FARM UPDATE 222 Welsh farmers anguish with TB, check beet for frost damage, see collapsed river bank 

Great video ANDREW HIGHLIGHTING the plight of live stock farmers.

Great video very interesting that's some damage from the flooding

Great update but you really feel for Richard. It’s really sad, especially when he refers to his favourite animal and how he can’t bear to be there when they’re taken away. Good luck to him for the future, definitely in support of badger culling…

I’m here in Ireland farming, and I have badgers on the farm, the badgers are vaccinated by the department, and I never had TB! Touch wood. I don’t think culling badgers is the way forward, if you cull badgers on a farm, a new group of badgers move in and they could be rotten with TB, so you could be killing a clean set of badgers, badgers are territorial, besides deer spread it also, farming and nature will have to live together, remember the consumer will never agree with killing all the badgers. That’s my two cent! Great video Andrew!

In fortunately andrew the TB free graph is wrong or false because for my farm and especially we are getting loads of cows as TB positive and the results come back with no TB what so ever but we are still shut down for no reason and its destroying dairy and beef farmers in the midlands, brilliant video stay safe

Great update again Andrew. That poor farmer he sounded completely beaten didn’t her poor chap, the floods are looking a lot better but still a lot to be done to rescue all that land poor Henry must be fed up. 😊

Thanks Andrew for the update, good to see the flood water going down. My thoughts are with Richard and all the farmers affected like him by TB. I hope he gets through this, another big blow to British farmers when times are tough enough.

Thoughts are with Richard and what he's going thru.. so sad and unnecessary!. Just watched the news at 6 French farmers have blockade the motorway near Charles de gure Airport.a lot of what you cover on your channel are echoed by them. Really great to see candid dentist material! 😂.

My Hart goes out to Richard you could see the pain he was suffering thank you always for your very interesting videos being a retired farm worker .

Great video. The badger issue needed highlighting by Richard poor chap. Pleased the flooding is easing a bit on Henry’s land.

Interesting update as always, so frustrating for the welsh farmer, feel for him.

You mention about people saying the ditch is devoid of wildlife, well I do this job for a living there’s a good chance you’ll know who I work for !. But that aside an overgrown ditch/river full of dead reads pollutes the water and what wants to live in that !, far better to be cleaned out and then fish and wildlife thrive. I’ve seen this first hand as I live right next to the river Skirth !. I’ve also heard on the grapevine, there was a meeting between the EA and the IDB board where the EA said that there policy is to be reactive and not proactive !. So there happy to go fix a hole in a riverbank or sort flooding out, but not interested in preventing flooding in the first place 🙄.

Another good update, one of the most informative videos on going through 2 parts of the TB test was posted a few weeks back on the "sisters in wellies " RU-vid channel. Will we ever get a government to tackle the problem properly?And the rivers will take a massive effort of time and money to make up for the years of neglect nobody dare bite the bullet. Keep kicking the can down the road till summer and it dries out and not on the news.

Thanks for highlighting our problems over here in gods country. If you want a real shock,see if you can see S4c’s ffermio ( welsh farming programme) from last week. I was in tears watching it

Unfortunately I can't see the EA sorting out that bank near Henry's Farm anytime soon. As an angler I've seen many banks that come out many feet from its original edge making it more like a hardened reed bed, narrowing the river then people wonder why it floods. Why the EA are not out surveying that bank damage at Henry's with their office within view is beyond me.

Good update, unfortunately the people that need to see this footage don't, it's a pity that even the illegal migrants get treated more sympathetically than the farmers and the needy people of Britain. The governments of today and some of the next generation seem hell bent on ruining this, what was once a great country.

Great video Andrew, you maybe should have taken a spade and dug a small trench to let some of the water back in the river where the breach was🤔

I know what Richard is dealing with as we had the same loss 20+ years ago. But thankfully the Irish government took action on the TB issues and carried out a cull on infected badgers. I have a very active set on my cow lane with badgers showing lots of activities but thankfully they are healthy one's as we've just had a TB herd test clear this week. I remember seeing a badger cross one of our fields about 11 one morning and thought that's strange as it turned out a few weeks later we where down with TB and lost 15 cow's and 4 in calf heifers. So it was obviously sick and infected and had been pushed out of it's set by the others. So take heed if one sees one during daylight. Another super waffle Andrew.❤

Hi great update, some areas where the riverbank has collapsed could easily be reinforced using concrete slabs. Yes it will be expensive but in the long run it will be cost effective.

