TB

[Henarar]

Not sure returning to 4 year testing would be something i would ever want to risk. I will quite happily test annualy and go clear than risk a nasty suprise after 4 years

be nice to get rid of pre move testing though

 

[pappuller]

Those badgers relocated north won’t get very far, rifleman in Cheshire told me they’d shot 1000 badgers in the first couple of nights a few weeks back. I dream of the day we go back to 4 yearly testing [emoji7]

Little bit high with your figures there my friend

 

[pappuller]

Little bit high with your figures there my friend

4 yearly testing would be nice but alas I don't think that day will cone, I think the best we can hope for is annual for a long time to come

 

[Grassman247]

Did he also shoot the flying pig?

After seeing one of the collection bins overflowing I can quite well believe the amount they shot

 

[Grassman247]

Not sure returning to 4 year testing would be something i would ever want to risk. I will quite happily test annualy and go clear than risk a nasty suprise after 4 years

If we get TB under control I can’t see why 4 year testing isn’t feasable, we seen a lot of fertility loses due to 6 month testing and the less stress on the cows the better

 

[pappuller]

If we get TB under control I can’t see why 4 year testing isn’t feasable, we seen a lot of fertility loses due to 6 month testing and the less stress on the cows the better

Getting it under control wouldn't see us returning to 4 yr testing, only eradication will see that

 

[onthehoof]

Well we’ve just gone from a lifetime of 4 yearly testing into 6 monthly, what an arse of a job, don’t know how you guys who do it all the time carry on.

 

[Hampton]

Please everyone , this is an exceptionally good thread, BUT DO REMEMBER TO JUST THINK ABOUT THE COMMENTS YOU ARE POSTING!!!
(IE. The post that will hopefully disappear above @Hampton)

I have deleted with it, but only to avoid a row. I think certain parties should be commended for what they have done and not lambasted! Please remember that in future.

 

[Alfred]

I have deleted with it, but only to avoid a row. I think certain parties should be commended for what they have done and not lambasted! Please remember that in future.

For the record i totally agreed with your post! . (and I certainly wasn't looking for a row)
I just didn't think that a public forum such as this wasn't the best place to put it, especially as a lot of work is still ongoing.
Kind regards Alfred.

 

[Hampton]

For the record i totally agreed with your post! . (and I certainly wasn't looking for a row)
I just didn't think that a public forum such as this was the best place to put it, especially as a lot of work is still ongoing. Kind regards Alfred.

No problem. I just can’t believe someone in a cull zone could still be so critical of certain parties (the OP, not you)
Anyway, I think on reflection you are right, so I have removed the post.

 

[jimmer]

35 taken 2 weeks ago. All came bk as no visible lesions. [emoji853]. Never had tb here.

As crap as that is , I would take heart from the nvl , most of those will have been exposed to the disease and were removed before they got very ill

 

[dave6470]

Know how you feel lazy farmer just had our third clear test after been down for 26 months
Which was a shock as I was sure all summer we wood go down again as
Most of my neighbours are down
And we are over run with badgers
Which is the only way we got it the first time as all my land is land locked by roads or rivers so no contact with neighbours cattle

 

[matthew]

Really glad to hear your news @lazy farmer.

Anyone with half a brain looking in on our non policy bought and paid for, on receipt of £1m from the Political Animal Lobby and lasting 20 years, would shake their heads in absolute amazement.
For those of you who doubt badgers ‘suffer’ from zTB, these pics may help your education.

https://bovinetb.blogspot.com/2015/07/reverse-gear.html

As one of our veterinary pathologist contributors said about badgers with advanced T.B, very wryly, but more politely than we would, “it would be naive to assume that they did not suffer”.

 

[matthew]

Our PQs confirmed that zTB is endemic in British badgers.
Veterinary opinion and tracking outbreaks in sentinel tested cattle also confirm that if any population get over crowded and stressed, then TB will bubble. Thus no area or cattle can be considered ‘safe’ while unfettered badger populations are protected, but their territories are destroyed by development, pipelines and motorways and food supplies depleted.
And that’s without the incredibly stupid practise of relocating.

Badgers, sadly, are a cash cow to many.

 

[onthehoof]

@matthew can you confirm our situation. There has been a breakdown in a cattle herd in our area and we are now in the 3 km surveillance zone so revert to 12 monthly testing (radial test). We need to test everything over 42 days immediately but will we also have to have another test in 6 months time?and is that definite or subject to what they find in all the herds they have to test immediately?

