Summing up

While the tabloid press and the farming press are chock full of 'farmers to cull badgers' stories, a comment from a Devon farmer [see comments section, below article] summed up for us, exactly how most farmers want this to proceed."

I'm writing ahead of what will be the usual barrage by the pro-badger lobby. I am a dairy farmer from Devon that operates a closed herd (that is for those that don't know - we don't introduce any animals on to the farm) We also have excellent boundary fences and high hedges which very much limits interaction between our stock and that of our neighbours.

In the past we suffered badly with TB and had multiple breakdowns over a period of time. This was during a period when MAFF were trapping and culling badgers on infected farms. 80 percent of the badgers trapped on our farm where diagnosed with TB at post mortem, once they had been removed - big surprise, so was our TB problem.

We currently have badgers on the farm and they have been there for a number of years now. I have no doubt that they are free from TB and therefore would have no plans to cull them. "

So this farm had enduring TB problems, regular 60 day tests, cattle reactors slaughtered and finally a badger removal. And that was the end of the story. The badgers repopulating this farm were not diseased, the cattle in Devon are tested annually, and this farm can trade with confidence. Neither is it a 'badger free' zone. The comment concludes:

"Those that live and work in the countryside know that wildlife along with all the other factors has an important role to play in the spread of this terrible disease, and whilst successive ministers have passed rules and regulations that address cattle to cattle transfer, at last we have one with the balls to address the wildlife problem. Congratulations to Jim Paice for a bit of common sense, it's a rare quality in a politician."

We started this site after being in exactly the same position as this Devon dairy farmer, but without the benefit of a badger removal operation. Three of us also had the misfortune to be included in the RBCT Badger Dispersal Trial, which certainly confirmed its orchestrator's words of wisdom that culling badgers " the way it was carried out in the RBCT" was inefficient and expensive.

The RBCT certainly showed anyone who was listening, how not to cull badgers. And like the tightly targetted clearance described by the Devon farmer, the only driver of culling should be the presence of disease.

A survey for alpaca owners..

It has been brought to our attention that a student at Nottingham University is requesting help in writing up bTB problems in alpacas.

In July, she asked the B.A.S. if they would kindly email her short survey to all their members, or put a contact within the magazine which is circulated to members.
She offered B.A S. the results of the survey.
After some considerable delay, the B.A.S. declined her offer, politely offering their “regret” that they were “not able to circulate this for you."
The full letter, with the views of some alpaca owners, and BAS members can be viewed here.

Their reply could be summarised as follows:

“No. We do not want to know about bTB in alpacas. We are trying to run a business here.”

Undaunted, this young lady gathered names and addresses of alpaca breeders from the BAS website which were local to her own address, and at her own expense mailed them, together with a stamped addressed envelope for their replies – should they wish to participate. As her survey would be more robust if it reached BAS members over a wider area, we are happy to post it for her and hope alpaca owners will circulate it further.


One would think the B.A.S. would welcome an independent study into the increasing problems of bTB within alpacas, carried out at no cost to the B.A.S and with its results then able to inform the Board of its member’s attitude to this disease. Obviously we were quite wrong.

To download a copy of the survey form, please access this link. [click reload option, if an error box appears, or delete the error box on the X in the right hand corner]

We offer Ysella Woods every good wish with her project.

Possibly her next one should be on ostriches.

PCR - The HPA take an interest

UK scientists say they have developed a 'one hour test' for diagnosing TB.

"We’re confident that it will pick up very small amounts and tests so far have show that it seems to be as sensitive as the gold standard of using culture, but there are various aspects which we need to develop further before we can offer it as an off-the-shelf product.”

Details of the work are being presented at the HPA’s annual conference at the University of Warwick.

Story is here.

New consultation

Today the Con-Dem coalition government announced a TB strategy for England, which involves a consultation on culling badgers.

The documents can be accessed on the following links:

1. Defra's overview.

2.The Consultation document

3. History of badger control (And for a Defra document, this is quite good. Not as good as ours, but good enough)

4. The scientific argument for Culling

5. Vaccination (We note that the paper does not inform that vaccination of badgers is an annual event.)

6. Veterinary Assessment of badger vaccination.

7. Veterinary Assessment of badger culling

8. Impact assessment

The Defra consulatation document contains the following gem:

"A decision on this policy will be made early in 2011, taking into account
views provided during this consultation, the available scientific and
economic evidence, and the results of the spending review".

An admirable wish list, of which we suspect the latter may play a dominant part.

With grateful thanks to our Staffordshire contributer, for the bedtime reading links.

TB tests and Cross Compliance.

