Kitchen Garden Forum

I see that Chris Packham has joined the anti badger cull trial. There was a time when the Television companies employed true countrymen such as Phil Drabble, Jack Hargreaves etc instead of these predictable bunny-huggers. TB in the West Country is an epidemic and something has to be tried. It is no good these idealistic so called experts talking about vaccines when they are not available. Badgers are a serious problem; what is the fear of the bunny-hugger? If the trials fail to reduce the disease then their case is vindicated. Or is it that they fear that culling badgers will reduce the spread of TB? What about the masses of cattle culled due to TB, have they not got any sympathy? I had cattle due to calve in early December that would have been moved from the low lying moors to a large barn. However the barn belonged to a neighbour who had just failed his TB testing together with two more adjacent farms. I had nowhere to move my cattle and had to calve them in waterlogged fields and lost a third of my calves. The Somerset moors (now referred to as the levels by the so called experts- despite locals always referring them as the moors) were flooded for months and as I was clear of TB I got no compensation for drowned calves. TB is costing thousands, something has to be tried, support the badger cull, they have to be controlled.

Barney

How do we support it Barney? is there a petition or anything we can sign?

Beryl.

All I could find is this Facebook page.https://www.facebook.com/BadgerCulling?ref=hl

Beryl.

Thank you for your support Beryl, unfortunately there are no great demonstrations or public awareness supporting the cull (that is a very limited cull in two specially chosen areas) due to the fascist violence of the anti cull fools. Farmers that have the slightest connection with the limited cull have received vile threats and intimidation from the anti-brigade. The antis believe that if the limited cull proves effective they fear that a mass extermination would take place. However all that would happen is that the vast uncontrolled badger population would be managed, as all animals with no natural predators should be. If the limited cull has no effect on TB in cattle then by all means we shall have to invest in other methods; but to do nothing is NOT an option. The trouble with all these wildlife experts on television today is that they are just observers of the countryside with no real connection with it. They live in an idealistic world, I just can not understand why it is perfectly OK, with them, to fire bolts into the heads of infected cattle but not shoot a disease carrying badger. The cost of compensation to the farmers together with the imposed restriction on cattle movement has cost this country a fortune. Every country that has had to deal with TB in cattle has had to control the wildlife that carry the infection which is common-sense. I've just come back from checking on my herd and all the calves that survived are doing very well running with their mothers in a suckler herd and have filled out very well unlike the herd of bony arsed calves I bought at market a month ago which have some catching up to do. I've got another batch that I am weaning indoors and as soon as I have castrated the bulls they will join the others out on the pasture. I just hope that none of them contract TB.

Barney

It must be like living with Russian roulette, never knowing if your cattle are going to survive through no fault of your own. I wish you well and hope a solution is found one way or another.

MW

Is the problem about vaccinating cattle against TB something to do with the importance given to having TB free status for sales to other countries?

We don't cull people with TB and when someone at my school got it everyone had to be vaccinated and tested to make sure it had given immunity. The girl recovered and there were no other outbreaks.

Wouldn't it be more sensible to vaccinate instead of having to kill everything?

Or is there some other reason.

Culling has been shown to have only very limited effect and to make things worse in some cases.

The complication is it is ILLEGAL to vaccinate cattle against TB. Millions and millions of tax payers money has already and will be spent on developing a vaccine, but it is not available at present. However the disease is rampant and doing nothing must not be an option.

You state that culling has been shown to have only a limited effect, but that is the whole point - it may have only a limited effect but this is far preferable to doing nothing and waiting whilst cattle are slaughtered daily and herd restrictions imposed.

People must face facts, if you have rats spreading disease in your property you ask for them to be culled, why not badgers?

I'm desperate for a solution and of course will welcome a vaccine but it is not available for use.

http://www.defra.gov.uk/animal-diseases ... ccination/

Barney

Thank you for explaining all the facts for us Barney. I do wish you and your herd well and hope the cull will give you the results you need.

Badgers do need to be contained for other issues to, now they are becoming so urbanised like the foxes.

A very emotive subject.
Beryl.

Cider Boys. Must be a continuing headache.

Interesting to see the Soil Association coming in for stick from badger lovers for refusing to oppose culling.

http://www.soilassociation.org/news/new ... -bovine-tb

https://www.facebook.com/soilassociation

am i right in summing up the current situation as follows

1, 100 cows in a field....
2 half a dozen badgers roam over the field and give one of the cows tb,
3 government shoot all 100 cows.....
4 taxpayer pays out £100k to get the farmer 100 new cows...
....
5 ...go back to 1 and start again.


surely that cant be right?

Not quite but close, only kill cattle that test with T.B., remaining cattle all have to undergo further testing until whole herd tests clear, but no movement of cattle allowed until all clear. Compensation paid for cattle killed.

There are (of course) methods of DIY control of badgers that some unscrupulous may consider such as pushing diesel soaked sacks into their sets, a badger then rubs against the fuel and the smell is alleged to cause the other badgers to move on elsewhere. The more popular is the lacing of raw sausages with slug pellets, I do not condone any illegal methods. My hope is that a legal cull will take place in the two selected areas of the west country and the evidence be examined in an open considered manner. However there is an army of protesters wiling to break the law (some advocating violence) to disrupt any cull, I wonder why? Perhaps the evidence may show that controlling the badger population may control the TB epidemic.