Excellent video so informative for those of us who are not farmers. 👏🙏🏻

It was good to meet you at the Kent Farm Conference on Wednesday,l thought you highlighted the problems we all have with maintaining food security very well, thanks.

A great catch up Sir, thankyou. 👍👍🇬🇧

Another good update Andrew, my thoughts are with Richard for what he is going through. It doesn't make sense he has to wait 60 days before he can purchase cattle, even if the next results come back positive. The river bank needs completely rebuilding, and like Rhonda pointed out the channel needs widening so there is less pressure on the banks.

Badgers need to be controlled and it’s time the Welsh and British governments realise that and country that carn’t feed itself as no future Supermarkets need to realise that one day there shelves are going to be empty if they don’t start paying profitable prices to farmers

In relation to the flooding on Henry’s farm. It looks like the river level is well below water level in the field where the bank damage occurred. Could they not make the hole in the bank lower to try and speed up the drainage of the land?

Just subscribed being a metal detectorist l am always thankful to farmers letting me on there land and I do hope things improve for them soon.

Great video as usual. So sad for the Welsh farmers. Now that the river has dropped below the level of the water in the fields, couldn’t some sort of temporary gap be dug in the bank to let the water go, then be filled back in? Just an idea.

great update got to feel for ritchard

another great video as always more needs to be done to not just show but to explain what us really going on with bovine tb it seems to be pardon the pun brushed under the carpet what feelings the farmers and there families go through no government seems to bother if nothing is done now it is going to be too late and it will be wrong thanks for all your videos and posts take care and stay safe 😀

Dear.andrew.how.are.you.are.you.all.right.i.am.upset.to.haer.to.that.richard.had.to.have.his.prime.go.beacuse.tb.the.bloody.welsh.gouverment.havent.got.a.clue.i.heart.goes.out.to.son.in.law.henry.too.please.tacke.please.thank.you.all.the.best.andrew.i.am.your.biggiest.watcher.i.louve.watching.all.the.best.andrew.yours.sincerey.craig.macaulay.thank.you.❤🎉😊

used to live on the border of liconshire and lecstershire in the vale of Belvoir to give people an idea of how flat the area really is u can see Lincoln cathedral tower from the castle on a really clear day. flooding can be really bad in the area but worst flooding i ever witnesed myself in the area was man made by who ever was in charge of the lakes at the castle had a really really bad spell of weather week of rain none stop river was already well in flood and close to flooding the village. but the lakes was in trouble of bursting ( so we was lead to believe) so the emergency sluce gates was opened sending the water into the river devon. the river flows about 20ft under the grantham canal normally with the added water the river flowed over the canal sending 90% of the fish that was in that stretch into the river thats normally no wider than 1-2 meters and no more than a couple of ft deep in most spots. got some photoes of it somewhere but not at the peak of the flooding and some of the aftermouth like a 4x4 stuck in a place thats no wider than a car and about half a mile from nearest crossing other than a farm bridge.

Done a grand job of clearing the ditch. And the fact that it helps the grey partridge. And if their. In place the insect life will be bloody good.

Welsh government also introduced 20mph so you don’t run over badgers. Obviously the priority is badgers over food production

Great video update as usual. If you pause the video at 22.05 you can see that the water on the land is much higher than the river, why can’t someone dig a trench and help drain the land, we’ve had to do that on our farm into the ditches

Hi Andrew a great video as usual, I am a small farmer with some cattle and my big farmer from next door ask me to sign up to it because he had lost around 50 cattle. I do know that they they had very good success with the cull. I am in the Cornwall, So I was informed Via a company who came here a few years ago, that DEFRA still sell the cattle for meat, after they have left the farmer 🤔😔 My self I have not had TB here on the farm, and we don't pay for TB testing which is every 6 months for us now.