As part of cross compliance for EU payments, all UK farmers must TB test cattle when Defra instruct them to. If they fail to comply, then initially herd restrictions are invoked, preventing any movements on or off the holding. Animal Health officers may also go in and test the cattle themselves, and could possibly invoice the farmer for the test.

Penalties may be applied to any EU environmental payments due, as a breach of 'cross compliance'.

Today the Welsh Assembly Government enforced an overdue test on a farm in Chirk, near Wrexham, NE Wales. And in an ugly outcome to this, three cattle were shot.

Full report is in the Wrexham Leader, which describes:

One woman, who did not want to be identified, said: “It was a big operation with police and other official looking people taking part. There were two to three quad bikes and several Land Rovers around.”

A spokesman for North Wales Police said: “We attended on the execution of a warrant. Officers were working with trading standards.”

With rifles?

The 'disappeared'.

The posts below and here highlighted the difference between the figures which Defra produce to illustrate tuberculosis overspill into other species, and the grim reality of just how many animals are now dying.

We collect paper at blogger headquarters and in a trawl through various print-offs from Defra's 'other species' website over the last year, we note that the explanatory notes for these tables are getting longer - in direct proportion to the number of animals reported, which is shrinking.

A year ago the explanatory notes were as follows:

* Infected = positive for m.bovis on culture

** All data for 2009 is provisional and subject to change as more data becomes available. Current data has been collected during the period Jan-July 2009

Note: We can only provide data on the number of m.bovis isolations from notified clinical and postmortem cases of TB arising in some non bovine species.

Data to be updated on a quarterly basis - last updated 11 August 2009.

This is when the figure of 17 dead alpacas was challenged by vets running the TB in Alpacas roadshows, who had collected members' data which totalled, anecdotally of course, around 200 dead.

So fast forward to earlier this year, when these figures had not moved from Defra's November posting of 68 dead alpacas. The note adds that:

Data for 2009 is provisional and subject to change.
NB Current data has been collected during the period Jan-Dec 2009 but some culture results are still pending.

Note 1: We can only provide data on the number of M. bovis isolations from notified suspect clinical and post-mortem cases of TB arising in some non bovine species.

Note 2: Cultures and post mortem examination may not be carried out at the VLA on every animal removed from a herd once TB has been confirmed.
Therefore not all animals removed for TB disease control purposes will be reported above.

And one assumes that they are still 'pending' as the figure of 68 has not been upgraded. Or perhaps the samples were all negative. But it is clearer that when a group of animals are still having fatalities, only the first couple of samples are counted in these tables.
So we started asking a few pertinent questions as both pigs and camelids from personal communications, were just not showing the full extent of TB 'spillover' deaths.

And the new tables have an even fuller explanation of just what Defra are not counting. And it isn't dead 'other species' TB victims. The charts in August came with the following health warning:

Veterinary Laboratories Agency TB Culture database
* Infected = positive for M.bovis on culture

** Data provided for 2010 is for the period 1 January - 30 June 2010.
All data provided for 2010 is provisional and subject to change as more data becomes available.

Note 1: We can only provide data on the number of M. bovis isolations from notified suspect clinical and post-mortem cases of TB arising in some non bovine species.

Note 2: Cultures and post mortem examination may not be carried out at the VLA on every animal removed from a herd once TB has been confirmed.
Therefore not all animals removed for TB disease control purposes will be reported above. i.e., where multiple skin or blood test reactors are identified in an infected herd undergoing TB testing.

Note 3: The figures represent submissions from individual animals, not premises i.e. Several submissions may be from the same premises.

Data to be updated on a quarterly basis - last updated August 2010

So, when one looks for figures of 'other species' TB casualties on Defra's website, it is probably more informative to read the notes and see what isn't being counted, especially those detailed in Note 2.

Note 2: Cultures and post mortem examination may not be carried out at the VLA on every animal removed from a herd once TB has been confirmed. Therefore not all animals removed for TB disease control purposes will be reported above. i.e., where multiple skin or blood test reactors are identified in an infected herd undergoing TB testing.

Skin and blood test failures? Not counted. Deaths where no cultures have been collected, but gross pathology has indicated TB? Not counted.

These animals are dead. They have contracted tuberculosis, which is usually identified as the spoliogotype 'indigenous to the area'.

They have 'disappeared' from Defra's radar. And that is by no means good enough.

The cynical amongst us would perhaps comment that by shrinking the TB overspill problem to just a few culture samples, even with increasingly convoluted explanations of how this is done, the problem will, er shrink away. Don't count the bodies, so the bodies do not exist. They are the 'disappeared'. Simples.