Thame market prepares for exciting future

This latest instalment of the Mart’s The Heart Standing the Test of Time series supported by the Livestock Auctioneers Association and Shearwell Data, reflects on the 25th anniversary of the UK’s worst foot and mouth disease outbreak which coincided with Simon Draper’s arrival at Thame Market.

clock • 3 min read
Simon Draper joined the market amid 2001's foot-and-mouth outbreak
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Simon Draper joined the market amid 2001's foot-and-mouth outbreak

This year marks the 25th anniversary of both his arrival at the market and a national farming disaster that saw the slaughter of more than six million animals.

Simon Draper, Thame's highly experienced senior auctioneer, moved to the Oxfordshire livestock market in February 2001, at the start of the national farming disaster which saw the slaughter of more than six million animals.

Its anniversary comes at a crucial time for Thame Farmers Mart which has submitted plans for a multi-million pound move from the town centre to a new modern market development on the outskirts.

A planning decision on the groundbreaking move is expected shortly and will shape the next 25 years for Thame which was granted a market charter in 1215. Mr Draper and Daniel Slade, who heads up deadweight procurement, are at the heart of the weekly livestock auctions and believe the new development will signal Thame's continuing importance for livestock producers in the South East of England.

Mr Draper says: "A new livestock market at a challenging time would be an important moment for the industry and an exciting time for everyone here at Thame. I joined Thame in the middle of 2001 outbreak and they wanted the market opened as soon as possible and I was to run it.

"The foot and mouth outbreak changed the understanding of disease control and livestock movements. The period also encouraged private selling and straight to abattoir sales and it almost completely wiped-out pig markets. In previous outbreaks we had never experienced being shut down and by that, I mean nothing going on at all- no movements."

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A planning decision is soon to be made that could see Thame relocate its sales ring

The 2001 foot and mouth outbreak is estimated to have cost the public sector more than £3 billion and the private sector more than £5 billion.
"Foot and mouth did shape what was to follow for many years and 2001 was one horrible year," says Mr Draper.

At the heart of the outbreak were thousands of stories of farms and communities that had their stock wiped out while markets like Thame were turned into Defra monitored cleansing centres rather than auction sale centres.

Mr Draper says: "During the outbreak, Thame first became a cleansing centre for vehicles moving animals from the farm to the abattoir. The vehicles had to be cleansed and licensed after inspection by Defra to say that they were OK. They were then tagged to say they were clean enough to go to the farm.

"Some of the Thame staff were seconded to Defra and eventually we became a collection point from where you could move stock to the abattoir. We still have the six-day movement rule, which came in because of the outbreak and is the rule for cattle and sheep, with 21 days for pigs. Electronic tagging of sheep became law because of foot and mouth."

Thame's livestock market was only able to open again for sales at the start of 2002 after the national all clear, but this turned out to be just the first of Mr Draper's foot and mouth experiences.
The same problems arose with the smaller 2007 outbreak which this time coincided with the market's massively popular Sheep Fair in August. As a result of trying to get the 20,000 sheep back to their farms, Mr Draper ended up being interviewed by four different police forces looking into suspected illegal livestock movements.

As he enjoys his 25th year at helm at Thame, Mr Draper still relishes his role as senior auctioneer despite all the problems that he has faced and says: "We are a resilient lot in this industry."

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