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Any sympathy for pig farmers?

(173 Posts)
vegansrock Fri 08-Oct-21 07:34:49

This was briefly discussed on one of the disappearing Brexit threads but I feel it deserves a thread of its own. Our Dear Leader obviously doesn’t as he says the 140,000 pigs are going to be killed anyway so the fact they are being shot and burned or buried on the farm rather than entering the food chain is just collateral damage in the wonderful journey to the high wage economy we are going to miraculously become.

StephLP Sun 10-Oct-21 19:32:05

GillT57

sazz1

I can't understand why millions are unemployed in this country while there are serious staff shortages everywhere. I appreciate that skilled jobs require skilled workers but that still leaves many manual jobs vacant, e.g. warehouse staff, kitchen staff, cleaners, fruit veg and flower pickers etc. Life on benefits is too comfortable for some people so they won't take a manual job. I know of people who have never worked in their whole life and just play the system.
Time for the government to allocate jobs to people like in my grandfather's day. You were sent to any vacancy that existed and couldn't refuse. He had the first bananas to come into England after the war given to him, as he was sent to work unloading the ships. Loved it there so stayed until he retired.
We need a new system here to allocate jobs. Too many people thinking they can only do white collar work

Actually, I will reply, sod it. If you Sazzl are on a pension, you are receiving a benefit, even if you have paid in to the system. Many people claiming UC have also paid into the system, so on this basis, and using your own twisted logic, you too should be sent to wherever your unskilled labour is needed, so, what's it to be Sazzl, cutting up pig carcasses, or picking cauliflowers from frozen fields in January? Or is it only 'them' who should be forced into work which repels them?

So what is the answer Gill? I don't agree with Sazzl but as you say this work 'repels' folk. Who should do it then?

GrannyGravy13 Sun 10-Oct-21 20:02:11

Kali2 I was extremely fortunate to have my 60th Birthday meal/weekend at the Manoir with 10 very dear friends, Raymond Blanc was cooking ?
We have eaten and stayed there several other times I am sure you wouldn’t be disappointed.

Scones Sun 10-Oct-21 20:12:09

StephLP What repels one person doesn't necessarily repel another. I could never ever be an undertaker as the sadness would drown me and I would be utterly useless at it. However, the undertakers I've met take huge pride and satisfaction in the work they do and are incredible people there for you when you need it.

Horses for courses.

Kali2 Sun 10-Oct-21 20:13:00

Wohoooo - not sure it is within our budget - but perhaps one day. But if he wasn't there and we could not chate about 'back home' and our favourite local specialities, I'd be soooo disappointed.

PippaZ Sun 10-Oct-21 20:14:14

I can't understand

You really didn't need to say any more ^sazz1* [Sun 10-Oct-21 15:29:22]

Kali2 Sun 10-Oct-21 20:14:23

I'd like to say at the Renaissance St Pancras too smile

but we certainly digress, sorry.

StephLP Sun 10-Oct-21 21:33:59

Scones

StephLP What repels one person doesn't necessarily repel another. I could never ever be an undertaker as the sadness would drown me and I would be utterly useless at it. However, the undertakers I've met take huge pride and satisfaction in the work they do and are incredible people there for you when you need it.

Horses for courses.

Scones - but the issue seems to be that no-one wants to now do this work. I don't know how it will be resolved.

Chewing19Fescue Sun 10-Oct-21 21:35:38

I’m in !

Eloethan Mon 11-Oct-21 00:05:22

I have more sympathy for the pigs.

Many farmers voted for Brexit, and this is the outcome.

PippaZ Mon 11-Oct-21 09:24:18

I wonder if it was the pig farmers Eloethan, or those pig farmers who are being affected now.

In relation to farm type, those who reported voting remain correspond to cereals, general cropping and mixed farms. Regarding type of tenure, this group correspond to mainly owned and mainly tenanted farming businesses. In the case of farm size, it is observed that the majority of farmers operating in small farms voted remain, but this choice is reversed as the size of the farms becomes larger. Finally, the results shows that the majority of farmers located in East Midlands, North East, South East and South West reported they voted in favour of remain suggesting that this option was the dominant in the east and south parts of the country in the case of the farming sector, which in part reflects the positioning of the national voting trends.

I thought many farmers voted for Brexit too but in many ways, farming followed the general breakdown of who voted what. There is a full breakdown here

JaneJudge Mon 11-Oct-21 09:29:30

Kali2

I'd like to say at the Renaissance St Pancras too smile

but we certainly digress, sorry.

who wouldn't? smile

Hetty58 Mon 11-Oct-21 09:44:46

StephLP:

'no-one wants to now do this work' - hardly surprising!

