DARTMOOR pony meat went on sale for the first time at Tavistock Farmers’ Market last Saturday and sold out before lunchtime.

Dartmoor Con-servation Meat, a co-operative of various organisations, held its first stall at the market on Saturday as part of a controversial project looking to create a market for ponies.

The move is to encourage farmers to keep foals for three years rather than the current system, which sees the majority of foals born every year shot.

The project has been spearheaded by Charlotte Faulkner.?She believes that the project, when combined with a pony contraception scheme, will mean the farmers could breed from fewer ponies and keep the offspring for three years.

The three-year-olds would then be put into training as riding/driving ponies or be sold for meat. She said there was more of a market for trained three-year-olds than wild foals so she expected the majority to be re-homed.

Dartmoor Con-servation Meat was pleased with the response it received on the day.

Charlotte said: ‘Dartmoor Conservation Meat took its products to its first farmers’ market last Saturday. Fellow traders gave a warm welcome. Customers came to the stall early — the first arrived before the stall had been completely set up — and continued throughout the morning.

‘The stall sold everything it had brought, disappointing some who came at lunchtime.

‘New partnerships were forged with fellow stall holders, which may result in new products, such as salami, or relishes to accompany pony meat, being developed. The best news of the day was the sale of a pony from the moor to be trained as a riding pony.

‘The development of pony meat as food is one part of a four-part pony conservation plan. The full plan, involving limited breeding through contraception and changing the herds’ age structure, can be seen on the Dartmoor Conservation Meat Facebook page.’

The plight of the Dartmoor pony has become difficult over the past few years, with a huge downturn in demand for the animals. The downturn has led to the decline and closure of pony sales, which means farmers hardly make any money on the animals, making looking after them increasingly more difficult.

Charlotte believed that many farmers had stopped keeping ponies as they were no longer viable and a way to make them profitable needed to be found, otherwise the moor wouldn’t be grazed properly.

Anyone interested in purchasing a pony for training, can enquire by visiting www.wildto-wonderful.org

Dartmoor Con-servation Meat will return to Tavistock Farmers’ Market this Saturday (December 19).