Roger Evans

Shropshire-based producer and award-winning columnist Roger Evans shares a cautionary tale about extra-marital a airs.

Status and sabotage

Years ago, if you had the misfortune to go to our doctor’s surgery, you’d find the waiting room packed and be able to predict who’d be there. Three quarters of the ‘patients’ would have three things in common – little else to do, nothing wrong with them, and wanting antibiotics. The doctors would probably dispense antibiotics just to get them back out of the door. The days when antibiotics were handed out by doctors like sweeties are long gone and procedures are also being tightened up on a farm. If you produce organic milk then you can also apply to have ‘produced without antibiotics’ (PWAB) status for your herd. We hope to get this soon. We are not on some sort of crusade, but if you qualify for PWAB there could be a premium for your milk. To us it’s simply a case of adding value to what we already do. This premium is not automatic – your milk buyer has to find a customer for this PWAB milk and it has to fit in with haulage patterns. But qualifying for PWAB is the first step. That’s not to say that you can’t use antibiotics. There are welfare issues to consider, but milk from cattle that are treated, even just once, can never be sold as ‘PWAB’ again in their lifetime. And those that require regular treatment are, eventually, culled. We have not used antibiotics very often during the past year. We haven’t used dry cow tubes for more than 12 months. Antibiotics in milk has always been an emotive and contentious subject. I used to be involved with milk cooperatives and I thought that I had heard all the excuses. Most of them concerned the persistence of dry cow tubes. ‘I turned the handle and then realised what I’d done, so I stopped it’. Then one day a producer turned up who was in big trouble. He had had lots of failures. His excuse was that it wasn’t fair. We asked why not. He explained that he was having an a air with his neighbour’s wife, and that when he went out with her, his neighbour sneaked down and squirted antibiotics in his tank. That’s why he thought it wasn’t fair. I said that all the penalties he has received thus far would have to stand and suggested he fitted a lock on his dairy door. He hadn’t thought of that, but I expect he was a little distracted.

“Days when antibiotics were handed out like sweeties are long gone”