NFU President: TB is destroying farm business and it must be stopped
More has to be done to stop TB from destroying farming businesses. With one Dorset farmer set to lose nearly a quarter of his dairy herd to the disease, NFU President Meurig Raymond said he would be taking this message to the heart of government. “Today is just one example of what is happening on […]
Farmer’s despair as nearly a quarter of closed dairy herd lost to bovine TB
Dorset dairy farmer Paul Gould is facing the prospect of losing nearly a quarter of his closed dairy herd after the animals reacted positively at his latest routine bovine TB test. Mr Gould said: “I’ve had 36 reactors, including 31 of my in-calf heifer replacements which were due to calve in this year. Let’s be […]
Princess is wrong to back badger gassing
Reports that Princess Anne would back the gassing of badgers, rather than shooting, as part of a cull to reduce bovine TB have caused outrage and disappointment. Dominic Dyer, CEO of the Badger Trust and Policy Advisor to Care for the Wild, said: “The anti-badger cull protest movement is one of the biggest we’ve ever […]
BVA statement on bovine TB announcement
Defra Secretary of State Owen Paterson has published the Independent Expert Panel (IEP) report on the humaneness, safety and efficacy of the pilot badger culls in England, and the Government’s response. He has also published the full Bovine TB Strategy for England. Commenting, BVA President Robin Hargreaves, said: “Clearly the headlines from the IEP report […]
Badger Cull roll-out postponed – but will return to Gloucester and Somerset
A potential badger cull across 10 further counties in England has been postponed by the government, but culling will continue in Somerset and Gloucestershire, it has been announced today. Secretary of State Owen Paterson told Parliament that the government was listening to advice from the Independent Expert Panel Report and wished to ‘perfect’ the culling […]
Plans to eradicate bovine TB in England unveiled
A comprehensive Strategy to achieve TB free status in England by 2038 has been announced by Environment Secretary Owen Paterson today. This includes continuing to strengthen cattle movement controls, a grant-funded scheme for badger vaccination projects in the ‘edge area’ at the frontier of the disease, and improvements to the four-year badger cull pilots in […]
MPs vote 219 to 1 against the badger cull
MPs voted overwhelmingly to halt the controversial badger culls in England yesterday. The motion was proposed by the Conservative MP Anne Main and stated that the pilot culls had “decisively failed”. Farming minister George Eustice refused to respond to a challenge to hold a full debate and vote in government time, choosing, rather, to defend the culls, […]
