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'Badgers have cost me 150 cattle'
9 June 2005 - BBC News
As the government launches a trial scheme to vaccinate badgers in an effort
to halt the spread of Bovine TB in cattle, one farmer describes the problems the
disease has caused him.
Jan Rowe, 60, has worked at the 500-acre Whalley Farm in Andover's Ford, near
Cheltenham in the Cotswolds, for 40 years. His father started the operation and
his brother runs the dairy business with him. He looks after a herd of 350 cattle. But over the past 20 years, he has lost
close to 150 cattle to Bovine TB - nearly 100 of which were infected in the last
four years. The latest cow to be taken away for slaughter was removed on Thursday
morning.
Mr Rowe believes the disease is spread by the badgers on his farm - but he
has been powerless to do anything about them.
"It's a very serious issue, a story we have been trying to tell for a long
time," he said. "We have always supported vaccination and welcome this trial, but we should
be allowed to cull diseased badgers as well. All we can do is watch them at the
moment. It's been quite a grotesque problem in the last seven years or so, and it
could be seven to 10 years before an appropriate vaccine is available."
Mr Rowe says Labour's decision after its 1997 election win to ban the culling
of badgers, except in trial areas, has cost him dear. His farm is currently operating under restrictions which means he cannot sell
his cattle or move his stock.
The costs of Bovine TB |
Bovine TB estimated to cost £2,000-£20,000 a year |
On some farms, cost estimated over £100,000 a year |
Between 21,000 and 25,000 affected cattle killed every year |
Figures calculated by the University of Exeter |
He said: "There was a lot of talk about the 'poor badgers' and a lot of
sympathy for them when culling was stopped. Before the mid 1990s, we were under restriction for eight or nine months
every three to four years. But now we are free for just eight or nine months every three or four years. Being under restriction means you cannot plan for the future as you just
don't know what is going to happen, when the restrictions will be lifted. Some farms have been restricted for seven years at a time. We get tested every 60 days but as we cannot sell our cattle, we'll be
shooting about 100 bull calves as it's just not worth keeping them in financial
terms. It's very emotive for a herdsman to be up all night delivering them and then
having to kill them the next day."
Compensation is provided allowing many farmers hit with Bovine TB to break
even, but coupled with the BSE crisis and foot-and-mouth, some have simply given
up. But Mr Rowe is determined to survive. "I'll be blowed if I'm going to give up after a lifetime of work and
considerable financial investment but it's so hard. It makes life so uncertain."
For more information, please click the following link:
Badger Encounters in the Wild book |
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Superb
book of Jim Crumley's encounters with badgers in the wild in Scotland. The quality of the writing is superb.
A great read. Click here to buy:
Encounters in the wild
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