lazy farmer
Member
- Location
- som/dor border
We’ve gone TB free. I was just going to post this in all things dairy thread. But I thought feck it I’ll start a new thread so perhaps antisWho I have no doubt read this forum may notice it.
In theory we are now onto annual testing for the first time in 10 years for the first six years of that each year the TB got worse then the cull started in our area. Since then our incident of TB has dropped year on year here with us going clear in the spring three years in a row only to fail in autumn but with less cases each time. Then this feb we went clear and now our 2irs has gone clear this autumn meaning we haven’t had a cow with TB for 14 months.
So if proof was needed that the cull has a place in the eradication of TB we are living proof of it.
So today I have mixed feelings. I’m elated that we in theory don’t have to put our stock through the misery of testing for a whole yr.
but I’m also angry. Angry at the NFU and MAFF for allowing this insidious disease to spread when it was so very nearly eradicated. Angry at our politicians for designating the badger a protected species without considering the consequences it would have on the balance of the countryside and those of us who derive a living from it. Badgers hedgehogs ground nesting birds have all suffered as a direct result of this interference.
Lastly I’m angry at those how ever well meaning who think the life of a badger is worth more than the life of one of my cows. To you I say congratulations for the misery you have cause many people and cattle over the last number of yrs and not forgetting the infected badgers who have been suffering and playing their part in spreading this devastating disease within their community and beyond. I hope you have the decency to admit and reflect on the role you have played in it’s spread at a time when maybe just maybe we are getting to grips with it.
In theory we are now onto annual testing for the first time in 10 years for the first six years of that each year the TB got worse then the cull started in our area. Since then our incident of TB has dropped year on year here with us going clear in the spring three years in a row only to fail in autumn but with less cases each time. Then this feb we went clear and now our 2irs has gone clear this autumn meaning we haven’t had a cow with TB for 14 months.
So if proof was needed that the cull has a place in the eradication of TB we are living proof of it.
So today I have mixed feelings. I’m elated that we in theory don’t have to put our stock through the misery of testing for a whole yr.
but I’m also angry. Angry at the NFU and MAFF for allowing this insidious disease to spread when it was so very nearly eradicated. Angry at our politicians for designating the badger a protected species without considering the consequences it would have on the balance of the countryside and those of us who derive a living from it. Badgers hedgehogs ground nesting birds have all suffered as a direct result of this interference.
Lastly I’m angry at those how ever well meaning who think the life of a badger is worth more than the life of one of my cows. To you I say congratulations for the misery you have cause many people and cattle over the last number of yrs and not forgetting the infected badgers who have been suffering and playing their part in spreading this devastating disease within their community and beyond. I hope you have the decency to admit and reflect on the role you have played in it’s spread at a time when maybe just maybe we are getting to grips with it.
