- Location
- Carmarthenshire, West Wales
we can not eradicate TB because of the residual TB in the badger population, so what ever is done with cattle it keeps popping up again, except in England where they do have a cull.That is defeatist talk, you should stand up and fight for all our markets to remain open. it is in your best interests and others like you. There needs to be competition - without competition you get dealers running the markets. The best days of stock rearing were when the markets sold direct to the butchers. it is the dealers who are the ruination of our industry and the means to spread TB all over the country.
Do famers ever look at the passports of cattle they buy, I once bought a bunch of cattle I thought were local cattle only to find on inspecting the passports after I had bought them that they had been to six different markets from one end of the country to the other before coming back to the local market near where they were reared. One of those cattle was the subject of a tracing test and had to be destroyed. That is the only case of TB I have ever had in 30 years. Needless to say I have never purchased cattle in market since but keep a closed herd and breed all my own. That one animal had been mixing with cattle all over the country. No wonder we cannot eradicate TB!