Up to 250,000 healthy Welsh hill lambs will be culled and incinerated in the next few weeks to avoid a welfare disaster. The move follows restrictions imposed during the latest foot and mouth disease outbreak and a similar cull of up to 250,000 lambs now taking place in Scotland.
Farmers are being offered £15 a lamb by the two devolved governments to have the animals slaughtered. Some of the Scottish lambs are being rendered to make biodiesel fuel, but none of the 500,000 animals will go for food.