Scones Mon 11-Oct-21 10:02:40

StephLP

Scones

StephLP What repels one person doesn't necessarily repel another. I could never ever be an undertaker as the sadness would drown me and I would be utterly useless at it. However, the undertakers I've met take huge pride and satisfaction in the work they do and are incredible people there for you when you need it.

Horses for courses.

Scones - but the issue seems to be that no-one wants to now do this work. I don't know how it will be resolved.

That's why immigration is so good. It allows employers to fish in a bigger pond of labour to find people who can and will do the work well.

Some industries e.g. fruit picking have always relied on peripatetic workers whether they came from the East End or Eastern Europe.

Now only highly skilled workers can gain entry there is a void in the labour market.

Hetty58 Mon 11-Oct-21 10:14:41

Scones - so it's ok to rely on cheap labour from poor countries? That lowers wages for everyone else, keeps costs artificially low and removes any incentive to raise skill levels here, surely?

MaizieD Mon 11-Oct-21 10:26:58

Hetty58

Scones - so it's ok to rely on cheap labour from poor countries? That lowers wages for everyone else, keeps costs artificially low and removes any incentive to raise skill levels here, surely?

fullfact.org/immigration/immigration-wages/

and

fullfact.org/immigration/does-immigration-reduce-wages/?utm_source=content_page&utm_medium=related_content

Gabrielle56 Mon 11-Oct-21 11:44:53

Thank gawd you're not in charge of anything!!! No beds doctors or nurses? Let people die at home! Simples......

CoolCoco Mon 11-Oct-21 11:53:12

Those who believe all immigrants are low paid and unskilled have fallen for the propaganda.

Whitewavemark2 Mon 11-Oct-21 13:05:00

hetty58 can you tell me where and when the photo of those pigs was taken please?

Whitewavemark2 Mon 11-Oct-21 13:08:25

The reason I am asking as I find it extremely upsetting, and need to know that this was not taken in the U.K., because if so then I would assume the RSPCA were informed and the issue dealt with.

If however it is simply a photo being used to try to prove a point about eating meat, then I find it in very poor taste indeed.

25Avalon Mon 11-Oct-21 18:14:15

I abhor intensive farming and will only eat meat from animals that have been properly cared for. Some is down to greedy farmers over the years. Years ago I saw free range chickens moved indoors to deep litter, then up onto raised wire floors which smelled disgusting with the chickens unable to peck naturally. In these conditions I have seen chicken’s debeaked so they couldn’t peck each other to pieces from stress. These chickens were all kept for the farmer’s wife to have some pin money from the sale of the eggs. I have seen the same farmer grub out all the hedges to make larger fields. This was not a poor farmer just a money grabbing one.

Now we have had broiler and battery hens. How cruel is that? Animals just being treated as money is so wrong. Ducks kept indoors. Pigs not allowed to roam and root freely. We need more respect for animals. Native peoples would kill one animal and use every bit of it. They lived in harmony with nature. Too often so called civilised people do not.

growstuff Mon 11-Oct-21 19:18:46

sazz1

Grandfather came out of the Royal Navy at the end of the war. He was sent to any suitable job available and couldn't refuse. This was in the early 50s
And to those saying we shouldn't have sent EU workers home do you mean we should have continued to exploit them paying low wages picking frozen cauliflower?
Yes wages will rise as British workers won't work for peanuts, and so will the price of fruit and veg. Cheap labour from the continent has ended and I'm glad about that. They were exploited on many farms with v low pay, v long hours and not brilliant living conditions. Farmers had cheap labour and now realise they have to pay proper rates or see the food rot.
The minimum wage is rising soon so that should help our people back into work.

How does raising the minimum wage help people back into work? All it means is that people with low paid jobs receive less Universal Credit. I'm afraid it's more complicated than simple supply and demand. People aren't going to apply for fruit picking jobs if they live hundreds of miles away from a fruit farm and there isn't any public transport.

effalump Tue 12-Oct-21 14:21:26

I think Boris is a long-lost cousin of Kamala Harris in the US. Both of them seem to think it's right to laugh at inappropriate events. Has this happened because the UK has no real butchers? The ones that prepare the carcasses for the retail world, not the ones that stand behind the meat counter in your local supermarket.

Or perhaps it's got more to do with the government trying to buy up farms for £100,000 to give to younger 'farmers'. Has that now died a death or just buried under a load of manure.