I am waiting for a photograph but I know the goats arrived safely on Thursday morning. The place they will be living is so beautiful . They must spend 3 weeks in isolation but after that they will be out on the Swiss grass in the mountains. Imagine this without the snow and that’s where the goats will be!
The paperwork saga continued. The driver of the lorry still did not have all the forms he needed when he reached the Swiss border. My buyer was there to help him otherwise the goats would be in the lorry still! It is absolutely incredible that here in the UK, if you try to export animals and so earn foreign currency for cash strapped GB, there is no central point from which you can gather all the information you need about moving those animals abroad. Animal issues are dealt with by Central Ops Carlisle, Transport by DEFRA and heaven help you if you ask them about the precise requirements of another country. You are totally on your own. Of course, this is live animals. Trying to export semen or embryos is even more complex!
Glad the goats have arrived safely – did you read ‘Heidi’ to them before they left?!
I had a despairing little chortle to myself this evening as I was sampling your gorgeous mohair yarn and listening to good old Radio 4. The programme was about illegal immigrants, working here and paying tax and national insurance, if you please, and the antics of the UK Border Agency seem to be about as much use stopping this influx as they are at worrying about FMD. Not that I think that these people – charming, some of them – shouldn’t be contributing to the national economy, and better they do than the thousands of others who don’t, but being both illegal and having an NI number and a tax code seems somewhat loony.
One chap did point out that he and his colleagues were doing the jobs none of us want to do, in which case give him a permit….
Should the world be ruled by women?…
Down behind the parapet!
Jane
By: Jane on July 11, 2010
at 8:34 pm
Lovely country for goats! I bet they’ll be happy and productive there!
Oh, and we in the US have the same problem with “illegal immigrants” which is ironic considering that our country was founded by what were essentially hostile invaders. A farm workers union has a program called “Take Our Jobs” where anyone can spend two weeks as a migrant farm worker; should be interesting!
By: Jayne on July 12, 2010
at 4:14 pm