Bovine TB Blog

The ostrich syndrome

Bovine TB — Thu, 24 May 2012 00:20:00 GMT

We have used that description before when describing the overspill of bTB from an ‘ environmental, non - bovine source’ – badgers, into another popular mammal, alpacas. Playing with their own published statistics, and deflecting searching questions about...(read more)

How can you be 100% sure ....

Bovine TB — Sun, 20 May 2012 11:48:02 GMT

... that she contracted TB from wildlife? So said a curt note from the Badger Trust in reply to a farmer in Wales, about to lose this beautiful cow. For good measure they also said they cared about ALL animals. You could have fooled us; they sure as hell...(read more)

Update - Dianne Summers

Bovine TB — Sat, 19 May 2012 11:16:01 GMT

Following our postings on Dianne's illness, she has updated the website with this thumbnail of how she is coping with the intensive bTB drug regime. (click News tab for the full account) On April 12 th 2012 Dianne started a nine month regime of a...(read more)

Mayday at Heolfawr Cross - short film.

Bovine TB — Thu, 17 May 2012 11:20:01 GMT

It's May 1st 2012 and on Dai Bevan's farm in Carmarthenshire the future for his herd of pedigree Longhorn Cattle looks bleak. Bovine TB has struck. Many will have watched Adam Henson's visit to the farm just before the cull on the Sunday evening...(read more)

A farmer's story.

Bovine TB — Sat, 12 May 2012 11:24:03 GMT

Many times on farming forums and in the comments sections of the farming press, we are the butt of the same old, same old mantra. bTB is all our fault. It is dirty farmers, lax farming practises, cattle movements and fraud which cause bTB. Not only is...(read more)

A few more nails

Bovine TB — Thu, 03 May 2012 00:18:02 GMT

Coming in on July 1st are a few more nails in cattle movement options for England, introduced to secure EU funding ..... to slaughter more cattle. We had the bones of the story in this posting, and today Farmers Guardian have the detail in this article...(read more)

Di Summers - Update.

Bovine TB — Wed, 02 May 2012 13:08:01 GMT

In a follow up to our recent posting about Dianne Summers who has herself contracted pulmonary TB, (confirmed as m.bovis), Di has put an update about her progress on this link. At present Dianne is once again in hospital. We note from her update, written...(read more)

Not the Final Report.

Bovine TB — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 12:42:03 GMT

Since the Badger Dispersal Trial RBCT ended in 2006, producing its bible in 2007, we have been extremely critical of its published results. Not without cause, as many of our contributors had the misfortune to be caught up in this charade of 8 nights well...(read more)

Zoonoses - they affect humans.

Bovine TB — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:20:02 GMT

This week has seen a media frenzy after a Cornish alpaca owner was confirmed as suffering from ‘bovine’ tuberculosis. We have been 'banging on' about the risk of so called 'bovine' TB to other mammals for as long as this site has been...(read more)

We wish her well.

Bovine TB — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:30:00 GMT

This posting is taken from the Alpaca TB website and it is one which we would rather not have written. Founder member of the team which run the website, Dianne Summers, has had confirmation that she has bTB (m.bovis ) herself and has begun treatment....(read more)

She couldn't see it coming.

Bovine TB — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 12:18:03 GMT

Over the years we've told you stories of companion animals who have fallen victim to what Defra like to refer to as 'environmental TB' - or as we call it, TB infected badger pee. In 2006, we told you the story of a small herd of dexter cattle...(read more)

How did you get that?

Bovine TB — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 11:27:03 GMT

The Farmers Union of Wales (FUW) have written to minister John Griffiths enquiring how he arrived at the conclusion that vaccinating badgers in the Pembroke IAA (with an unknown but modelled benefit of 9 percent after 5 years in the centre of the patch...(read more)

TB takeaways?

Bovine TB — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 13:13:03 GMT

One thing that most farmers with cattle locked down just cannot get their heads around is how badgers can be moved around the country, quite legally. The main culprits, are rescue 'sanctuaries' which take in orphaned or injured badgers, 'mend'...(read more)

Jobs for the boys

Bovine TB — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 14:41:00 GMT

... and girls. Doing what? Vaccinating badgers of course. A very stylish website set up by ex FERA graduates, now seeking employment and decorated with some healthy looking badgers explains: "In an effort to prevent the spread of disease between...(read more)

Legal challenge

Bovine TB — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 11:50:03 GMT

Farmers Guardian today report a legal challenge by the Badger Trust, against Defra's proposals for a farmer DIY badger cull. According to the report, the Trust will ask the court to overturn Defra’s decision on the basis of the following three points...(read more)

His master's voice

Bovine TB — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:59:03 GMT

At the NFU conference this week, Defra minister, Jim Paice slammed another couple of nails into our cattle's hooves - courtesy of his puppet-masters in the European Union. Both Farmers Guardian and Farmers Weekly report that farmers with overdue tests...(read more)

That EU elephant again

Bovine TB — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 11:08:01 GMT

Slowly but surely the UK system of TB testing and cattle controls (if not wildlife control) is coming from that elephant in the room - the EU. We reported a year ago how many herds would need two tests before herd movement restrictions could be lifted...(read more)

EU clamp down

Bovine TB — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:23:00 GMT

Following an audit last autumn our lords and masters in the European Union are less than happy with AHVLA's licensing of cattle movements onto restricted farms. This is the news release which announced the changes. Following a recent audit by the...(read more)

SAM chaos - it " should never have happened"

Bovine TB — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:56:02 GMT

Speaking in oral evidence to the EFRA committee on 1st February, SAM, Defra's new, all singing but not dancing, computer system gets a mention in the last few minutes of the video. More of that session in a separate posting. But to save you ploughing...(read more)

Crisis? Wot crisis?

Bovine TB — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 01:27:02 GMT

Last week, all livestock keepers in SW England received a letter, explaining new changes and "why they are necessary". Now 'change' - if not undertaken for the sake of it - usually implies improvement, but with Government in general...(read more)

SAM says 2 + 2 = 3 (or is it 5?)

Bovine TB — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:44:04 GMT

Everyone, from the Treasury's bean-counters downwards to your lowly bloggers, watch Defra's monthly TB statistics for signs of change. Over the past decade we have watched the inevitable and predictable rise in slaughtered cattle, as bTB has spread...(read more)

Cull areas announced

Bovine TB — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:34:00 GMT

Today the North Devon edition of the Western Morning News announced the preferred sites of the two pilot badger culls. From the report...: One of the pilot areas will be on Exmoor and the other around Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, according to industry...(read more)

The pennies start to drop.

Bovine TB — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 12:05:04 GMT

As 2012 dawns, farmers and their representatives begin to grapple with the nitty gritty of the 'cull plan' concocted on their behalf by Natural England. This is the operating protocol to which we referred in the previous posting as : the most...(read more)

Quotes of the year

Bovine TB — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 11:51:01 GMT

As 2011 draws to a close, several people have had their say about badgers, TB the proposed cull and much more. Below are a few snippets. From Jeremy Clarkson in the The Sun [ sorry, no online link ] a comment on the cost of Jim Paice's proposed cull...(read more)

After the Olympics...

Bovine TB — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 11:11:03 GMT

.. our Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is 'minded' to allow two pilot badger culls to go ahead, each lasting 6 weeks, in the autumn of 2012. The Defra statement can be viewed here (pdf) - note section 5 for the cull...(read more)