FARMERS in Wales are being urged to make use of their local livestock markets following the closure of a major meat processing business on Anglesey.

The major lamb processing facility in North Wales, Welsh Country Foods at Gaerwen, closed in April with the loss of 310 jobs.

Chris Dodds, executive secretary of the Livestock Auctioneers Association (LAA), said the impact of the closure would affect sheep producers throughout the region, but there were alternatives on the doorstep in the form of the local markets.

“When businesses operate on this scale, with major reliance on the larger retailers, then there are obvious vulnerabilities in the system when they close down,” he said.

“Livestock auctions, on the other hand, will always be there because they reflect the true value of the market, and offer competitive prices.

“I would say to any farmer whose business has been affected by this closure to make use of and support your local market. It provides a flexible and transparent system in which to sell your stock, and also provides the opportunity for producers to contribute towards creating a fair and competitive price for their sheep,” he said.

Simon Jones, director of Morgan Evans and Co, which operates the Gaerwen Auction Centre on the island, said the loss of Welsh Country Foods was a blow to the island in terms of job losses, and the wider effects on the economy.

He said: “The closure of a major business like this is bound to have effects elsewhere in the livestock industry in north Wales.

We would just say that farmers should consider making use of their local livestock auctions as a viable and competitive way of selling their stock. Our gates are always open.”

Welsh Country Foods was owned by Dutch group VION, which announced in November that it was selling its UK food operations to focus on its core food activities in the Netherlands and Germany.

The Gaerwen site was one of two Vion-owned meat plants on Anglesey. The sister poultry plant at Llangefni was bought in March by the Birmingham-based 2 Sisters Food Group, safeguarding some 300 jobs, along with sites at Sandycroft in Flintshire, which employs 1,300 people, and at Merthyr Tydfil where another 1,300 jobs were saved.

Welsh Country Foods was the only one of Vion’s facilities that failed to find a buyer.