A case of fowl play

The foot-and-mouth restrictions may seem a distant memory to non-farming folk, but many businesses, particularly in the tourist sector, are still suffering from the fallout of the crisis. Among these are the owners of visitor farms, some of whom haven't opened their attractions to the public this season.

"I think some people are still reluctant to go to farms because they have been scared away by the publicity put out during the foot-and-mouth crisis," says John Toner, the owner of Glenroe Open Farm in Kilcoole, Co Wicklow, which was closed for three months, reopening on May 12th.

"We couldn't take any bookings before that, so the first two weeks were very quiet, and we are still having a quiet season. I'd say we're down 50 per cent overall."

Spread over six acres, Glenroe Open Farm has goats, pigs, sheep, donkeys, ponies, deer, cattle, peacocks, ducks, chickens and geese. There's also a pets corner with rabbits, gerbils and guinea pigs.

Newgrange Farm, near Slane, Co Meath, couldn't begin its season with its annual Monster Easter Egg Hunt on Easter Monday because of the foot-and-mouth crisis. "In the beginning, some people thought we had the disease on our farm because we weren't opening. But we felt it would be very unfair to open in April," says Ann Redhouse.

Newgrange Farm was given permission to reopen on May 11th, butthe Redhouse family had to ensure that disinfectant mats were in place and that animals susceptible to foot-and-mouth disease did not come into contact with visitors. This meant they couldn't allow visitors to bottle-feed calves, lambs or piglets. Neither could they have their Sunday sheep race - one of the farm's most popular attractions.

"We have complied completely with the specialist advisory group of the Department of Agriculture. We have a lot of English visitors, so we felt we'd never forgive ourselves if we brought the disease into our area," says Redhouse. (The regulations prohibit those who have been on farmland in Britain from visiting open farms for three weeks.)

"We have all our cows and calves, sheep, goats and pigs fenced off in paddocks as the regulations state. And where we used to have the pigs and lambs, we now have an indoor play area - one with toy rocking horses and another with building blocks."

The toy tractor shed, the go-kart track and the tractor and trailer rides around the farm draw the most squeals of delight from visiting children.

"While we lost our busiest time and one month of school tours, once we reopened we were booked out for school tours, and we are way up this year on casual visitors," says Redhouse.

Mary Corcoran of Turoe Open Farm in Loughrea, Co Galway, is secretary of Top Visitor Farms of Ireland. She paints a grimmer picture of the 2001 season, mentioning two visitor farms that have not opened at all.

"They felt the community wouldn't have wanted them to open, and also, when the restrictions were lifted, the insurance costs for the season were prohibitive," says Corcoran.

Speaking about business at Turoe Open Farm, she says: "We came out reasonably OK, as we had extended our indoor play area, so when we reopened on May 6th we had lots of bookings."

The sheep, cattle and pigs are still fenced off and the Corcoran family has put disinfectant mats and footbaths at the entrance to the farm. "We advise everyone to wash their hands after touching the animals. We hope that this will train people who have contact with animals to prevent the spreading of this and other diseases."

Overall, she is pessimistic. "I am concerned that access to animals will decline following the foot-and-mouth crisis. I think that open farms will become places to view animals rather than places where children and adults can pet and handle animals. It would be sad if it comes to that."