Bradshaw demands urgent bovine TB plan

Farmers need a bovine TB eradication plan they “believe can deliver”, NFU president Tom Bradshaw warned Defra, as frustration boiled over at the union’s annual conference.

In a blunt message to Defra secretary Emma Reynolds, Mr Bradshaw said farmers were carrying the daily burden of a disease that remains stubbornly entrenched – and time is running out ahead of the government’s promised refreshed strategy to eradicate bovine TB in England by 2038.

“Emma, look, we recognise the importance of co-design here, but it is farmers on the ground that are dealing with this disease, day in and day out,” Mr Bradshaw told the minister during a question-and-answer session at the Birmingham conference.

See also: Bovine TB strategy must progress quicker, Defra told

“I talked in my opening address about the mental health challenges and the pressures that build on the farming industry. I’m afraid this insidious disease is one of those things that when it does take hold, it feels like it’s out of your control.

“We need this room and our members to believe, when we see the strategy, that there is a genuine plan for how we’re going to eradicate this disease, and it can’t come soon enough, because there’s too many people that are impacted by this disease.”

Emma Reynolds © Adam Fradgley/NFU

He added: “There’s too many cattle that are sorted every year, and the cost right the way across the system. You know, it is out of control. So we’ve got to get on top of this, and we’re here to work with you, but we need a strategy that we believe can deliver those eradication goals.”

Farmer’s frustration

Mr Bradshaw spoke out after Staffordshire farmer and county NFU chairman Paul Brown laid bare the deep anxiety gripping the sector as widespread badger culling comes to an end and policy shifts towards badger vaccination, with cattle vaccination set to follow.

“Minister, I’ve seen first-hand the damage that bovine TB inflicts on farming families and businesses,” said Mr Brown.

“We’ve now lost one of our most effective controls [badger culling]. What is the government’s plan now in the here and now, not next week, not next month, but today, to ensure this devastating disease does not once again, spiral out of control?”

Ms Reynolds insisted a co-designed strategy, based on the Godfray review and involving farmers, vets, scientists and conservationists, would be published in the spring, adding: “It’s really top of our inbox.”