 

[onthehoof]

The question asked above as we have had conflicting advice

 

[matthew]

@matthew can you confirm our situation. There has been a breakdown in a cattle herd in our area and we are now in the 3 km surveillance zone so revert to 12 monthly testing (radial test). We need to test everything over 42 days immediately but will we also have to have another test in 6 months time?and is that definite or subject to what they find in all the herds they have to test immediately?

The question asked above as we have had conflicting advice

We are all finding APHA advice 'conflicting' depending on who is reading the rule book at the time, or how up to date it is. Long gone are the days when a qualified veterinary epidemiologist looked at YOUR case and interpreted with some sense and knowledge.

Logically, the case zero breakdown, will have given spoligotypes and an insight as to how TB arrived there by viewing cattle movements which have occurred on the farm since the last clear test. (or a few months prior to that test)
Cattle to cattle spread is very very rare, and has to be over a long period with animals in close proximity.

But radial testing will obviously show a bigger picture. If nothing is found, then a cattle movement may be the cause. Further testing should thus depend on those results.

If neighbours are also in trouble, then another source must be considered. and that can be shared wildlife interface, or a shared companion mammal contact (camelids) which have had TB, possibly (probably) undiagnosed, and passed that to wildlife.And in that case, testing and slaughtering cattle will continue.
Our ministry will not touch badgers or deer, preferring to throw cattle farmers under the proverbial bus, and let them pay and work to try and clear up a mess not of their making. Camelid owners may still refuse entry and hide their casualties under the soil..

We have noticed that new variants of the original badger / cattle spoligotypes are popping up, particularly in the edge areas and low risk areas. This is not seen on the first DNA screen, i.e VLA 9, or VLA 22 but on the further screens, known as VNTR (Variable number Tandem Repeats) which refine the strain even more.

In the OP's original posting, he said that their herd breakdown pattern had been:
".... going clear in the spring three years in a row only to fail in autumn but with less cases each time."

And recorded history shows this to be the case back as far as 1976, when the late William Tait's information to the then CVO, recorded exactly the same thing.
Cattle could be tested to death, (literally) and cleared when housed diuring the winter, only to succomb to the Ministerial bullet after grazing infected pastures during spring / summer.

 

[Henarar]

We are all finding APHA advice 'conflicting' depending on who is reading the rule book at the time, or how up to date it is. Long gone are the days when a qualified veterinary epidemiologist looked at YOUR case and interpreted with some sense and knowledge.

Logically, the case zero breakdown, will have given spoligotypes and an insight as to how TB arrived there by viewing cattle movements which have occurred on the farm since the last clear test. (or a few months prior to that test)
Cattle to cattle spread is very very rare, and has to be over a long period with animals in close proximity.

But radial testing will obviously show a bigger picture. If nothing is found, then a cattle movement may be the cause. Further testing should thus depend on those results.

If neighbours are also in trouble, then another source must be considered. and that can be shared wildlife interface, or a shared companion mammal contact (camelids) which have had TB, possibly (probably) undiagnosed, and passed that to wildlife.And in that case, testing and slaughtering cattle will continue.
Our ministry will not touch badgers or deer, preferring to throw cattle farmers under the proverbial bus, and let them pay and work to try and clear up a mess not of their making. Camelid owners may still refuse entry and hide their casualties under the soil..

We have noticed that new variants of the original badger / cattle spoligotypes are popping up, particularly in the edge areas and low risk areas. This is not seen on the first DNA screen, i.e VLA 9, or VLA 22 but on the further screens, known as VNTR (Variable number Tandem Repeats) which refine the strain even more.

In the OP's original posting, he said that their herd breakdown pattern had been:
".... going clear in the spring three years in a row only to fail in autumn but with less cases each time."

And recorded history shows this to be the case back as far as 1976, when the late William Tait's information to the then CVO, recorded exactly the same thing.
Cattle could be tested to death, (literally) and cleared when housed diuring the winter, only to succomb to the Ministerial bullet after grazing infected pastures during spring / summer.

View attachment 737010

WTF they don't put you in charge I don't know

 

[matthew]

WTF they don't put you in charge I don't know

I ask too many awkward questions.

 

[Henarar]

I ask too many awkward questions.

good, keep it up