New bovine TB management pilot awarded to Pembrokeshire

Veterinary group Iechyd Da has been awarded a contract by the Welsh government to explore new measures to tackle bovine TB in Pembrokeshire.

A contract worth £597,888 for the Pembrokeshire Bovine TB Project was awarded to Iechyd Da following an open tender process that was launched in April this year and ran for a month.

The announcement was made public on the Welsh government website Sell2Wales on Friday 4 August.

See also: TB-hit farmer calls for targeted badger cull in Wales

Further details of the project, known locally as the “Pembrokeshire TB pilot” will be revealed at the Pembrokeshire County Show, which takes place at the Pembrokeshire County Showground in Haverfordwest on 16-17 August.

The Welsh government says the aim of the scheme is to develop additional measures for bovine TB control, over and above the statutory measures currently being used in Pembrokeshire.

If successful, it could be rolled out to other parts of Wales.

The notice states: “The project will focus on identifying residual disease risk in clear-testing cattle and developing a pathway for mitigating cattle-to-cattle transmission risk.

“The client [Iechyd Da] proposes this to be through a risk-based approach involving identification and management of high-risk animals and intensive veterinary oversight of biosecurity practices, aimed at improving bovine TB disease status on the farms enrolled in the study.”

The project will target farms in areas of Pembrokeshire that are suffering most with TB herd breakdowns.

The aim is to officially regain TB-free status for those currently under long-term restrictions.

Fifteen farms

A minimum of 15 farms will be involved and the level of funding allocated to individual farms will depend on the type of controls.

For example, farms that are trialling Enferplex TB testing will require more funding than those that are just trialling biosecurity measures.

One farmer who will be involved in the project said: “This isn’t the silver bullet that is going to see the end to TB in Pembrokeshire.

“However, it is a valuable step forward in combating the spread of the disease across the county.

“I understand the project is predominantly aimed at the identification and management of inconclusive reactors [IRs], in terms of how Welsh government will target them.”

According to its website, Iechyd Da was established in April 2015 and includes 40 independent veterinary practices across South Wales.