Consultation Document

The new coalition government are making lots of changes that will affect all of us. Not least of these are the proposed changes to the way that we deal with tuberculosis in cattle. You will be aware that a consultation document was published on September 15^th which stated that although cattle measures continue to be central to the bovine TB control programme they now acknowledge that we will never succeed in eliminating the disease in cattle unless we also tackle the disease in badgers. In the past twenty years there have been so many studies and excuses as to why we did not need to tackle TB in our native wildlife. Somehow badgers have been given such a privileged status that they could not possibly be involved in the continued spread of bovine tuberculosis. We have done every thing possible to try to tackle this problem with no wildlife controls and now at last we have the opportunity to make real progress.

Reducing Infected Badger Numbers

As things stand at the moment landowners can apply to DEFRA for a license to vaccinate badgers with the BCG vaccine which has been available since March of this year. The new proposals would allow a group of landowners the option of vaccination, culling or a combination of the two to tackle the bovine TB reservoir in the badger population.

The document states that badger culling has the potential to reduce bovine TB by rapidly reducing the overall number of infected badgers and to reduce the rate of transmission of the disease to cattle.

Different Interpretation

They now admit that the randomised badger culling trial that was carried out between 1998 and 2007 did suggest that proactive badger culling carried out on a sufficient geographical scale, in a widespread, coordinated and efficient way over a period of at least four years is likely to reduce the incidence of bovine TB in high incidence areas. The tone of the document is more in favour of culling than vaccination. It goes on to say that in areas of high and persistent levels of bovine TB in cattle, vaccination would not reduce the weight of infection in the badger population as quickly as widespread, effective and efficient culling. However it is still likely to reduce disease risk and have greater disease control benefits than taking no action at all. Vaccination could reduce the prevalence and severity of bovine TB in the badger population, reduce the rate of outward transmission of the disease to cattle and, by using it in combination with culling strategies, could maximise the benefits of both options.

Getting a License

Licences will only be granted in areas where there is high and persistent levels of TB in cattle and can only be undertaken by trained competent operators who have an appropriate firearms licence. It has been determined that cage trapping and shooting and shooting free range badgers are the only practical ways to cull badgers humanely. It has long been realised that the size of a badger’s territory is determined by the number of badgers in an area. Most infected badgers are in areas of high population density so have a restricted home range. It is inevitable that the remaining badgers will now range over greater distances and there is a risk that there will be a higher incidence of TB in cattle on the boundaries of the culling area for the first twelve to eighteen months. Because of this culling will only be allowed over a minimum area of 150 km² that is about 60 square miles. It is inevitable that applications will need to be made by groups of land owners and the management plan would need to demonstrate that culling could occur in at least 70% of the land area under consideration.

The Government has indicated that it will put in place arrangements to issue licences for the culling and/or the vaccination of badgers and that it will monitor the effectiveness, humaneness and the impact of the badger control measures. The direct costs of the culling and vaccination will have to be met by the landowners involved.

You Must Help

Full details of the government’s badger control policy and consultation document are available on the DEFRA website. The easiest way to get there is to follow the following link to the Web PageAlready the RSPCA and the Badger Trust are urging their members to oppose the policy, both of these groups are good at rallying support so it is vital that you add you comments to the consultation before December 8^th.

Disappearing Vaccines

Intervet are not doing too well with their vaccines at the moment. Supplies of  Toxovac has been severely restricted all summer and have proved to be impossible to find this year. Enzoovac will not be available until at least the middle of November, which is too late for next year’s lambing season and there is still no sign of their BVD vaccine for cattle which disappeared in the spring. Today I have had another letter from Intervet warning that their IBR Marker vaccine is in short supply and will not be available until at least the end of November. It is very frustrating when we come to rely on vaccines to control diseases that the people who make them cannot be relied on to supply them when they are needed. There are no other vaccines available for enzootic abortion and only Novartis are able to supply a BVD vaccine now.

New Laboratory Pricing Policy

The Veterinary Laboratories Agency sent out a long fax last week about their new pricing structure. There has already been a substantial price rise this year but now the cost of most tests has increased by another 50%. From now on the VLA will be reluctant to take in whole animals for post mortem because of the disposal costs. They argue that sometimes because of nature of the disease under investigation a full post mortem is not appropriate and they ask us to telephone first. Part of the problem is that it is difficult to send in fresh samples if the loss occurred on a Friday afternoon or over a week end as there is nobody available to do the post mortem until Monday morning. If it is decided that a full post mortem is not appropriate they will charge the full commercial rate which could be as much as £395 for a six month old calf depending on which tests were undertaken.

Lack of Surveillance

It is difficult to see how this new pricing structure will work. One of the things that the VLA is supposed to do is to undertake surveillance on known and emerging disease.

The Veterinary Laboratories Agency should take responsibility for farm animal diseases and cut costs in other ways, it is not satisfactory to open the carcass on your farm and transport the viscera to the laboratory as it is too easy to miss important findings and you will still be charged for a full post mortem but no disposal cost. We will now be sending farm animal samples to other laboratories that are not so expensive.

Return to Newsletters