April 9, 2014

After the animals reacted positively at the latest routine bovine tuberculosis (TB) test, a Dorset dairy farmer is facing the prospect of losing nearly a quarter of his closed dairy herd.

About 32,620 cattle were slaughtered in Great Britain due to bovine TB in 2013. This equates to almost 90 cattle being killed each day as a result of the disease.

The figures showed that the incidence rate such as the proportion of previously TB-free cattle herds found to be infected with new incidences of the disease - was 4.5%. This means the rate has been at an unacceptably high level of above 4% for a decade and shows the steady toll of bovine TB on British cattle herds.

National Farmers Union (NFU) President Meurig Raymond said: "The terrible situation of the Dorset dairy farmer finds himself in reinforces the need for action to be taken on all fronts to tackle bovine TB. While we're confident that the pilot culls will deliver a reduction in bovine TB in Somerset and Gloucestershire, farmers in other parts of the country where the disease is rife like Dorset face the despair of continually fighting a losing battle to control it without any means of preventing badgers continually re-infecting their cattle. There is little point in increasing regulations on farmers when the disease isn't being tackled in wildlife. Until we do that reinfection will continue to occur. Controlling the spread of the disease is absolutely essential and culling badgers where bovine TB is endemic must play a role in any strategy to deal it."

Raymond added that the government's TB eradication strategy highlights the need to control the badger population in areas where TB is rife. The NFU will now be looking at the best ways of rolling out this policy to other areas where farms and farmers have to deal with the scourge of TB on their farms.

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. Almost 90 cattle are being slaughtered each day due to bovine TB and we cannot allow that to continue."

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) consulted on a 25-year TB eradication strategy last summer, which included proposals for disease surveillance, pre- and post-movement cattle testing, removal of cattle exposed to bovine TB and wildlife controls including culling and vaccination trials. The final strategy will be published this Spring.

It will also focus on the development of new techniques such as badger and cattle vaccines and new diagnostic tests that could one day offer new ways of tackling the disease.