The Farmers Hidden Secret

The Farmers Hidden Secret.  

 

Before reading further please open the link http://www.beilibluetexels.co.uk/ to find what can be described as a very attractive sketch of a period farmhouse as it was years ago and alongside the property as it can be seen today, a modern photo of a farmhouse with agriculture sheds to the right, making an attractive rural scene. The written account refers to the occupants prized sheep, a flock of blue texels named after the property Beili Bedw, together with details of the business side of the farm of 120 acres owned, with a further 180 acres rented fields used by the sheep farmer to graze his 1,200 sheep for meat production.

The article makes interesting reading.  One could be forgiven for taking the account on face value, the life of a modern day sheep farmer following in the steps of his grandfather who was also a farmer with an interest in livestock.   However there is a difference, this modern day farmer has a secret, one he hides from view and does not advertise or write about on web sites, in fact you will find no advertisements for his wares. His hidden secret lies behind the agriculture barn doors and they are silent.

This modern day sheep farmer is also a licensed commercial dog breeder (licensed by Carmarthenshire County Council), not like his grandfather who kept a few dogs for breeding but is licensed to keep 196 dogs on the premises.   Making this modern day farmer the largest licensed commercial dog breeder in West Wales.  Like all battery dog farmers, (the name I use to descibe  these large commercial breeders), he too sells his litters of puppies to dealers and pet shops.  The general public do not enter the premises to purchase puppies, therefore few people know what goes on behind the closed doors of the agriculture barns - these dogs, just like the battery hens live for most of their entire productive life behind closed doors, they are kept for one purpose alone to produce endless litters of puppies.

This sheep farmer that was granted retrospective planning permission for change of use for the agriculture sheds from 9 breeding dogs in 1994 to 196 dogs on the premises in 2011. was the same farmer that placed the original application into the Council for an extension to the barns stating the use was for housing sheep and agriculture implements. That plan did not materialise, the farmer declared in his statement to planning.  Instead this modern day farmer equipped the agriculture barns with automatic feeders, made cubicles for the dogs, lots of dogs, many more than his licence permitted but he forgot he needed to have planning permission for change of use. 

 

This modern day farmer even believed together with his wife, an employee of Carmarthenshire County Council and one part time employee that they could adequately care for, at the time  in 2011, 800 sheep and 200 followers, now increased their stock to 1,200 sheep and 196 dogs and the Council agreed this is acceptable.   Is it any wonder that this retrospective application drew the attention of nearly 800 objections, all ignored by Carmarthenshire County Council, who have shown only contempt for peoples objections and gave permission - common sense disregarded.

Look again at the photo of the agriculture barns and ask yourself what must it be like for a dog to spend its entire life within an agriculture barn to produce and whelp puppies every heat season for the pet trade?   The dog breeding licence conditions may say a breeding dog can only produce one litter in 12 month period but without irrefutable identification how can one tell.
 

Who is socialising the puppies? There is no one to care adequately for the dog’s or the puppies needs and who will take care for a breeding bitch about to give birth and to oversee their whelping needs? This is gross exploitation of the needs of the dogs for monetary gain. It is not acceptable to accommodate a few hundred dogs in a barn with automatic feeders and expect them to fend for themselves. It is also not acceptable for Carmarthenshire County Council to have agreed to licence the premises for 196 dogs and granting planning permission for change of use.
 

Mr modern farmer next time you decide to write about your business affairs and the sheep that you so proudly display at shows, spare a thought for your dogs the ones that are isolated within your agriculture sheds, the dogs that are to you only as important as to the income gained from their exploitation on the conveyor belt system operating within yours and others premises churning out endless litters of puppies then selling them to dealers for the pet trade.  Why not write about their life on a web site?  No of course that would not be advisable because too many decent people may object to the commercial breeding of dogs contained within agriculture sheds on a battery dog farm, kept as livestock.  Dogs are sentient beings, please treat them as such instead of exploiting them for monetary gain.
 

Read the full account of the planning application and the Councils decision here.   It is quite enlightening.
http://online.carmarthenshire.gov.uk/agendas/eng/PLAC20110830/REP03.HTM

 

Beili blue Texels

www.beilibluetexels.co.uk

Beili Blues is a pedegree flock of Blue Texel Sheep based in Llanllwni north of carmarthenshire.

 

 

Pet shop helps rescue?

To operate their business Oak Tree Kennels were granted by their local Council a pet shop licence, this enables them to buy in and resell puppies. As a condition of their licence they are inspected once a year, but like many Councils that licence pet shops they use just the standard conditions which are basic and relate to the premises and the conditions under which the puppies are sold and accomodated whilst waiting to be sold. The pet shop licence, unless the Council has placed 'extra conditions' on the licence places no restrictions on the owner of the premises to purchase their puppies from reputable sources. Taking into account that responsible, ethical breeders do not sell puppies to pet shops and dealers the only doors open to those that operate under their pet shop licence is to purchase puppies from commercial breeders/battery dog farmers/puppy farmers usually supplied though a dealer.

The purchaser is usually asked to sign a puppy agreement and offered four weeks free insurance, but a pedigree certificate is not always offered or registration document, however the puppies they say are front lined and wormed and health checked, however why they are health checked is unknown as the purchaser does not always receive a vaccination card to verify the puppy is vaccinated.

Anyone purchasing a puppy under these circumstances will not be able to verify where the puppy was bred and by whom. The puppy maybe advertised as a pedigree puppy by the name of the pedigree breed but without authentic paperwork how can the purchaser be certain of the breed of puppy, where it was bred and under what circumstances if sold without any history or more to the point the purchaser is unable to speak to the breeder.

This is a high price to pay (in cash) for a puppy of an unknown quality, even worse when a puppy is found to be sick within 48hours of purchase and the owner is faced with veterinary bills. To see a puppy with diarrhoea with blood and mucus is alarming at any time but even more so when the puppy is so young. To have to take it back and forth to the vets for tests and samples, to be told the puppy has coccidia, compylabactor, possible kennel cough, (one of which is a zoonosis, the other conditions infect other puppies/dogs) seeing the puppy becomming lethargic then admitted to a veterinary hospital, all within a few days of purchase is very disconcerting and upsetting.

This situation should occur but it does, there is no excuse if pet shops obtained their puppies from reputable ethical breeders but of course an reputable, ethical breeder would not sell litters of puppies to dealers and pet shops as explained earlier. If pet shops and dealers were proud of the puppies they sold why not be honest with the consumer and offer the full details of the puppies breeder, something they should be doing if the breeder complied with their own dog breeding licensing conditions when selling to a licensed pet shop. However, due to the shady operating practices of pet shops licence holders some do not disclose their source of supply of puppies even to the purchaser.

The general public must be more aware of the way puppy traders operate and not be duped into a false sense of security by listening to sales talk. This pet shop states the 'puppy is being homed to help fund the rescue work of Oaktree Kennels! That should not be a reason to buy a puppy so more can be bred to end up in rescue, what a nonsense.