Assets?

When we trawl through the numerous papers written about m.bovis, badgers, cattle and other mammals who may or may not have met this armour plated bacteria, the thing which strikes the more pedantic of us is just how much 'research' rests on a the back of a coughing, tuberculous badger.

 Take for instance that huge 450 page pdf file in which we found research confirming that there is bugger all very little bacterial spread of m.bovis into or from, anything other than badgers, (and one water vole.) Although locally, un-managed deer populations may cause a problem. Venison anyone?

 So rather than watch water running through his cattle yards this weekend, one of our contributors totted up the cost of the 49 listed research projects in that 2007 file. The total was £55.8 million paid for by the British taxpayer Defra, and £8.4 million by 'others'.

 And almost every one of those papers ask for more research to confirm, clarify, expand or repeat.

Let no one be in any doubt, a coughing badger is a very valuable asset. .