By Debbie James

A DOUBLE hit of new rules to tackle agricultural pollution on every farm in Wales in the same year as tough new bovine TB cattle controls are introduced could financially cripple the Welsh dairy industry.

Land agent and former dairy farmer Edward Perkins issued the warning as farmers gathered to hear the financial and practical implications of two sets of new regulations.

“These rules are onerous and the penalties severe,’’ suggested Pembrokeshire-based Mr Perkins, who urged farmers to respond to both consultations.

His sentiments were echoed by the dozens of farmers who attended the meeting hosted by the Farmers’ Union of Wales near Haverfordwest in one of the counties hardest hit by bovine TB and in the frontline on NVZ restrictions.

The Welsh Government’s alternative to an all-Wales NVZ is to designate most of Pembrokeshire together with smaller designations in Carmarthenshire, Anglesey and Clwyd.

The county has also been identified as part of a High TB Area with the prospect of six-monthly testing, routine culling of inconclusive reactors (IRs) and restrictions on selling animals to farmers in lower risk areas.

Farmers Union of Wales head of policy, Dr Nick Fenwick, said the costs of complying with NVZ regulations, coupled with additional cattle controls, would have an acute impact.

If the proposals are implemented, the union wants financial support for the farms affected and an appropriate period of transition.

Dr Fenwick said farmers in Pembrokeshire and other Welsh counties where TB incidences were amongst the highest in Europe had been “extremely patient’’ over existing cattle TB measures.

“There is huge frustration at the fact that severe restrictions have been applied to cattle, but that no meaningful action has been taken to tackle the disease reservoir in badgers,’’ said Dr Fenwick.

“There is a clear feeling that yet more cattle restrictions cannot be justified unless a genuinely proactive approach it taken to dealing with the disease in wildlife.”

Coupled with the threat of a new NVZ is a proposal to top-up existing NVZ restrictions with five new rules, including crop or vegetation cover on all fields at all times.

The consultation proposes whole farm nitrogen limits for holdings only partially in an NVZ and farms with sandy soil may be prevented from spreading some types of manure on tillage land in August and September.

The current 12-month period allowable for field heaps is also being questioned with the fear that it could be reduced. There is also a proposal to change livestock manufactured manure values, which could limit the quantity spread.

The consultations can be found at consultations.gov.wales, search 'open consultations' for 'TB eradication' and 'nitrate vulnerable zones'.