Alert on lamb prices

Sheep farmers in Mid Wales face bankruptcy unless lamb prices improve, a politician has warned. At Welshpool Market, farmers were receiving about 68p per kilogram for lambs.

This was less than half the usual price and described as "dire" and "a giveaway".

Farmer Glyn Davies, prospective Conservative parliamentary candidate for Montgomeryshire, warned that unless things improve quickly, farmers in the county will quit sheep breeding, leaving thousands of acres of high hill and mountain land derelict.

Mr Davies was in Cardiff on Wednesday hoping to set up talks with Assembly ministers and farming leaders in a bid to get a "workable" set of regulations so Welsh lambs can be exported to Europe - a move that would push up prices.

"The export market is, in effect, still closed," he said.

"We need to put pressure on the agriculture ministers of all four home countries to come to an arrangement with Europe to get a workable export system going as soon as possible.

"The current system is going to lead to an awful lot of sheep farmers going out of business. People are losing money at the prices being paid at present, but they can't keep their animals, because they can't afford to buy in feed for them."

Martin Lloyd, from Guilsfield, who attended Welshpool Market on Monday, said: "68p per kg for lambs is dire, usually you can get £1.50 per kilo.

"This is a knock-on effect from foot and mouth disease. It is a disaster waiting to happen."