Badger survey! Please look, will take 2 minutes!

[Ted]

i seem to be part of a small minority that thinks a farmer should keep his cattle clean, if he can't then trap and kill the farmer, simples not sure how you would keep a cow in a field with a badger hidden in a hedge row mind.

[lxstuart]

Well I seem to be the only one who thinks a badger cull is long overdue.

When badgers were first classified as a protected species, their numbers were low. Since then, their numbers have risen, and are now bordering on vermin levels.
Another point, is that although a vaccine will protect the badger, it can still carry the disease and pass it on (admittedly there is a much smaller window for this) which given there numbers is reasonably likely.

So kill kill kill, though ideally combined with better farm security (I don't mean bouncers).

[judderod]

Let nature take its course. Only allow the cows that don't die from disease to reproduce.

[paul bristol uk]

Vaccinate cattle along with better security from Farmers.
Oh I forgot Farmers have no money for anything except for new 4x4's

Its to wet, the crops are rotting
Its to dry, the crops are withering
The price of feed is to high
The prices I get are to low
The Supermarkets have us over a barrel
My family have farmed this land for 300 years(and used most of the above excuses)

Sorry no sympathy for them. Adapt into other things a lot have as well as farming. By that I mean business units on the farm,rare breeds,free range products etc.

[Donald]

Well they took their time deciding what everyone knew...

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/ ... -cattle-tb

...as early as 2007 - http://archive.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/fa ... report.pdf (used this and your views to write my paper in the end).

Dear Secretary of State,

FINAL REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SCIENTIFIC GROUP ON CATTLE TB

I have pleasure in enclosing the final Report of the Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB (ISG). After nearly a decade’s work, I believe that the ISG has fulfilled its original objective and can now provide you with a comprehensive picture of TB epidemiology in cattle and badgers. Further research will doubtless improve the knowledge base, but I believe that the work described in this Report will allow you to develop future policies based on sound science.

The ISG’s work – most of which has already been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals – has reached two key conclusions. First, while badgers are clearly a source of cattle TB, careful evaluation of our own and others’ data indicates that badger culling can make no meaningful contribution to cattle TB control in Britain. Indeed, some policies under consideration are likely to make matters worse rather than better. Second, weaknesses in cattle testing regimes mean that cattle themselves contribute significantly to the persistence and spread of disease in all areas where TB occurs, and in some parts of Britain are likely to be the main source of infection. Scientific findings indicate that the rising incidence of disease can be reversed, and geographical spread contained, by the rigid application of cattle-based control measures alone.

Our Report provides advice on the need for Defra to develop disease control strategies, based on scientific findings. Implementation of such strategies will require Defra to institute more effective operational structures, and the farming and veterinary communities to accept the scientific findings. If this can be achieved, the ISG is confident that the measures outlined in this Report will greatly improve TB control in Britain.

The ISG remains grateful to you and your colleagues for your continued support and encouragement to see our work brought to a successful conclusion.

F J BOURNE

[mercutio]

. Only allow the cows that don't die from disease to reproduce.

do you get many calves from dead cattle?

[Sailor]

I think I read somewhere that the herds that had never had TB despite the presence of badgers were those which hadn't been packed into the densities we often see. If it's true, the blame for the spread of the disease lies with today's farming practices. (I don't understand why this should make them more disease-resistant. Perhaps more space means less contact between the species?)

Vaccinating badgers is a no-no, surely? You can't get them all, and you'll waste as much as you usefully use. Killing wild animals to protect incomes is also a bit iffy. Perhaps limited culls would be acceptable if the carcases were gathered and sold along with some lovely recipes.