Farmer drops the French in it

A DAIRY farmer's scheme to send Christmas cards containing cow dung to a French agriculture minister has become a runaway success.

Jim Sharp says he sold 20,000, for pounds 1 each, to farmers and consumers seething at the continued ban on British beef and has orders for thousands more. The cards have a cartoon of a cow above a plastic bag of dried dung from Mr Sharp's farm at Slimbridge, Gloucestershire. They carry the address of Jean Glavany and say: "Dehydrated bullshit" and "For French officials, who are full of it". Referring to the claim that French cow feed containedsewage, the cards also contain the instruction: "Just add water and stir with a wooden spoon - then feed to your animals."

Mr Sharp said: "At a pound each a card is worth more than a calf. They have just captured the mood of the moment. I'm sure some of them have been bought for novelty value ... but I think a good number will find their way to the French minister. Obviously it's a bit of a joke but there's a serious message at the heart of it." The dung on the cards was dried and treated before being stapled on. A company distributed the cards in London but the idea also took off in local pubs and shops.