Over the last two days I have received over fourty emails from farmers directly affected by the terrible epidemic of Foot and Mouth disease that swept through the U.K. last year.
(I can't email out at the moment so my phone bill will be a major suprise to hubby when he gets back next month as I have phoned every one of them!!!!!)
Every one was prompted by some really, really good news.
Every one was to thank all of you for the kind words, prayers and messages of support that you all sent, via yours truly, to people in desperate times.
As I said, I have over forty, here is the main gist of the content;
"Thank you all so much for thinking of our little farm in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. We felt so alone and that nobody knew what was happening to us and our animals."
"We cannot thank you all enough for your kind messages. It meant a lot at a very dark time to know that people on the other side of the world were thinking of us."
"The Pet Talk people gave us hope and contact with the outside world."
"Just knowing that there were people from all over the world thinking of us made us stronger. We felt that nobody cared and we were the only ones concerned with what was happening to our stock. We never had the disease and we still lost them all. To suddenly get messages from you made us think of people as humans again."
The good news that prompted all these emails was that last night at midnight (14th/15th January) the last county in the UK was declared disease free!!!!!!!!
The last case was on 30th September 2001, the last of 2030.
Over 6 million animals were slaughtered during the last 11 months.
Over 3 million sheep have been tested to achieve a disease free status.
Sadly, there are still some individual farms that are still under restrictions as the second phase of disinfection has not been completed. Most of these will be cleared by the end of February.
Exports are still under restriction although some meat and some live (Boo!) pigs are allowed under license.
Some import of stock is also now allowed.
98% of footpaths are now open and I can say from experience how wonderful it is to see something as normal as sheep and cattle out in the fields again. We even spotted some sows with piglets the other day!!!
British farming will never recover, that is unavoidable. Many great animals, farms and farming people have been lost and this will continue for the next few years as more realise they cannot regain their loses. It is a tragic situation and has been a catastrophic few years.
I wanted all of you who sent messages of sympathy, support and encouragement to those you only heard of through news reports and this site to know that you had a huge impact on the farmers that you touched. In the most devastating days of their lives you let them know that being isolated and cut off did not mean they were forgotten or alone.
From the quotes above I hope you can see what your time and empathy REALLY meant to these people and I want to thank each and every one of you and you all as a group.
You really made a difference to an awful lot of people!
Over and over I am reading how thankful for the contact and knowledge that their plight was known all over the world. This really made a impact on people shut off from their friends and family with an empty farm and no end in sight.
Thank you all again.
You are very special people - that's official! - over forty families think so!!!!!
(Sorry this went on a bit......got a bit emotional, I have to say!)
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