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Monday, August 06, 2001

Slaughtermen earn three times their normal income, vets twice theirs

"When their livestock is infected, farmers routinely get twice the value of their animals, while greedier ones are getting tens of thousands of pounds for cows worth just a few hundred. Across the country there are dozens of foot and mouth millionaires, with the biggest payment going to a farmer in Scotland who received a cheque for more than £4 million."

London Observer. Some people suspect these new millionaires have intentionally infected their herds with foot-and-mouth disease; farmers whose herds remain uninfected paradoxically have fared the worst. "My heart bleeds for those that have this disease and have lost their animals, and I don't want foot and mouth anywhere near my farm, but at least they have assets that have been turned into cash."'

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This is the personal weblog of Grant Barrett, editor of the Double-Tongued Dictionary, a collection of words from the fringes of English. More about this site...

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