Description
The export ban imposed in response to foot and mouth disease within Great Britain is causing serious welfare problems for sheep.
The Sheep Welfare Scheme (SWS) is designed to address these animal welfare problems. It will be a voluntary scheme. More specifically, farmers will be given the opportunity, for a fixed period of 10 weeks to sell their "light lambs" to collection centres for a fixed amount ( £15 per head), set to avoid overcompensation and to avoid providing an incentive for culling of animals for which another solution can be found.
Farmers will be required to transport the lambs they wish to sell to collection centres around the country, where the operators of the collection centres will buy the lambs. The collection centres around Scotland will then transport the animals to abattoirs. The Scottish Government will reimburse the operators of collection centres for the services they provide; costs will be determined through competitive tendering.
In addition to reimbursing collection centres for the acquisition costs of the light lambs (£15 per head), the scheme includes provision for the following services:
- Operation of collection centres
- Slaughtering
- Rendering
- Incineration
- Other disposal costs
- Associated veterinary costs
- Transport
To comply with the European Commission's (EC) state aid regulations (Article10 of EC Regulation 1857/2006) Paragraph 2 (a) (11) where it states that compensation must only be calculated in relation to: income losses due to the quarantine obligitations and and at Para 2 (a) (b) that the gross aid intensity must not exceed 100%.
All payments connected to the operation of collection centres, slaughter, rendering, incinerating, disposal, associated veterinary costs and transport will be paid directly by the Scottish Government to the providors of the relevant service.
Eligible businesses must be classified as a "small or medium sized enterprise" which means that the beneficiaries of this scheme (as opposed to service providers) must have less than 250 employees, less than €50 million annual turnover or €43 million balance sheet equity, and not be owned at a rate of more than 25% by other companies.
Larger businesses and publicly funded government agencies are not eligible to be beneficiaries of this scheme.
Outline of scheme
The scheme will be voluntary and aimed at light lambs (i.e. those under 25kg liveweight). and will be open to Scottish farmers facing animal welfare problems as a result of export restrictions imposed following the outbreak of foot and mouth diseases in the UK.
We estimate that in Scotland there are likely to be around 250,000 light lambs eligible for the scheme. Those lambs coming into the scheme will not be weighed but penalties may be imposed if lambs are clearly over the required size.
Producers will be required to transport their lambs to collection centres around the country: The operators of the collection centres will pay £15 per head for eligible animals. The lambs will have been pre-booked into the scheme by producers contacting collection centres. The collection centres will be responsible for arranging transportation of the animals to abattoirs. The material will then be transported from the abattoir for rendering or incineration.
Meat from animals entering the scheme will not be available for human consumption.
The scheme will operate for a maximum period of 10 weeks in order to tackle quickly the welfare problems that exist. A maximum of 250,000 light lambs will be accepted into the scheme in Scotland (which is the number of light lambs we estimate to be facing actual or potential problems).
Payments under this scheme will be made directly to the service providers involved in the acquisition, transport, slaughter, rendering, incineration and disposal process. All costs (other than the £15 per head payment) will be subject to the normal competitive tendering process used to provide these services on behalf of the Scottish Government.
Operation of scheme
Collection centres
Collection centres will be responsible for booking in the lambs for collection, organising (and paying for) forward transport and liaising with abattoirs on numbers and capacity issues. They will also have to notify the Scottish Animal Movement Unit (SAMU) of the movements of these sheep, for identification and traceability reasons. The intention is that lambs will be accepted at collection centres on a first come, first served basis (through the booking system) unless there are particularly serious welfare issues that require priority. Scottish Government will pay collection centres for the services they provide in the scheme on a headage basis. Included in the payment to collection centres will be the headage payment which they will forward direct to producers and also the transport costs for the hauliers.
Abattoirs and renderers/incinerators
We will undertake a tender exercise to identify abattoirs and renderers/incinerators that have the capacity to handle the volume of lambs entering the scheme. The contractors will be responsible for slaughter and disposal of carcases. The intention will be to ensure good geographical coverage, to limit the travelling distance for the animals. Abattoirs will be responsible for liaising with collection centres over capacity and timing issues. Abattoirs will be able to operate on a day dedication basis under the control of an Official Veterinary Surgeon.
Where abattoirs are processing lambs for rendering rather than incineration, the skins will be removed. Scottish Government will pay contractors on a headage basis for the slaughter of lambs and subsequent disposal.
Trading Standards or other Government officials will be present at collection centres. There will be an Official Veterinary Surgeon presence at the abattoirs. Movement documents will be processed as usual through the Scottish Animal Movement Unit. These documents will be cross-checked against numbers entering the scheme through the collection centres and abattoirs. The Scottish Government's Inspectors will provide additional audit cover by checking the number of sheep in the consignments delivered from the collection centres.
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