so why are the nfu fully behind vaccination for BT but not for TB or foot and mouth ?

having just tested cattle with a veiw to selling some and one is a ir you can imagine how pissed off I am as we have still got last years suckled calves on the place as well sa this presnet crop.

Well for starters, there isn't a vaccine for TB. We all know the "treatment" needed to alleviate that problem, just HMG haven't the b*lls to sanction it. As to F&M, if it was an EU wide policy that didn't hinder trade, then fine. Otherwise, as long as the outbreaks are limited (relatively) they can be controlled effectively by strategic culling, IMO. I'll duck now, to avoid the barrage.

It would be wonderful if there was an effective vaccine for TB - for disease raddled badgers as well as cattle.

Vaccination for F&M is a complex matter, with plenty of room for argument, but almost all of us agree with Neilo that routine and continued vaccination isn't a sensible option.  It is true though that vaccination can be a much quicker way of stopping the disease spreading than direct culling, and carefully targetted ring vaccination around infected farms would have given protection quicker, and hence reduced the impact of both the 2001 and 2007 outbreaks.  The animals would still need to be culled, but with less urgency, and as meat animals rather than this immoral business of transporting infected animals half way across the country, and then incinerating good food in a world where people are starving.  Some of the South American meat that appears on supermarket shelves has been vaccinated against F&M anyway.

The powers-that-be have been trying to ignore the work done at Pirbright 15 years ago (or so) showing that F&M virus could exist and multiply up within rats, but with no symptoms.  This changes the whole game somewhat, given the prevalence of rats. 

                                                                     Dick Plumb