Much has been made of late regarding Geronimo the alpaca, who has unfortunately failed his bTB skin test, writes Huw Besent of the NFU.

As all cattle keepers are aware, failure of this test by an animal means automatic slaughter as part of the Government’s TB eradication strategy.

It seems as though Geronimo first failed its skin test in September 2017 and the owner refused to allow the authorities to collect the alpaca and arrange its disposal.

However, after various court cases, Geronimo will have to be slaughtered.

Many farmers have had animals fail bTB tests and have to allow the authorities to dispose of all reactors.

Potential reactors need to be cleared off farms quickly to try and prevent further spread of this disease.

The incubation period can be anything up to seven years and hence makes eradication very difficult.

It cannot be right for ‘pet’ animals to have different rules to farm animals. I could have a bTB failure and I could refuse access to remove an animal because it is a favourite.

After many years of trading in Machynlleth, Will Lloyd Williams has retired and closed both his butcher shop and abattoir. I am told that Wil’s was the longest serving shop business in the town. He will certainly be greatly missed.

Many local farmers supplied his abattoir with sheep, cattle and pigs, which all ended up in his shop. The food miles of his produce was second to none, setting a good example of how food should be retailed with provenance on all sold. I would like to thank Will for all he has done to support local life over the years and wish him very well in his retirement.

On farm, we are only milking about 40 cows as most are now on ‘holiday’ and getting ready to calve. The heifers will start first, hopefully at the end of August. Most of the cows and heifers will have calved by the end of October, and milking numbers will then be back to nearly 90. Here, near the west coast, we have been plagued with damp, drizzly weather hampering attempts to make some more silage. Most will go into the silage pit but grass from a couple of off-lying fields will be round-bailed and fed to heifers in the winter.

The 14 beehives which have resided with us have gone to the Berwyns to hopefully gather heather honey. We are waiting for the beekeeper to tell us how much honey was gathered here, as it looked like a good year. The honey was very tasty last year so we’ll look forward to more before too long.