Shropshire farmers in crisis over bad weather
Desperate farmers are reaching out for help after a long, harsh winter left crops struggling and hundreds of sheep dead beneath the snow.
A group that supports farmers in difficulty today revealed it had received double its normal number of calls.
And while farms in Wales and Scotland are benefiting from a £250,000 fund to help the removal of dead animals, those in England will get nothing.
Farmers are suffering financially because of lambs lost in the freezing spring weather. And they are also struggling as pasture is undeveloped and crops weeks behind due to the cold weather.
Shropshire Rural Support Network, which provides crisis advice, says it has seen a surge in calls.
One member of the support network said the number of calls received following the freezing weather six weeks ago had doubled.
Malcolm Roberts, who farms near Oswestry, spent a fortnight attempting to keep his lifestock alive in the spring but lost 80 sheep.
He said: "Now is a difficult time of year as those feed bills from the winter are coming through and that has quite an impact on those who are getting bigger bills. If you have lost 100 lambs it is £5,000 or £6,000 you are not going to have."
Shropshire Rural Support Network chairman John Brown said today: "It has been a very long and hard winter, and people are worried about feed, moving cattle and sheep that are all being brought back indoors. It's a lot of extra trouble after a difficult winter."
He said farmers had struggled to understand regulations for the clearing away of the bodies of dead lambs, which differ between England and Wales.
He said: "A lot of people have rung from along the Welsh border, where the snow was worst. In Wales, different regulations apply so these people wonder whether they are going to get any help."