Great video as always, really feel for the poor Welsh dairy farmer, as if loosing 15 milkers in one go is bad enough to be told he will not be granted a licence to buy replacements cows enabling him to at least maintain his monthly cash flow but buy them in even after a fail after 60 days . Absolutely ridiculous yet more red tape put in by pen pushers with no idea on the real world or the fragile state of UK agriculture.

Re the weed system allowed to build up in the watercourses: We had this happening in Gloucester. one of the main EA people told us that it didnt matter because the engineered channels around our farm were too big for what they needed to be.... suprise suprise it kept flooding

Great video Andrew

Just to let you know your famous now... featured in David Brown tractor news at Meltham...dont come much bigger than that in your lifetime

An experienced plant operator using a long reach excavator would be able to clean out the river and use the spoil to repair the riverbank,there probably would be an army of clipboard carriers there within hours to stop the job,with an excuse of some environmental law been broken,get the Dutch boys on the job,they would soon clear the rivers out.

Interesting and informative video as always Andrew, albeit tinged with sadness due to the impacts of the Welsh Government's approach to Badgers. Please don't be offended if I don't tune in should you ever choose to share video of your visit to your Proctologist.😂

Great video again . If you have a minute to spare , look at last weeks welsh farming programme ( Ffermio ) , complete with subtitles . What a dignified farming family . Been there myself. Totally soul destroying . Keep up the good work👍👍

I feel for Richard wit regards to TB, as for the river its nice to see it going down now I don't know if I'm right but I get the impression that the government don't want to spend any money on cleaning/improving rivers because they will never get that money back.

People just have no idea what British farmers have to go through in General. But to get the dreaded. TB test and be confirmed. Is heartbreaking. To loose Animals in any way. British farming is one of the best And we don’t appreciate. What they do. Or what they have to go through. We seen the Governments axe and put red tape in the way of farming. Alongside of. Fuel prices to produce the food we all need

The problem with slowing/storing water in upland area’s is they tend to be side land slopes and water likes to run down hill when ground has reached saturation point it can’t hold any more last Sunday we had run off even after two weeks of no rain and we have less flat ground to flood also grass crops and livestock are just as important as combine crops the rivers need clean out of only pinch points and Lea sides of bends and trees use the spoil to build up the banks and plant trees on the land side of the bank to get deep root stability for the water you carry in your area I was surprised how small the river is

Disband the Environment Agency Bring back the National Rivers Authority

Hi Andrew. Thanks for coming down to kent this week. Really good to meet you. Have I heard there’s more TB in wild deer now?

Those water ways clearly need maintaining! Would the roots from planting willow on top of the dyke help to strengthen the earthworks and tick the "rewilding" box simultaneously? Maybe access would be reduced but surely there needs to be some compromise to move forward.

Why are there no pictures shown to the public of the Somerset levels .Where the river was dredged and flood banks improved?

Have just watched the S4C Ffermio programme on BBC I player - just horrific to see how the Welsh Labour Government treats Welsh Farmers - I fear the same will happen in England over the next few years once a Labour Government takes the reins in Westminster later this year

Thank You for the update, very sad state of affairs in Wales, the Government there are so anti farming , especially with their plan to get farms to plant up 10% of their farms to trees , crazy ! Funny moment when You were in the Dentist chair and he reminded to breathe in 😂😂. Any update from the Environment Agency ? The state of those banks is terrible, in complete contrast to your own waterways. The longer they leave it the more it will cost !

The farmers in England from 2006 till middle of the last decade when the cull first started where on a table valuation(still are) not a valuers figure which includes consequential loss,On the welsh border they had around twice the value for an animal in Wales,you then had to compete in the same market to restock,prior to 2006 a lot of farmers stayed in dairying because the valuation on pedigree stock more than compensated for the loss,when it changed in 2006 they went out of dairy production,now they are struggling to find the better beef animals because the suckler herds have been dispersed because its no longer viable

Things look so much better with sunshine. I have a field of wheat after potatoes i dont go anywhere near unless its a bright day. The beet thats left to lift looks in decent condition, is that light/heavy land ? How does harvesting now effect prices? Sold much wheat for 24 harvest or do you feel it has legs due to lack of wheat in the ground ? So many questions !

