The NFU has strongly refuted a new study on the control of bovine TB, branding the suggestion that it is more acceptable to spend taxpayers’ money on compensation than on tackling the disease itself as ‘an absolute insult to the farming community’.
The paper, published today in the science journal PloS ONE, goes on to claim that the benefits of repeated widespread badger culling, in terms of reducing the incidence of bovine TB, disappear within four years of the end of the programme.
The researchers from Imperial College London and the Zoological Society of London analysed data from the Krebs trial in 1998.
Their findings suggest that five annual culls over a 150sq km area would prevent infection in 22.6 herds of cattle – saving £610,200 – but cost between £1.35 and £2.14 million using cage trapping, snaring or gassing.
In response, NFU Deputy President Meurig Raymond pointed to the four trial areas in the Republic of Ireland and the highly successful Thornbury trial, which culminated in a 10 year disease free period amongst cattle. He said: “It is an absolute insult to the farming community to suggest that it is more financially acceptable to use taxpayers’ money as compensation than to take action to tackle the ever expanding spread of bovine TB.
“It also belittles any acknowledgement by the report authors that ‘TB can profoundly affect farmers’ livelihoods’ to little more than a platitude.
“The NFU believes that we can’t just rely on cattle measures to reduce the levels of bTB in this country. Some 40,000 cattle were slaughtered in 2008 and the figures for 2009 are likely to follow a similar pattern. Compensation costs for 2008 were £50 million - that’s a complete waste of productive animals, of farmers’ investment and of taxpayers’ money.
“We firmly believe that a badger cull is needed now to reduce the level of infection in high incidence areas. This is already accompanied by a raft of cattle controls, which are based around surveillance and culling, and have proved effective at disease eradication in areas where cattle are the only disease reservoir.
“We are confident that a combined policy of cattle control and badger culling, with the oral bait badger vaccine being introduced in four to five years as a culling exit strategy, would provide the means necessary to eradicate this pernicious disease for good.”
* Provisional Defra figures suggesting a decrease in TB incidents only show ‘half the story’, the NFU has said…more
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