The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Flynn provides insight into farm welfare role of SSPCA
THE WELFARE of animals is a major issue in today’s world. In Scotland, the leading animal welfare charity is the Scottish SPCA.
Among the many responsibilities Chief Superintendent Mike Flynn of the charity has is to ensure welfare standards are adhered to on Scottish farms.
David Andrews caught up with him recently to talk about this aspect of his work.
Q the — Scottish Not many SPCA people has a will direct realise contact that with that aspect farm animals. of your work? Can you tell us about
A — We are involved with Quality Meat Scotland means we in are their working pig assurance with approximately scheme. This 210 farms involved in rearing pigs.
Q — Do you actually visit every pig farm?
A — Yes, every one, and our inspectors also visit every abattoir and the haulage companies carrying pigs.
Q — When your inspectors go on to farms, what do they look for?
A— We are not interested in ticking boxes. We want to see the stock and the conditions they are being kept in.
Q — How long has the scheme been operating?
A — Four years and, to be honest, every time we visit we see improvements.
There has been a lot of investment in recent times by the Scottish pig sector.
When we started the scheme it was met by scepticism from pig farmers until they realised we were out to help not to castigate.
Q— Investment? A — Yes, in buildings but also in handling facilities and feed systems with much more automatic feeding. This keeps pigs much happier and much calmer.
Q — So is this system different from Freedom Foods?
A—
Entirely different. Freedom Foods is a subsidiary of the RSPCA and farmers have to pay to join.
The Scottish SPCA is completely separate from the RSPCA. Our system is free, and the fact we don’t receive payment ensures impartiality and integrity.
We are there to help and support farmers to ensure livestock welfare is high.
Q — You have said farmers do not pay. Then who does?
A — We do not get paid by QMS for the Scottish pig scheme. Our staff’s time is paid by the Scottish SPCA.
Farmers will pay their QMS levies.
Q— You mention you also visit abattoirs as part of the pig assurance scheme.
A — Yes, we also accompany some pigs to abattoirs. These visits are on an annual basis and are carried out by myself or one of my colleagues.
Q — So the consumer who picks up a packet of Specially Selected Pork will know it has assured animal welfare throughout the whole system?
A — If it has the Scottish SPCA label on it, that is a guarantee we have been on that farm and have also seen the haulage and abattoir as well.
Q — Does your inspection involve the training of stockmen?
A— The stockmanship I see is really very good. The point always is you can have a million-pound building, but if you have a bad stockman then you will have welfare problems.
Generally speaking if you have good stockmen your pigs will be fine.
Q— You will see big and small pig units. Do you see any difference in animal welfare standards between them?
A — We see a wide range of systems; indoor, outdoor, organic. They all have their good points.
What we want to know is, does the stockman know his pigs, and are the pigs happy?
Q— Can you see this assurance scheme developing into beef and sheep?
A— We have had requests from both cattle and sheep farmers to expand, but this would require looking at 11,000 to 12,000 farms.
We can handle 210 pig farms, but no way at the moment could we handle 12,000 farm visits. That would need a massive investment.
We have made tentative plans but we would need money from the Scottish Government to deliver them.
Q— Do you buy pork from Scotland? A — Always. I would not buy imported meat.
The Specially Selected Pork label gives a guarantee on provenance and also has the benefit of a short supply chain.
Q— Your work also involves other farm animals. Do you come across a lot of welfare issues? A — Not as many as we used to do. I have been in this job for 27 years and we used to get a lot of problems with cast ewes coming down from the hills.
Now the problems we get are few and far between.
When we do get them, it can be really sad with the farmer having personal problems; financial or whatever.
Sometimes we do get problems. Not with farmers but with livestock dealers who buy cheap to sell on.
They often have stock here, there and everywhere and they do not check their stock. When we do have cases like that, often the first people to thank us are farmers and the NFU. That makes it worthwhile. I think 98% of Scottish livestock farmers are the best you will get for looking after their stock. Q—
How did you get into this job?
A— I started as a horse ambulance driver and before that I was a zookeeper for seven years. I always had a love of animals.
Q— Any zoo stories?
A— I was the last person to work with Sally the elephant in Edinburgh Zoo before she died of old age.
Q— I understand the Scottish SPCA is also involved with setting welfare standards.
A — We have representatives on various QMS committees such as haulage and welfare standards.
Overall we have a very strong relationship with QMS, with our representatives at the table putting forward ideas.
Q — Livestock haulage can be an emotive issue, especially when the European Union is concerned. Do you have a view on this?
A — The society believes that no live animals should be exported for slaughter.
People do not understand why some countries want live animals, but transporting them live is cheaper than refrigeration so there are lots of economic issues as well as welfare.
It is not so bad now, but we used to get big Spanish and French lorries coming up to markets like Lairg and they just flouted the rules and regulations. But thankfully that is in the past.
I have no complaints about livestock haulage in this country. The current legislation is well policed.
Q — But a fair percentage of Scottish sheep are now taken to English and Welsh abattoirs.
A— I am a great believer in slaughtering in Scotland if at all possible. It seems a false economy to send sheep south to be slaughtered and then the meat brought back up here again.