As 2023 draws to a close, the National TB conference was held in Worcestershire, where the great and good, and many recipients of APHA's largesse, spoke about zoonotic tuberculosis . Sorry, no link to the reports, but as we read them, the divide between farms and the department which is supposed to support the eradication of this grade 3 zoonosis is described as a 'barrier' to progress. Really? When livestock farmers, and some of their arable neighbours have put their respective hands in their pockets to fund large scale badger control, which has seen incidence drop in England to levels not se ..read more

  It is some twenty years since we started this blog, using Parliamentary Questions - all 500 of them - as its anchor. The written answers were illuminating, and still valid today. A previous boss of Woodchester Park, otherwise known as 'Badger Heaven', Dr. Chris Cheeseman was heard on more than one occasion when asked how to keep badgers away from cattle replied with an elegant shrug "You can't. Get rid of your cattle". And this message has been recycled with a Welsh Labour MP, Joyce Watson  suggesting that farms with persistent TB problems, should find another way to use their ..read more

We have been waiting for the TB balloon to go up, as Jeremy Clarkson let rip into some of the more 'unusual' systems, farmers and in particular livestock farmers, have to endure in his series on Amazon Prime.  Presently we are subjected to a blizzard of bad publicity, often headed by the farming unions and levy payers' representatives apologising for our very existence. Shoot a cow, plant a tree and sell your carbon credits so that the great and the good can Carry on Partying. Or attending far flung jamborees in pursuit of  Net Zero.  In series 2 of Clarkson's farm, Jeremy met t ..read more

  We posted two years ago, the story of an Irish cat  which after several years of veterinary treatment, was X rayed and found to have generalised skeletal tuberculosis. The cat was euthanised at seven years old. Samples (plural) were taken from this cat, and the strain or spoligotype found to be Danish type 1331, uniquely used in badger vaccines. The paper explains: PCR and the usual culture tests revealed m.bovis  But the the spoligotype was revealed as Danish Strain 1331 used locally in badger vaccines.  After another six months with no improvement, intermitten ..read more

  Following on from our last posting, which reported a significant drop of 20 per cent in cattle slaughterings, this week's press is reporting another bit of good news for long suffering cattle farmers. Now that Doris has taken his wife out of the cabinet office, and a new broom has cleared the green blob from Defra, at last a bit of common sense is surfacing. Farmers Guardian headline indicates a Ministerial 'rethink on ending culling'. If you remember, George Eustice was quoted widely as saying 'we can't keep shooting badgers indefinitely'. Obviously his opinion didn't extend to sl ..read more

  The farming press have this week that cattle slaughtered in England have dropped by 20 per cent. Similar drops have been reported in Wales and Scotland. Farmers Guardian took the front page slot with the headline addressed to the new PM, 'Call for a Rethink on Badger cull' and long piece including new Defra stats, from June 2021 - July 2022. The push follows the publication of new Defra figures which reveal between July 2021 and June 2022, a total of 24,398 animals have been slaughtered in England, a drop of 20 per cent, while in Wales the number was 9,713, a decreas ..read more

  Minister for Defra, Victoria Prentis is quoted recently as describing the Department's plans for biosecurity as a 'top priority' to protect consumers, and reassure trading partners of UK standards of animal and plant health. She said: Biosecurity remains a top priority for the Government, not only to protect consumers, but also to ensure that trading partners and industry have strong assurance of the UK's standards of food safety, animal and plant health. On 16 February 2022, the Government also announced the allocation of £200 million for a programme of investment into world-leading ..read more

We have not posted anything on this site for six months, mainly because what we are seeing and hearing, reading and growling over is repeated guff. Rinse and repeat, ad infinitum. Hence the headline - Ever decreasing circles. Even this week, the Guardian  has the headline, 'Badger culls do not prevent cattle TB'. Really? Of course what they should have said was half hearted political culls, reduce, but do not clear zoonotic TB from cattle. Historic data shows the effects of a cull in graphic detail: And our Parliamentary Questions, almost two decades ago gave an unequivocal answ ..read more

 Today, Apha have  published the culture results  for the alpaca at the centre of a three year stand off  after several positive Enferplex TB tests. We have covered the story of 'Geronimo'  in several posts  which started with this one  in 2018  Apha (Animal and Plant Health Agency) explain in today's press release that: "In September, APHA specialist vets completed an initial post-mortem examination of the animal, which revealed the presence of TB-like lesions. These have since been undergoing further testing to determine the source of ..read more

It was only a matter of time before the hilarious antics of Jeremy Clarkson, while trying out new toys on 'Clarkson's Farm', came head to head with badgers, and in particular their arch protectors, the Badger Trust. And sure enough in this week's  Agriland press   the Trust are in full spate. Amongst the adjectives are 'offensive diatribe'   which the trust ascribes to Mr. Clarkson. But the mention of 'senseless slaughter' and their bold description of Bovine TB  as a cattle based disease, does the Trust no favours; it is infantile and inaccurate prattling.&n ..read more