I cannot imagine how we would be feeling now, if we were still living in the UK on our smallholding. Well that's probably not true. I think I know exactly how we'd feel.
The imagination comes in when thinking about how farmers must feel. Whose livelihoods are once again in the hands of something completely out of their control. Whilst financially farms are protected perhaps by insurance and by compensation payouts - there is the horror of facing mass culls, seeing years worth of breeding and bloodstock lines wiped out at shot. Literally.
We were living in the centre of the outbreak in 2001/2, and even without animals it was a pretty bleak existence. Our cars were hosed down when leaving and entering the area, there were many students at the school who were either not able to leave their farms, or if they were at a critical school stage, were staying with friends off the farms. The country side was absolutely CLOSED.
We heard horror stories of culls, saw the funeral pyres the other side of Penrith, saw acres of fields which were empty of livestock.
The thought of someone coming onto our land and culling our animals is desperate, I hope that consideration is given to vaccination, and that culls are a last resort.
