Bovine TB Blog

July 2008 - Posts

• Wildlife Management - OIE

  In a well constructed editorial which highlights the interaction of wildlife with domestic or farmed species, and thus offers opportunity for disease transmission, Bernard Vallatt, Director General of the OIE (Office des Internationale Epizootics) sees... Posted Jul 31 2008, 08:16 AM by Bovine TB

• Up one entry...

  ... and down another. Or in this case a badger sett - or rather an artificiallly created tunnel, above ground. We are gratefully to Trevor, yup Mr. Lawson of Badger Trust fame for pointing out that Defra have (allegedly) said " It was impossible... Posted Jul 29 2008, 07:19 PM by Bovine TB

• Golden Guernseys

  The label attached to micobacterium bovis is proving very wide of the mark. We have had comments of the site, reminding us that 'bovis' means cattle and thus the disease is primarily a disease confined to cattle. This is 'unfortunate'... Posted Jul 29 2008, 09:27 AM by Bovine TB

• EFRAcom response to Benn - 'Not good enough'

  The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs committee has responded to Secretary of State, Hilary Benn's cop-out announcement, with their own verbal broadside, We concluded that the Government's current method of controlling cattle TB, that of surveillance... Posted Jul 23 2008, 06:35 PM by Bovine TB

• VAWM response to Benn's statement

  We have received from the Veterinary Association for Wildlife Management, their response to Hilary Benn's 'no-cull' decision, which we quote in full. We can't add to the sentiment or the content, both of which speak eloquently for themselves... Posted Jul 20 2008, 07:26 PM by Bovine TB

• Dutch calves - update

  In the posting below, we quoted the bones of this story from the Timesonline reporting of a Dutch Farming Paper snip quoting NBA Director, Kim Heywood as saying "We're so sorry". "We' re so sorry .... all calves from the previous... Posted Jul 19 2008, 08:31 AM by Bovine TB

• Benn fiddles while the cattle industry burns...

  ... or in this case, faces another European ban. As he uttered those weasel words from the safety of the Westminister bubble last week, Hilary Benn wavered between "it might work, but then again it might not" when considering targetted culling... Posted Jul 16 2008, 07:39 PM by Bovine TB

• Defra lose in the High Court.

  At 10 o'clock this morning, Lord Justice Stanley Burnton handed down his verdict on Defra's tabular valuations which have so badly discriminated against high value pedigree cattle. We covered the background to this case here and again here as... Posted Jul 14 2008, 07:10 PM by Bovine TB

• Krebs, the whole Krebs and nothing but Krebs

  The Minister of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs The Right Honourable Hilary Benn, MP having studiously avoided announcing his decision on controlling badgers to prevent the spread of bTB at the Royal Show, announced in parliament on monday... Posted Jul 09 2008, 12:06 PM by Bovine TB

• Opportunist soundbites

  In a headline grabbing foray, Conservative MP, Daniel Kawczynski who chairs the All Party Group for Dairy Farmers has signalled his group's intention to launch a Judicial Review in response to the governmental leak of 'No-Cull'. He writes... Posted Jul 07 2008, 08:31 AM by Bovine TB

• A hollow victory

  In today's Telegraph, Christopher Booker reminds readers of the 'hollow victory' trumpeted by the animal rights lobby, as last weeks' media leaks indicated that Hilary Benn would not sanction a cull of badgers in response to outbreaks... Posted Jul 06 2008, 06:48 PM by Bovine TB

• Governmental Responsibilities

  While government is spending £1 billion to 'no good effect' and do not have a policy to eradicate let alone control bovine TB, as Lord Rooker explained to EFRAcom in December 2007, their statutory responsibilities are more clearly defined. This... Posted Jul 05 2008, 01:45 PM by Bovine TB

• Patience......

  Tuberculosis testing of cattle may not show the results either of exposure to m.bovis , or the removal of its source, for several months. So after the RBCT Badger Dispersal Trial staggered to a halt, the full results would be not seen until the next routine... Posted Jul 05 2008, 11:18 AM by Bovine TB