[KirinChris]

No doubt many have done it already but for anyone who has missed it DEFRA is having a consultation on proposals to lower the registration threshold.

Potentially ALL poultry keepers would have to register, even keepers of one bird (exemptions for things like indoor birds, I guess budgerigars, parrots etc).

You can submit to the consultation here: https://consult.defra.gov.uk/poultry-register/all-birds-registration2023/

[ZacB]

Completed………….even though government bodies are failing it gives me a sense of security to know a poultry register will keep our birds safe & well.


Not a pop at any particular political party - they’re all as bad as each other

[KirinChris]

I have mixed feelings about it.

It seems to me an assumption that it will make any difference - I mean is it really small poultry keepers that are spreading and maintaining AI? I seriously doubt it.

My main concern though is that it adds yet another burden on smallholders. We already have to comply in many cases to rules and regulations that are really designed because of and for industrial-scale farming. Not only  are many things inappropriate to small operations they are disproportionately difficult and expensive.

I was just reading an article last week about the demise of small abattoirs and one of the reasons given was that a small family-run business has the same compliance as huge slaughterhouses. They have neither the time nor money and it is easier to just stop.

It worries me that while none of these things, like registration, seems major in isolation when taken as a whole it makes smallholding more difficult, less accessible and less sustainable. It is another little push towards concentrating food production and food supply  in big business, whether that’s large farms or supermarkets.

If you really want me to get my tinfoil hat out I could throw in the whole Monbiot-led vegan lobby which wants to ban meat agriculture altogether and have all our food produced and processed for maximum efficiency. Soylent green here we come.

[Steph Hen]

Filled in thanks for posting.

Another hassle for people to fill in.

Another bit of red tape to “comply” with.

A potential deterrent for people who’d keep a few birds.

Those without internet access discriminated against.

Is there any evidence to demonstrate any protective effect of the change or just implemented to be seen to be “doing something” or “because we can” or “bringing in line with other livestock registration”?

A vast database to be compiled and maintained by new teams of public sector workers paid from the public purse.