The Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency’s Farm Assessment Toolkit project helps farmers decide on the best protection for their herds. Badger visits to buildings are monitored for four weeks and volunteers presented with the findings – providing a tailored risk assessment and an indication of where biosecurity can be improved, as well as wider ‘best practice’ advice.
The AHVLA’s Ian Vernon told Farmers Weekly: "We had a fantastic take-up from our volunteer farms and we've spent the past few months installing cameras - the final ones will be going up in August.
“We're also starting to conduct individual surveys to understand badger activity near the farm buildings and to record details of farming practices and landscape features.
"In some cases farmers have had no idea badgers are entering their buildings. On one of the farms from last year's surveillance the cameras picked up images of badgers frequently visiting the feed store by squeezing under the gate.
“The farmer was able to fix a piece of wood to the bottom of the gate to prevent this."
A separate project by the South West TB Farm Advisory Service and Bicton College in Devon has shown just how persistent badgers can be in trying to get access to buildings and fields.
Their tests of badger-proof equipment, such as fences and feed bins, has caught on camera badgers squeezing through gaps as small as 10.5cm and concerted attacks on fencing.
Anthony Pope, lead adviser of the South West TB Farm Advisory Group, said the determination shown had been “astounding” and “highlights the challenge farmers have in keeping them from accessing different areas of their farms”.