March 13, 2014

 

 

After testing positive for tuberculosis (TB), more than 50 cattle were slaughtered every day in the West of England in 2013, more than half the total for the UK.

 

There were 18,306 animals killed in the Western region in 2013, this represents a fall from 2012 (20,701) and 2013 (19,358). There has been an average fall of 15% since 2008.

 

Across England, slaughters fell by 6% on 2012 to 32,620, with the number of outbreaks falling 3%. But figures for Wales showed a huge fall of more than a third in slaughters and 22% in new herd incidents. The Great Britain average is 13.6%.

 

These figures will apply more pressure on the Government on the eve of a Commons debate on badger culling, a policy the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) which said in 2011 would achieve a reduction of 16% in nine years.

 

Dominic Dyer, chief executive of the Badger Trust said: "The badger cull will not have had any impact on these numbers – these reductions reflect the more stringent measures which were forced upon the government and the farming industry by the European Commission in January 2013."

 

Last month, Welsh natural resources minister Alun Davies welcomed similar figures, saying they suggested the country's approach was working.

 

The proportion of TB-free herds to have the status withdrawn has also fallen, to 4.5%, the lowest rate since 2006.

 

Defra does warn about the reliability "short-term" statistics that may yet be revised. But setting out its TB eradication policy in 2011, the department cited a rise from 4.8% in 2009 to 4.9% in 2010, which it said suggested "that the disease situation may be worsening again."

 

It said it need to await data from future months to see if this upward trend continues, but this suggests that the improvement in the disease situation that they saw during 2009 is not set to continue using their current control measures.

 

Farming Minister George Eustice said: "Our efforts to control bovine TB have kept outbreaks steady over the last 10 years, but we are still nowhere near an acceptable position."

 

Dyer added Defra will claim the figures are too high, and that TB is costing the country a lot of money, both of which are true.

 

Last month, Welsh natural resources minister Alun Davies welcomed similar figures, saying they suggested the country's approach was working.