Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Written Evidence


Memorandum submitted by Christine Chester

BOVINE TB

INTRODUCTION

  Being invited to submit further evidence on the problem of Bovine TB, the first thought, which occurs to me is that, the machinations of this Committee will thus be delayed until the next General Election, in the hope that should a Conservative Government be elected, then the Labour Party would have the pleasure of dropping this particular "hot potato" ie Badger Culling, into the hands of the incoming Administration.

  New Scientist 17-4-2004 reads:—"Interim results are in, but the scientists running the trial want to withhold them". Obviously Defra knows more than I do, but curiously the likes of me are invited to make further comment.

  To introduce myself, my name is Christine Chester; I come from generations of farming families. I am nearly 74 and, until three years ago, lived my life to the rhythm of the dairy farm. The uneconomic price of milk and the trauma and costs of being under TB restrictions made us realize there was no future for the family dairy farm.

  I can well remember the eradication of TB and brucellosis in the m1960s, we started farming in 1952 with TT cattle and had over 40 years of TB free farming. The great increase in badger numbers and the relocating of urban badgers and foxes, by so-called animal lovers have caused the present increase in herd breakdowns. It is a well-known fact that the badger thrives where there are dairy cows. I attended the Stake Holders Conference at Harper Adams University College recently and was horrified to see the spread of Bovine TB demonstrated on the computerized maps and graphs.

1.   Vaccine

  I am largely ignorant on the progress towards a vaccine. It is usually a fixed 10 years up the line. I do not know if this research is adequately funded. No mention is ever made as to who will pay for it, or how the vaccination programme is to be organized. Another ear tag? Does it give life long protection? A lot of unanswered questions. Who pays? I think that if HMG insists in harbouring an infected species then HMG should foot the bill, and also the bill for field damage caused by ever enlarging badger setts.

2.   Ireland

  The trials in the Republic of Ireland definitely indicate a connection between badgers and Bovine TB. The work done by Denny and Wilesmith in Northern Ireland and reported in Vet Record (1999) 144 pp 305-310 reads "the two main associations with TB breakdowns are the presence of badgers and the presence of contiguous neighbours that had confirmed TB breakdowns."

3.   Trace Elements

  The high yielding dairy cow needs a scientifically balanced diet and will not get in calf unless her nutritional requirements are met. We paid a consultant to make up a ration based on summer grazing and silage. We always "buffer-fed" during the grazing season including a mineral mix specific to our requirements.

  To me this is yet another "red herring" thrown up by NFBGs et al, that cattle are short of trace elements , making them prone to infection by TB, another myth laid to rest.

4.   Solutions

  Solving the problems of Bovine TB is inevitably clouded by political decisions, those involving funding of the Labour Party by bodies such as the P. A. L and the desire to keep certain Members of Parliament in their seats.

  Does HMG want farmers or badgers? No other EC or Western nation has treated farming as badly as the present Administration, and the Tories were bad enough. The recent suggestion that a levy be raised on milk and beef to pay TB compensation shows the lack of understanding of HMG to the lack of profit especially in dairy farming.

  When we suffered our first case of TB we had not had a TT test for four years. This must indicate a serious lack of funding to the SVS. This is not acceptable; for years the SVS has been reduced, under funded and had much of its work undervalued and handed over to the Trading Standards.

SUMMARY

  This new Inquiry is merely a delaying tactic and HMG should be ashamed of such actions. The financial costs to both HMG and the farming community is enormous, as is the distress and worry to the individual farmers. Perhaps the members of Defra should stand back and take a look historically.

  Very few cases of Bovine TB were experienced from the eradication of TB in the 1960s until the huge increase in the badger population in the late 1990s.

  No trouble.

  No cow-to-cow transmission.

  No problems with trace elements.

  No need to vaccinate.

  This submission is from myself, as a member of a farming community in NE Staffordshire, which has seen nearly every farm suffer a TB breakdown. We live in the Churnet Valley, an area of steep valleys and dense woodland.

Christine Chester

May 2004





 
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