UK restrictions on livestock movement further relaxed

Lead: London, August 14 (Reuters) - the UK government further eased restrictions on livestock movement on Wednesday in an effort to provide more incentives to rural people on their way to recovery from last year's foot-and-mouth disease disaster Elliot Morley, the UK's minister of animal health, said sheep and goat farmers would no longer have to apply for a separate mobile permit for their livestock as of September 6 He also detailed last week's concessions to the government's strict livestock movement policy The policy requires farmers not to enter or leave their farms for 20 days after any new livestock is put into the market Industry representatives and farmers have criticized the policy, saying that it will cause economic losses, because farmers usually carry out the livestock listing and replenishing work at the same time in the autumn trading season In response, the government has made concessions, stipulating that the so-called "20 day embargo" rules can not be followed after breeding livestock are put into the market However, Morley denied that he had been coerced by the national strike Day campaign "We have not had any contact with those who have made threats - they are not something to consider at all "He told reporters He also said the government's intention to enforce restrictions on livestock movement was to avoid a repeat of last year's foot-and-mouth disease, which caused up to 8 billion pounds ($12.36 billion) of economic damage to the UK's public and individuals "It should be emphasized that the livestock movement restriction policy is only one part of the whole set of relevant livestock movement policies to reduce the risk of disease "He said (author:) share to feed Weibo share to: