Remove and set aside with the meat.Stir the flour into the hot butter mixture to make a roux and pour in the port, stirring all the time. Remove meat from dish, retaining port and bay leaves, drain and pat dry Peel the shallots leaving some of the root intact. Reviewing his seven years in farming, Mr McElney said: "There's much more interest in venison now. When I began I didn't know a thing about raising deer, but I learnt."Venison with Port and Shallots3lb (1.4kg) boned and tied joint11/2oz (35g) butter1tbs sunflower oil1 bottle port11/2lb (600g) shallots1 large orange - strips of zest removed2tbs plain floursalt and freshly ground pepper15g thyme (include stalks if fresh)15g flat leaf parsley (fresh)2 bay leaves2tbs redcurrant jellySteep venison and bay leaves in port overnight. Depending on the cut, the meat fetches between pounds 1 and pounds 6 per pound from hotels and restaurants which serve venison on the menu.However, deer farming in Britain is still small-scale. About 40,000 head are reckoned to be farmed on fewer than 400 holdings, compared with 2 million "behind the wire" in New Zealand.But the British palate is shedding its inhibition. "What the two animals do have in common is an ability to crop grass almost as closely as a lawn mower," Mr McElney said.The economics of deer farming is uncomplicated by wrangles with the Ministry of Agriculture over cash handouts.

The rutting season, which lasts for two months, ended a few weeks ago. "The stags lose up to 20 per cent of their body weight during the rut. He and his wife, Barbara, now co-run the farming enterprise on the outskirts of the village of Llansoy, in Gwent.Older animals roam the hillsides behind high fences. Come June we will have an increase of 200 in the deer population here," Mr Clark said.Unlike sheep, deer do not require dipping and do not attract subsidies. The head stockman, Neil Clark, said he was happy with this year's "rutting" - the breeding service performed by the farm's 21 stags.

Before that he worked for 27 years in business before taking early retirement as European finance director of a multinational engineering company. The traditional suspicions of a food once held to be more Scottish than English is fading as Britons embrace healthier eating habits. Venison's fat content is 6.4 per cent against pork's 26 per cent. Its cholesterol content is about half that of beef.Earlier this week, several hundred young deer barely six months old were sheltering inbarns at Brecon Court deer farm, which Mr McElney took over in 1988. TONY HEATH Venison, the flesh of deer, is becoming Britain's fashionable meat. With the lean, dark meat finding its way on to more and more dinner tables - especially around Christmas time - farming deer is now becoming an attractive enterprise for farmers once sceptical of anything other than beef. Desmond McElney, who runs a herd of 600 on 180 acres of rolling South Wales countryside, said: "The taste for venison has been building up quietly in recent years." He added that no one was denigrating beef, "but people are now becoming more aware of the fact that farmed venison is an alternative".

"To be cancelling the release of prisoners at Christmas and inflicting hurt on their families because of incidents in Belfast is absolutely disgraceful There is no logic to it," he added.. At least two raids were foiled by the police activity, detectives believe.The information was passed to the government in Dublin and is understood to have played a part in the blocking of the scheduled permanent releases late on Thursday.Sixteen prisoners listed as subversives - including the IRA nine - will be among 390 Irish inmates to be granted temporary freedom over Christmas.One of the IRA group is Thomas McMahon, convicted of the IRA murder of Earl Mountbatten of Burma 16 years ago.The Sinn Fein vice- president, Pat Doherty, said the decision not to release the nine permanently was a "disservice" to the Northern Ireland peace process. We wish to make clear that MED-TV is not controlled by the PKK. We regret any impression to the contrary given by our report and apologise to MED- TV for any embarrassment.. The Irish Republic halted a permanent release plan for nine IRA prisoners this week following the discovery of a plot to launch a series of robberies, it was disclosed yesterday. While paramilitary-style killings in Belfast proved the prime influence on Dublin ministers, information uncovered in nationwide police moves also affected the decision to reverse the freeing of nine IRA men. The month-long police operation - code-named Mid-West - headed off plans by IRA units to steal in-transit cash shipments.

Our report referred to the London-based Kurdish language satellite television service MED-TV. The jury of six men and six women spent more than six hours at Winchester Crown Court discussing the case of Nicholas Farnell, 32, of Waterlooville, Hampshire, who hit Willy Pottage, 56, with a crowbar after a disagreement last May Farnell denies murder but admits manslaughter.. Party leaders are expected to seek an early meeting with the Irish prime minister John Bruton to discuss his government's decision.. A man accused of the murder of a neighbour in a row over a barking dog is to be retried after the jury in his case was discharged yesterday after being unable to reach a verdict.