Any sympathy for pig farmers?

And now this foolish man has gone on holiday in the midst of the sort of crisis unheard of in most of our lifetimes. I know his mother died, he himself nearly died, he’s had a baby and another one is on its way, but… I don’t recall any other PM in recent years behaving like this. And of course HM Queen has had a dreadful year and keeps going. Maybe during this holiday Mrs Johnson No.3 will persuade him to jack it all in.

Talking of years to prepare, all those Brits whose jobs were stolen by cheap EU labour have had five years to reclaim the lost jobs. Why haven't they done it?

I just love simplistic solutions...

Maybe during this holiday Mrs Johnson No.3 will persuade him to jack it all in.

Has Mrs J3 actually gone with him? The Sunday Mirror article I read seemed unsure as to whether or not she'd gone (mind you, I don't see Carrie passing up a free holiday in a luxury villa)

I suppose we have to have our share of those who are completely barking on our forum ...

We had a functional local abattoir (rural area) that was closed down under farcical EU rules on size grounds, despite apparently being no less humane or hygienic than the mega places, and requiring the poor animals to be transported many miles under dreadful conditions to the big places. Huge fuss locally at the time, but it went ahead, to the detriment of farmers and stock. Yet if you go to the Greek Islands, you can see goats being strung up and slaughtered in the village square, go figure. High rates of poverty round here. I am guessing locals would queue up to buy reasonably priced local meat rather than it being incinerated, on a sort of. “Pick your own” basis. Though clearly they couldn’t do the slaughtering. But many farmers can, perhaps rapidly produced small scale mobile slaughtering units in a container or similar would be the way forward.
Similarly, am puzzled why growers who can’t find people to harvest and transport their crops don’t do some sort of ‘pick your own’ arrangement. Might not get as much as selling to the supermarkets (though they rip farmers off, actually might make more) and either way, better than crops wasting.
Though you would have to get fuel to get to the farms, of course. Plenty available round here by the way

My sympathy is with the pigs.

Oofy

We had a functional local abattoir (rural area) that was closed down under farcical EU rules on size grounds, despite apparently being no less humane or hygienic than the mega places, and requiring the poor animals to be transported many miles under dreadful conditions to the big places. Huge fuss locally at the time, but it went ahead, to the detriment of farmers and stock. Yet if you go to the Greek Islands, you can see goats being strung up and slaughtered in the village square, go figure. High rates of poverty round here. I am guessing locals would queue up to buy reasonably priced local meat rather than it being incinerated, on a sort of. “Pick your own” basis. Though clearly they couldn’t do the slaughtering. But many farmers can, perhaps rapidly produced small scale mobile slaughtering units in a container or similar would be the way forward.
Similarly, am puzzled why growers who can’t find people to harvest and transport their crops don’t do some sort of ‘pick your own’ arrangement. Might not get as much as selling to the supermarkets (though they rip farmers off, actually might make more) and either way, better than crops wasting.
Though you would have to get fuel to get to the farms, of course. Plenty available round here by the way

It's just all so easy, isn't it?

Just let the 1,000s upon 1,000s of town and city dwellers poop off to their local farm and pick their own. Do we get to pick our own pigs, too?

Ref the 'EU rules' - the UK was absolutely notorious while an EU member, for 'gold plating' those rules. In other words, applying them to the point of absurdity...

I confess that I have not read all of these posts

However, these last few days, I have become convinced that Boris is behaving and talking , the way he is , is simply that he wants out of his job as PM.

there is simply no other explanation for most , if not all, of his comments,talk, decisions.

I blame not only his fellow M.P`s, but also the Opposition parties,, the whole of Parliament.

rosie1959

Anyone else going off the thought of eating meat I have not been keen now for quite a while vegetarian looks the way forward for me

As a vegetarian since the age of four and also coming from a farming family I am heartened by your response. If only more people would consider giving up, or at least cutting down on meat it would benefit our health, the environment and animal welfare.
By the way, pigs are as intelligent, if not more so than dogs and in our culture we would never consider eating dogs. We’re beginning to understand that all animals are more intelligent than we previously thought.

I have more sympathy for the Pigs than the farmers, and for all the other farm animals.
Dairy cows made pregnant each year, then having their babies taken from them so we can drink the milk. Male calves slaughtered as they won’t make money. And when the poor cows get to the end of their baby producing days they’re sent to slaughter
Baby male chicks put into a grinder whilst alive as again, no money to be made.
Female pigs made pregnant each cycle, kept in tiny crates so they can hardly move
No, don’t feel any sympathy for farmers, only for the poor sentient beings who deserve a life.

Ok OOfy, are you popping off to slaughter a pig? Or would you perhaps prefer some dodgy geezer to set up a slaugherhouse and sell it from a van in the market? People blaming the EU for the catastrophic way this government have dealt with the crisis is pathetic. If you voted for this, at least own it

It is disgusting that we have someone in charge that is allowing this to happen. The waste of food the slaughter of animals for no reason is really showing how little we as humans have any regard for the animals we eat, they are merely a product. I know we don’t make the rules and farmers can’t afford to keep feeding them ect but surely this something that should never be allowed to happen. There is little alternative now I guess..

There is no need, ever, to breed and kill animals for food. Have you seen the photo's of the pigs who are supposedly going to be slaughtered and discarded? All crammed together inside pens. It's a disgrace.

But some people lap up and defend the porkies.

I have a great deal of sympathies for the farmers. Especially those who have always thought the Conservatives were the party of the farming and the contryside.

Yes I have sympathy for the pig farmers. It is their livelihood at stake.

MaizieD

^Maybe during this holiday Mrs Johnson No.3 will persuade him to jack it all in.^

Has Mrs J3 actually gone with him? The Sunday Mirror article I read seemed unsure as to whether or not she'd gone (mind you, I don't see Carrie passing up a free holiday in a luxury villa)

Who has he gone with then?

All the possible outcomes will lead to more expensive food. For years I have wondered how food could be sold at such low prices and suspected we should be paying so much more.
We should feel ashamed of slaughtering pigs that could feed the hungry, and I don't fully understand the ins and outs of the issues.
BJ seems to be taking a hard line and possibly his desired outcome is a good one, but if we loose the farms over this, we won't have the high quality meat production ever again.
It is a cruel mess.

For the life of me I can't understand why all of a sudden we are having all these shortages I think the most of it is media scaremongering

Having watched 3 lady pig farmers ( mum and 3 daughters ) I have every sympathy for them. Also, their pigs ( that they really cared about) were being kept in great conditions.

4 ladies, on the news.

katy1950

For the life of me I can't understand why all of a sudden we are having all these shortages I think the most of it is media scaremongering

The media aren't making it any better that's for sure.

But whatever anybody tells you, Brexit is the answer. Brexit, Brexit, Brexit. That, and an incompetent government.

katy1950

For the life of me I can't understand why all of a sudden we are having all these shortages I think the most of it is media scaremongering

How can it be that something not appearing on the shelves is down to the media? Shops wouldn't stop stocking because of something they read in the paper. Logistics companies would not stop providing transport for that reason either.

There is only so much that anyone can stock up so I doubt that it is that either. Many of the supermarket leaders have said it is a shortage of labour and lack of access to goods as they are not coming into the country. Why would they lie?

Pile them high: humans, pigs. What does it matter to Johnson? He's on holiday again, 35 days after his last holiday.

This won’t be popular but I don’t understand why we are still eating dead animals in the 21st century. I found out about the horrific treatment of chickens at a local chicken factory years ago, and lived next door to an abattoir worker a few years later and the stories were shocking.