But the 79 authorised abattoirs must give the Intervention Board three days’ notice of how many animals are to be slaughtered, and calves cannot go to auction until they are seven days old.However, an Intervention Board source admitted that although on paper fraud was not possible, it could not be ruled out. “There have been cases of calves going to auction and being taken to abattoirs for slaughter,” she said. “It is difficult to see how it can be done but there are opportunities for fraud if someone is falsifying the date of birth either at the point of the auction or the farm.”The Federation of Fresh Meat Wholesalers rejected allegations that slaughterhouses were exploiting the scheme “We are not enthusiastic about the scheme. These fees are agreed in advance.To be eligible for the scheme the male calf must be less than 10 days old and fit to travel – vets are being used to approve calves for slaughter. At Cardigan cattle market in Wales, 50 calves were sold to agents on Monday, according to auctioneers JJ Morris.Under the scheme, calves are supposed to go directly from the farm to the abattoir, which is paid pounds 103 per calf, out of which the veterinary service and the farmer have to be paid. There has been no market for them since 27 March, when the worldwide ban on British beef took effect.The Livestock Auctioneers Association, representing the cattle markets, confirmed that abattoirs or their agents had been buying calves at auction.

The Intervention Board, which is overseeing the scheme, has admitted documentation could be falsified to allow slaughter houses to increase profits from the cull, condemned by vets and animal welfare campaigners.
Under the Government plan, up to 500,000 new-born male calves, which normally would have been exported each year as part of the veal trade, are being destroyed. However the Intervention Board has admitted renderers cannot operate at the same capacity as the abattoirs and a bottleneck is likely.. Allegations that agents acting for abattoirs are buying calves at auction have sparked fears that the pounds 80m Calf Slaughter Scheme is being abused as a money-making opportunity, writes Paul Field. “Your failure to put this programme in place, as you agreed to do, undermined your position at the council meeting,” he told Mr Hogg.”It is absolutely vital, both in relation to the financial position of the farmers and the welfare of the animals, that this programme is brought fully into operation as soon as you possibly can.”After the animals have been slaughtered, carcasses will go directly to the renderers who will boil and crush the meat down to a pulp for incineration or landfill burial. To clear this backlog alone, the animals are to be destroyed at a rate of 6,000 a week.Dr Strang warned that uncertainty surrounded the scheme. It is very disappointing indeed that you have so little progress to report.”Mr Hogg came under heavy fire over the delay in the start of the scheme to dispose of cattle over 30 months.

In addition to the 15,000 dairy cows slaughtered each week, which are at the end of their productive lives, there are an estimated 300,000 prime beef cattle above the 30-month limit which can no longer enter the food chain. Among them were former foreign secretaries Douglas Hurd and Lord Howe.In a statement on his efforts at the Agriculture Council meeting in Luxembourg, Mr Hogg said the Government was pressing ahead with its legal challenge to the ban in the European Court of Justice.The Shadow Agriculture Minister, Gavin Strang, told him: “We share your commitment to securing an early lifting of the ban on exports. “Farmers will be anxious to have the finalised details,” he said. “We will be sending direct to farmers a note setting all they need to know about the new arrangements.”Earlier, he tried to calm angry Tory MPs over the EU refusal to lift the worldwide ban on British beef after 30 senior Conservative MPs made an unprecedented appeal to every EU ambassador in the UK urging them to ask their governments to end the ban. Directors heard calls for BAe to stop selling Hawk trainer aircraft to Indonesia.