The practice of sheep dipping in Wales is integral to maintain the high flock health status of the Welsh flock.
NFU Cymru has called on Natural Resources Wales (NRW) to reverse its decision to stop issuing new permits that allow farmers to dispose of waste sheep dip on land.
Removal and disposal
NRW announced it would stop issuing new permits, with farmers required to have waste dip removed by a registered waste carrier and disposed of in a suitable waste facility instead.
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The Welsh Government-sponsored body has confirmed that farms with active permits can continue to dispose on land for the time being, but eventually all waste dip will need to be disposed of via a registered waste carrier.
Sheep dipping
NFU Cymru livestock board chair Rob Lewis said: "NFU Cymru is shocked that NRW has taken this decision with immediate effect and without consideration of the wider impacts. The practice of sheep dipping in Wales is integral to maintain the high flock health status of the Welsh flock.
Wales
"The decision has implications for animal health and welfare [and] the ongoing management of key habitats, and disadvantages young farmers [and] new entrants to the sheep sector. We have written to NRW today and called for the decision to be reversed.
"NFU Cymru believes that there is no scientific case to prevent disposal on land as it is clear that regulated spent sheep [dip] disposal on NRW-approved sites on-farm presents no risk to the environment. New applications for permits are still available elsewhere in the UK."
Sheep scab
Mr Lewis added with sheep dipping being a 'key tool in the armoury' for sheep scab, the new permit ban would only hinder efforts to eradicate it.
NFU Cymru rural affairs board chair Hedd Pugh said it was 'extremely disappointing' the decision had be made without 'proper consultation' with industry.
He said: "Despite considerable efforts, we are nowhere near getting a workable spent dip disposal scheme operational in Wales.
"There are issues around actual collection and storage but more importantly, the end point and the uneconomic cost of incineration of spent dip.
"So, for NRW to make this decision now to withdraw is not only wrong, but totally premature as the alternative disposal is not fully in place.
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"NRW's advice to farmers needing their sheep to be dipped but without a permit is to apply to use the Welsh Government-funded Gwaredu Scab programme [which] is, at best, short-sighted.
"Whilst we recognise and welcome that a proportion of sheep scab control and disposal is currently being subsidised by the Government-funded programme, when this project comes to an end, farmers who currently use the scheme may well need to revert back to land disposal. This is, therefore, not a sustainable solution for sheep farmers in Wales."
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