heavy feed bags so Stephen enlisted the help of Ben, a young farmer who was able to come in every day for seven weeks.

“Many times we heard Ben using the tractor at 5.30 am so he could be in the contractors yard by 7 am. Our neighbours were also wonderful and rallied around to help with fertilising and ploughing,” adds Stephen.

“We also had some pedigree Simmental calving so to ensure they had the best attention we did have to spend considerably more on vet fees.”

Stephen admits that had they had been in a position to alter the housing system for the Simmentals before, it is unlikely that this accident would have happened. He had hoped to have obtained grant funding to move away from an open yard once used for the dairy cows to a penned housing system so cattle could have been safely housed in age groups, but none was available. The financial cost initially made this impossible but now they will redevelop the unit.

“After all, what price can you put on your health?” added Stephen.

Questions to ask yourself

How well do I understand animal behaviour? Reminding yourselves that animals that are handled gently and allowed to become accustomed to handling procedures will experience very little stress when worked. Reducing stress on livestock also reduces stress on the handler.

A warning to everyone to be aware that cattle, sheep, pigs and horses have broad panoramic vision and very little depth perception which also means that they can be easily frightened by shadows or moving distractions outside chutes or handling areas.

Provide proper and safe facilities - loading ramps and handling chutes should ideally have solid side walls to prevent animals from seeing outside distractions with their wide angle vision. Blocking vision will also help stop escape attempts. Wear personal protective equipment.

A constant reminder

In almost any situation, handling livestock always involves risks, the risk of being hurt physically by an animal that is frightened or has been startled and the risk of being hurt due to the misuse of equipment or equipment that is poorly maintained.

Many farmers never stop to consider why animals behave as they do and, more importantly, what this behaviour could mean to their personal safety.

Animal-handling practices are often inherited from watching others and from personal experiences growing up on the farm. Too often, this results in unsafe livestock handling and restraint practices.

Although most animal incidents are not fatal, many men, women and children are needlessly injured every year due to a lack of safety awareness. Broken bones, crushed and mashed limbs, work absences and unnecessary medical expenses are some of the results of livestock-related incidents.

During this month, the Farm Safety Week team is challenging farmers to think about improving livestock handling systems and making them safer and more efficient.

“It is being seen as an ideal opportunity to call out to all farmers to work safer and smarter around livestock. People tend to give animals human qualities and forget that animals quickly revert to primal reflex actions when they are threatened or under stress. Animals will fiercely defend their food, shelter, territory and young. When frightened or in pain, animals may react in ways that threaten their, and our, safety.

“Facilities, too, can play a major role in preventing incidents. Good facilities provide a means of controlling animals while allowing easy access for routine chores - all in a safe environment. Often, we don’t make adjustments or modify our equipment to make it safer because we are in a hurry or for economic reasons we feel that we should ‘make do’ with what we’ve got.

“There needs to be an element of common sense and safety involved in these decisions - ‘because I’m in a hurry’ is not a good enough reason for poor maintenance of equipment and facilities. Safe handling equipment is more of an investment than an expensive luxury.

In the last five years, 26 farmers and farm workers were fatally injured by cattle, we know many more suffered significant injuries. Those involved are often unable to return to work for many months. If you are injured, what will the consequences be for your business, and those around you?

How will your business adapt? Who will fill your boots in a time of crisis?