FFA meet with Chief Vet on bTB

This issue has been plaguing Northern Ireland’s livestock farmers for generations while in the 1960’s and 1970’s progress was being made - the world has changed with badgers which are blamed for the transmission of TB to cattle becoming an endangered species and have been registered as such with the Berne Convention, meaning that infected badgers cannot be culled without a special license.

Recently, a Belfast judge ruled that a proposed badger cull of infected badgers in Northern Ireland could not go forward under a special license as the case presented by the Department for Agriculture had flaws, thus more time delay for vets and farmers on the ground to deal with this disease.

Sean McAuley said: “All this was discussed at FFA’s meeting with the Chief Vet and his team, where work is ongoing to prepare the way forward for the new Minister by autumn.

"Meanwhile, the whole situation could be described as stalemate with not enough options available to end the scourge of TB. It’s time to look at new options and think outside the box eg ask the questions, why after all these decades do we not have a cure for bTB? Should the UK Government be requesting that badgers be removed from the Berne Convention list now that they are no longer endangered due to a massive increase in numbers?”

"In fact, Sean McAuley continued stating that “Increasingly we are starting to see badgers as a pest, as they are killing hedgehogs, leverets and even ground nesting birds, not to mention, digging up farmers fields for worms or digging and rolling around in cereal fields near harvest when they can destroy quite an area of crop.

"All the while livestock farmers are at their wits end testing and testing and re-testing and culling infected cattle to get clear of TB only for their herd to go down again a few months later, meanwhile, their business model is completely turned on its head due to overstocking and limited opportunities to sell on the open market, otherwise, it’s direct to the abattoir and with farm gate prices already on the floor, this disease continues to place a huge financial burden and stress on family farmers across Northern Ireland.”

FFA intend to discuss the bTB issue alongside other issues with the Minister very shortly at their requested meeting.