According to a report in yesterday’s Guardian (29 Oct 2007) 500,000 lambs are about to be slaughtered. Most of them will simply be incinerated but some will be ‘rendered’ (lovely term) into biodiesel. The reason? Well apparently due to movement restrictions imposed as a result of the Foot and Mouth outbreak (whatever happened to that by the way?) the lambs cannot be moved off the hillsides in Wales and Scotland. The grass there is getting thin and the adult sheep need what’s left to build up their strength to have more offspring.

There is a market for ‘light lamb’ as they call it – this is whole roast young lamb in less euphemistic terminology. People in many European countries like it but there’s not a market in the UK. Because of the movement restrictions the animals cannot be taken to the places where they could be eaten.

The result is mass culling with some being used to provide bio-diesel. It’s an appalling prospect and yet another example of the consequences of industrial farming. It also raises some interesting issues over the future market for biodiesel. How many meat eaters, never mind vegetarians and vegans would be happy knowing that innocent creatures such as these are powering their vehicles?