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It is Legal for Sheep and Goatskins to be Returned!
Mon, 23rd Jul 2007
SHEEPSKINS
ANIMAL WASTE ACT
Anyone involved in the farming industry, large or small, is only too well aware of the growing problems facing us. Red tape is only one of the many of the extra pressures exerted on all of us. For some The Animal Waste Act was the final death knell.
To put things into context, we run an Organically Certified Sheepskin Tannery situated on an agricultural holding, the only one in the British Isles. The majority of our work is tanning other people?s sheep and goatskins for them. Our workload, growing year on year with the demand for clean green products, is growing exponentially worldwide. The value of the organically tanned skins a very important part of the financial wellbeing of our clients? nationwide intent on keeping their livestock enterprises viable.
We all remember, only to well, the pure hell that foot and mouth put us through in 2001. Some never recovered, while the rest of us staggered back to the reality of coping with the consequences. We were the victims of circumstances not of our making.
Then came The Animal Waste Act 2003 which stated, ?No animal skin will be returned to an agricultural holding?. We, the tanners, all three of us, knew nothing about this until we started to receive phone calls from our distraught clients. As a tanner, with a tannery situated on an agricultural holding, I was faced with a double ?wamee? and I had no intention of sitting around and watching it happen!
The persons responsible for this hadn?t a clue of the consequences of this ill thought out legislation. We told them. Heavy duty lobbying from us, the tanners and the sheep industry from the NSA to the RBST eventually got results.
It took three visits to the head offices of DEFRA and a lot of time-consuming hard work for all those directly involved, but we did it! We succeeded in getting the law changed in Europe, England, Scotland and Ireland and eventually Wales. Everybody except Wales came into line in September 2005. In Wales it was September 2006. It took longer in Wales because a change in the law there must go through all the committee stages; there is no short circuit as in England for example.
The last meeting in London took place on the 6th July 2005 when we finally reached agreement, the same day that it was announced that we had won the Olympics. I was still in London when it went bang the next day. A bit too close to history in the making!
So, the situation is this: IT IS NOW LEGAL FOR ANIMAL SKINS TO BE RETURNED TO AN AGRICULTURAL HOLDING.
The problem of the time span between the enactment of The Animal Waste Act in March 2003 and the changes in the law in September 2005 and in Wales, 2006, is that too many stock owners still believe that they can?t have their skins back and don?t ask. The abattoirs are not enlightening them. Some sheep and goat keepers have just given up keeping livestock altogether as the loss of the value of their skins was the final straw.
Some abattoirs and butchers are still refusing to let people have their skins back, either because it is too much hassle or because they haven?t found the changes in the deluge of paper work from DEFRA or have simply misread it. Some abattoirs and hide markets have taken on contracts to supply skins by the container-load, mainly to China, and refusing in order to comply with the contract. Others are demanding a ?license?. It is a complete shambles of ignorance and misinformation.
It is not a license, it is ?Commercial Document for the Transport of Category 3 hide/skins under Animal By-Products Regulations 2005?. This can be down loaded from the DEFRA web site or obtained from the local Animal Health office, the same as movement licenses. Very few abattoirs keep them.
Four copies of the commercial document are needed; one for the abattoir, on which the tannery license must be quoted (ours is 17/093/8008), one for the farm file, and a further two, one for the farm file, one with the skins to the tannery. It is slightly different in Wales; the local Animal Health office should have the necessary information.
It is essential to check that the abattoir used will allow the return of skins, with or without paper BEFORE they are booked in. If anyone is refused the return of their skins, the animals should be booked in somewhere that will return the skins and then contact me, Nicki Port 01989 730615 with the name, location and the ?phone number of the abattoir that would not comply and I will contact the appropriate person in DEFRA.
I am now a Consultee to DEFRA, hence I know the right people to contact. We have all had enough of this.
Despite the fact that we still own the animal, for historic reasons the abattoir claims ownership of its skin. Unfortunately it would take a court case to challenge this. Any one felling litigiously minded?
For further information check on our web site www.organicsheepskins.co.uk
NICKI PORT
ORGANIC SHEEPSKINS