The Exe Valley Plan -Index
Basic Information
 

Farm type Source: Defra 2004
CC = Cereals; G = General Cropping; H = Horticulture; Pi = Pigs; Po = Poultry; D = Dairy; GL1 = Grazing Livestock (LFA); GL2 = Grazing Livestock (Lowland); M = Mixed; O = Other
 
10.1.4 Farm type Livestock holdings predominate in the area. Poultry
farming is an important part of the agricultural economy, but there are no statistics on poultry numbers or egg laying rates. The vast majority of chicken farms supply Lloyd Maunder’s abattoir directly.

10.1.5 Livestock Almost three quarters of stock held are sheep. Pedigree herds form the core of sheep farming. Just over half the sheep are breeding ewes and just under half are lambs under a year old. Until early 2006, many of the lambs were sent to Lloyd Maunders’
abattoir.

Among cattle, the recorded number of dairy cattle is three times that of beef cattle across the area, and numbers of dairy cattle in the area remain static. Beef production is currently in a state of flux, with producers selling at below cost and a shortage of fodder due to
Livestock Source: Defra 2004
dry summers. However, there is an even balance between cattle over a year old and under a year old. There are many pedigree herds,
with breeding herds found across the area. Based on the ratio of holdings to diary cattle numbers and to beef cattle numbers, dairy holdings appear to be larger in terms of herd size than beef cattle holdings.
There was a sharp decline in pig units in the area over a decade ago. Large pig holdings are found just outside the area along the M5 corridor and in North Devon. Pigs are kept on a smaller scale within the Exe Valley area, particularly in the north west, but the farms are not listed as specialist pig farms.

Animal stocking levelsSource: Defra 2004


10.2 Livestock markets and abattoirs

The 2003 review of Livestock Markets in the South West for the South West Regional Development Agency records a picture of decline in the livestock industry, attributed to European Union Common Agricultural Policy stocking rate regulations and long-term lack of profitability in the sector, with downward pressures on pricing continuing.

10.2.1 There are no livestock markets in the Exe Valley area, the nearest medium-sized markets being Exeter, Taunton and South Molton. There are no small livestock markets. After the foot and mouth epidemic, two South West markets became animal collection centres.

10.2.2 The report concludes that markets should be rationalised, providing a core set of markets to minimise food miles, maintain transparent pricing for the industry and to provide a site for the batching of store, breeding and cull animals prior to sale. In particular, they recommend the rationalisation of the markets at Taunton and Highbridge at a new site on the edge of Bridgewater. This has not yet occurred but will affect some producers, particular in the north east of the Exe Valley area who habitually use Taunton market, if it is implemented.

10.2.3 There are a significant number of small scale abattoirs supplying local butchers and farmers’ shops, but very few large abattoirs supplying supermarkets. St. Merryn Meat, owned by Grampian Foods and located at Launceston and Bodmin in Cornwall, and Merthyr Tydfil in S. Wales, are the nearest. They supply Tesco with beef and lamb. The largest lamb abattoir is Welsh Country Foods on Anglesey in North Wales, supplying supermarkets. Although there are relatively few pigs reared in the area, there is a substantial pig abattoir at
Wiveliscombe across the border in Somerset, which maintains its throughput from the north of England.
 
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 Exe Valley Community Strategic Plan 4 February 2007
 
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