PGI Status of Welsh lamb -Good or Bad?

Yet again I hit a bureaucratic brick wall - yes my life is full of them.
For those of you who don't know what PGI is it stands for 'protected geographical indication' and Welsh Lamb has been granted this status after lots of hard work from Hybrid Cig Cymru.
Wonderful, Brilliant, Amazing, Great, yes I thought all these things. Apart from the fact that i was actually born and raised in Staffordshire I am very proud to call myself Welsh, i have a very strong sense of culture and think everything in Wales is fantastic and am happy to be associated with this beautiful country which is steeped in folklore dance and history. I am even more proud of our Welsh Blacks , the traditional breed of Welsh Cattle, and our Welsh Sheep which are born on our Welsh farm and feed on our Welsh Fields, are tended by our Welsh Shepherd, Wyn, who's first language is Welsh, and by Philip, Len & Colin, who are fourth or fifth generation Welsh Citizens. However I am gutted that I have received a letter from trading Standards stating that I am not allowed to sell my produce as 'Welsh lamb' or Welsh Beef'!
The reason why this atrocity has occurred? - I take my stock to Williams of Weobley to Slaughter and they of course are in Herefordshire and not wonderful Wales, therefore my lamb or beef can not be called Welsh!!!!

"Ah Ah" I hear some of you shout "but that abattoir can get PGI status, because the Welsh Assembly allowed for the fact that some Welsh farmers, on the borders (such as you are), would have to use an English Abattoir, especially with the decline of abattoirs in general over the past few years, so you can call your produce Welsh!"

But you forget that the Welsh Assembly funded Hybu Cig Cymru to ensure that Welsh abattoirs conformed with all of the red tape in order to proclaim them fit for PGI Status, this costs between £500 - £600 per abattoir (So I am told by Trading Standards), however the Welsh Assembly will not allow them to sue that funding to pay for the inspections in ENGLISH Abattoirs, only Welsh ones, so although they state that farmers on the borders will not be discriminated against with this ruling they have in fact done just that's Weobley are, understandably, saying, well it won't benefit us to have this inspection, so why should we pay for it?
Yes in fact the only people who would benefit is ourselves and any other Welsh farmer who takes his stock to Weobley. Ever conscious, as are we, of reducing Carbon Foot printing, the necessity for animal welfare the reduction of bottom line costs to support our end of year profits we have chosen Williams of Weobley to ahve the honour of our business . So in truth, to pay for the inspection and the subsequent PGI status that the abaotir owuld be granted, would in fact, only benefit Welsh Farmers, which is exactly what the PGI status was meant to do.

My 9 year old son, James, commented this morning over breakfast, (as you do when you are talking about abattoirs, killing and PGI status at 7.30 am in the morning) "So Mum if you're in the British army and you go over to France and get killed (he's very much into World War Two presently) does that make you French?"
Through the eyes of a child -a future politician perhaps?
I have consequently made my appointment to see our MP Roger Williams in his Llandrindod Wells office on Friday June 29th at 3.30pm will it do any good? - watch this space!

In the mean time I will alter my labels on my 'Welsh Lamb' to read 'Born & Bred in Wales Lamb' ( I have checked with trading Standards), and my Welsh Black Beef? well I'm sorry Hybu Cig Cymru, but it will stay as Welsh Black Beef. That is after all what it is. It;'s Welsh Black and it's Beef the same as if you had Hereford Beef or Aberdeen Angus Beef, I think that's good enough defence for the Welsh Borders......