Your godson Henry should apply for the "making space for water" option under sfi, along with other landowners that have flooding, £700+ /ha. Another great video Andrew

Andrew, when drains and rivers were drenched they were full of wildlife, my drain had a breeding population of two different kinds of freshwater mussel! The shallow water. The lack of dredging means that the water temperature in summer rises and oxygen content is reduced so that invertebrates and other sources of fish food dee or do not breed. Remove the bottom of the food chain and the drains and rivers become biologically dead by comparison with 50 years ago. So don't apologise for clearing out your dikes and ditches, deeper water equals colder water equals wildlife.

We used to graze sugarbeet tops with sheep once harvested but flail topping put pay to that

It's just a tragic situation in wales regarding tb the Welsh government what a disgrace 😮

Honestly surprised as how little water has been pumped out in the last month, guess it a low priority as costs a lot of money to run those pump. I live at the side of a man made river (Torne) that takes water from many many miles to the river Trent (all pumped) it was in flood conditions for about a week when the level dropped there was a good 20mm of silt left on the bank side. This happens every time it is at high level. Don’t need a PHD to work out how much silt accumulates over decades. This river used to be cleaned out every 10 years or so back in the 80 /90’s now it only gets the banks cut and once down with the reed cutter boat. Vermudan would be rolling in his grave

I was thinking about that pipe you put in and I was thinking whether you had faced it with sandbags or concrete sacks.

Great video. When the land drainage pipes wer put in was it done with a trencher machine?

Silly guestion maybe but where Henry bank is nearly gone can he not dig a little grip where it’s collapsed to let water back into the river now river is going down

The agricultural industry/community in this country is like no other, yes, there are some big farming businesses, but they are far out numbered by the sole trading independent farmers. They all constantly battle against the weather, the politicians, the supermarkets, and the extreme environmentalists with their misinformation, they all appear to offer little support, but who are quite happy put red tape in the way, offer poor prices for produce, and generally add to the constant pressure farmers are under, whilst happily eating the food produced. All this whilst the aforementioned couldn't survive without farmers. Will there ever be a time when common sense prevails, and which ever government is in power, actually works with farmers, and actually takes the time to fully understand the industry, the challenges, and how much farmers do of their own free will and often at their own cost, to support and protect nature and the environment around them. I personally don't think any other industry would survive such constant challenges and pressures. You never know, one day there might be a miracle.

Dozzent the frost freeze the sugar cristels and that causes the rot

Those breaches will be weak points even when they have repaired them... if they repair them that is

If these cows were gamma tested in December why are they still on the farm?

Heartbreaking..that's terrible

Never knew Lincoln was so low ....beware of green solutions ...frequently not well thought out and with questionable priorities!

Looking at the TB graph, what to Scotland do different? Or is it lack cattle or badgers there that mean they don’t get many cases?

As the water on henry's land is higher than the river why don't the ea dig some channels in the collapsed bank so they can get rid of the excess water and reconstruct the bank properly

Hi Andrew will the sugar have improved leaving the sugar beet longer

Once again, bureaucracy within Wales at its best. We'll done Mr Dickford for the Welsh Labour Government.

Welsh Government hard to understand bit like the Post Office 😂😂

The TB situation in the UK is disgraceful, the way farmers are treated. WRT to vacination, as I understand it if you vacinate a dog/cat against rabies, you then have to wait approx 6 months to see if there are rabies antibodies. The principle being that if you find the antibodies after six months they arose from the vacination and not from an infection. Is it different with cows and TB? For instance if you TB test a herd and they are clear then why can't you then vacinate the next day in the knowledge that the positive tests from those cows (each one has a passport) comes from the vacine?

How reliable is the tb test ? Being a government test i have doubts about it, its one easy way to get rid off the cows for the ESG development agenda

We’re is strewed.

in january still beets in the field?

We lost over 150 cows over three or four years to TB , I got so pissed off I filled in 4 setts on our land in 2020 during lockdown despite the biggest one being clearly visible from the village 1 field away , we had to go back and refill the setts 4 times before we finally got rid of them and to this day nobody has said a thing , this is why my name is not on this account

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