[lachlanandmarcus]

Especially as the massive increase in restrictions and plans for drops in compensation which the farmers bodies agreed to on the basis of the cull going ahead will still go ahead with no cull and will make restriction so bad that many many cattle farmers in the south and west of the UK will either have to give up cattle (result, imports from abroad with their countries controlling TB where they have it by culling anyway) or applying to build large indoor factory farms (to keep the badgers out and try and make the business economic under the increased costs and restrictions)
But these will still not be in the south and west - they will be in the East, cause thats where the huge amounts of grain for feed and straw for bedding can be supported - not ideal as cattle need a lot of water and the east has much less rainfall.
I dont want to see cattle in factory farms never eating grass or the fields of our best cattle land empty of everything but diseased wildlife  :-((((.
 

[si-mate]

Let's not forget that the proposed cull is a trial. If it has little or no effect on TB in the pilot area then it won't be rolled out nationwide.
Something needs to be done to stop this terrible disease and despite what Brian May says vaccination is currently not an option and is unlikely to be for many years yet.


As said above we don't have a problem with controlling other disease carrying vectors like rats and mice.

[belgianblue]

like many of you trying to breed rare breed cattle and spend thousands trying to get it right. then you come to tb testing and the vet confirm they are positive, you be swearing. and and you won't get paid either...

[Fronhaul]

And please do not forget that badgers carrying TB are ill and will die slowly from the disease they are carrying.

I cannot see the logic of slaughtering cattle and in some cases losing irreplaceable bloodlines while doing nothing to address the causes particularly when the badgers themselves are suffering.

The vaccination scheme in SW Wales frankly asks more questions than it answers I feel.  Not least because the vaccine is administered to all badgers trapped and no tests are undertaken to ensure only healthy badgers are vaccinated.  Methods of recording which badgers have been vaccinated are also Heath Robinson in the extreme as no micro chipping is involved the vaccinated badgers being marked only by clipping hair on the tail.

And lets be clear on this, the vaccine itself it available.  What is lacking is the marker that will distinguish infected cattle from vaccinated cattle.  And sadly if and when the marker is developed we will then face a maze of EU regulations that currently prohibit the use of TB vaccinations.

[lachlanandmarcus]

What is interesting and very concerning is that a number of the key organisations who should be involved in developing the test to see whether an individual badger is infected or not (which would enable a cull to focus entirely on infected badgers and to protect clean setts completely - which is the outcome I think the vast majority of UK would support), are currently not doing so and are very evasive about it when asked why not......
The reason? - in some cases their jobs and income have become dependent on not resolving this issue (thats not to say that it influences all people whose income comes from TB related work - but some). In others, despite a legal responsibility to eradicate disease and prevent suffering, esp diseases which can pass to humans, they are when it comes down to it actually not prepared to see a single badger culled, even if the badger in question is proven 100%  to be riddled with TB and will die a long and painful death of it down the line.