Livestock
Defra announces review of badger cull to combat bovine TB
• Review of progress against disease • Four years into 25-year strategy • Other measures could be on way
egy – including its policy of cull- ing badgers to combat the disease. Defra secretary Michael Gove
T
said he believed now was a good time to review progress and con- sider what additional actions might be necessary now to en- sure that other tools and inter- ventions are ready to be deployed in later phases of the strategy. Four years have now past since the government published its 25 year strategy to control bo- vine TB. The review of its progress and effectiveness will be chaired by Sir Charles Godfray, a popu- lation biologist and Fellow of the Royal Society.
Interventions
The 25 year strategy outlined a very broad range of interven- tions to fi ght the disease includ- ing tighter cattle movement controls and removal of infected cattle from herds, improved diag- nostic tests, enhanced biosecuri- ty measures It also includes the culling of badgers in areas where disease
he government has an- nounced a review of its 25 year Bovine TB strat-
Defra said it wanted to ensure other elements of the strategy, such as cattle vaccination or de- veloping genetic resistance, were ready to be deployed in the next phase of the strategy to ensure it maintains progress towards its target of England becoming offi - cially TB free by 2038.
No easy answers Mr Eustice said: “There is no sin- gle measure that will provide an easy answer and that is why we are pursuing a wide range of interventions including cattle movement controls and a cull of badgers in areas where disease is rife.
“Now is a good time to review George Eustice
is rife, vaccination of badgers and work to develop a viable vaccine for use in cattle. The government has said it also envisages future reviews at fi ve yearly intervals. So far, the principal elements deployed in the fi rst phase of the strategy have been cattle move- ment controls, the removal of in- fected cattle from herds and the badger cull which covered more than 20 different areas in 2017.
“
Promar’s latest Milkminder cost- ed herds report shows that cur- rent on-farm effi ciency improve- ments have the potential to result in a £22,000 increase in Margin Over Purchase Feed (MOPF) per year, for the average size herd. The £22,000 increase is irre- spective of any year-on-year milk price fl uctuations – which in the last year would have had a posi- tive impact and boosted margins even further, says Nigel Davies,
56 ANGLIA FARMER • MARCH 2018
No one wants to be culling badgers forever
progress to date and identify steps we could take now to ac- celerate some of the elements of our 25 year strategy that might be deployed in later phases. While the badger culls are a necessary part of the strategy, no one wants to be culling badgers forever.” Bovine TB has a well-docu- mented negative effect on the health and welfare of affected an- imals. Dealing with the disease costs the taxpayer an estimated £100m a year. Over the last year alone, more than 30,000 infect- ed cattle had to be slaughtered in England.
The review is due to end in September 2018.
Focus on efficiency to boost dairy herd margins
Promar’s national consultancy manager. “The average herd in the sam- ple of 212 cows had a comparable number of calvings in November 2017 compared to November 2016. They also generated an extra 0.9 litres per cow, per day, and reduced concentrate feed use by 7.6 kg per cow over the course of the month. Mr Davies adds: “When apply-
ing the same milk price from 2017 to the relative period in 2016, effi -
ciency alone has generated an ad- ditional margin of £1,800 for the average herd in the month of No- vember. “Although these numbers may
appear small, they create a real fi nancial improvement over the course of 12 months. Margin- al gains achieved on a daily ba- sis can really add up. It’s impor- tant to look after the pennies and the pounds will look after them- selves.”
The review will cover all aspects of controlling bovine TB
Nigel Davies: marginal gains add up
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