Haven't we done well?

As we approach the first Judicial Review on whether or not to cull badgers by taking pot shots at them, in Farmers Guardian, Alistair Driver examines how this country arrived at such a position.



Defra's graph shows that in 2011, despite ongoing problems with the ability of the new IT system to count correctly, we culled 34,175 cattle (compared with 31,965 in 2010)

Almost 3,000 herds (2,965) had their TB free status officially Withdrawn, meaning that TB had been confirmed in the slaughtered cattle. This represents 4.95 per cent of tests on TB free herds.

Of 80,454 herds registered on the VetNet system with Defra, a staggering 10.07 percent (8,108) had TB problems and herd restrictions due to a 'TB incident' during the year 2011.

For our readers' comparison, International TB free trading status demands 99.99per cent of herds test clear, and 99.98 per cent of cattle.

Haven't we done well?