Tiggy1
Well-Known Member
Lots of Spanish vets!!!
TB in people
- Thread starter zsmm4
- Start date
Lots of Spanish vets!!!
CorvusCorax
Deary me...
You guys have all those Spanish vets too????? How funny!
lillith
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the info, still not sure why we can't vaccinate all cows and brand/freezebrand/tag them or stamp the passport afterwards, can a vaccinated animal carry the disease? or is it just because of the testing, if it is that then the branding or whatever should cover it. I seem to remember it being related to export of meat though?
martlin
Well-Known Member
lillith
Well-Known Member
"I'm not sure if it possible or not, but I would imagine the cost would be prohibitive"
more prohibitive than the cost of shooting the animals and offering conmpensation? seriously the vaccination would cost more than the animal is worth?
Ok just read that and it sounds a bit confrontational, I don't mean it like that just surprised thats all.
more prohibitive than the cost of shooting the animals and offering conmpensation? seriously the vaccination would cost more than the animal is worth?
Ok just read that and it sounds a bit confrontational, I don't mean it like that just surprised thats all.
martlin
Well-Known Member
No, probably not more than culling cows and offering compensation, although when you consider that the reactors still enters human food chain, so the meat is still sold...
I would imagine that the cost burden of vaccinations would be put on farmers.
Orangehorse
Well-Known Member
I think the reason that cattle are not vacinated against bovine TB is that there isn't a suitable vaccine, it hasn't been possible to make one yet.
Bovine TB was all but eradicated back in the 1970's (? not 100% sure of date), there was a very small area where there were some still infected BADGERS in Gloucestershire. (All infected cattle being slaughtered after testing so the infected cattle were removed) All other parts of the UK were TB free. Then for some (political/welfare) reason the Government stopped badger culling. Also the badger became a protected species, also farmers started growing maize for cattle feed, also the winters became milder.
Gradually bovine TB spread into more and more areas, starting with the West Country - Gloucestershire (surprise), Devon, Cornwall and then into Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Wales,etc. etc. etc. There are still parts of the country which does not have TB in cattle.
Cattle are regularly tested for TB. It is a pretty accurate test, there are more false negatives than false positives. If the report comes back No Visible Lesions it doesn't mean that it hasn't got TB, it has, it just hasn't developed that far. If a cow has TB it is slaughtered, no matter what its age or pedigree. You cannot sell cattle off the farm, unless for slaughter, until you have a clear test. If you are a dairy farmer you can loose several pedigree milking cows, so you are loosing the milk production, you cannot sell your calves so you have to keep and feed them rather than sell and get some cash flow.
This is why TB is so devastating. Compensation is paid for the cattle at a set rate but not for lost production.
I cannot understand why people (i.e. the general public, badger groups, politicians) can't grasp the idea that there is an underlying source of infection and until it is removed cattle herds are going to be reinfected again and again. There is some minor spread cattle to cattle, but it isn't that infective between cattle. Typically we have had one or two cases, they came with it fromt he previous farm, and spent the whole winter in close proximity with the rest of the cattle but did not infect them.
HUMAN TB is increasing slightly, but as before, from other infected humans. There is a slight risk of BOVINE TB infecting humans, but since milk is now pasturised there is only a slight risk. I wouldn't drink unpasturised milk no matter how organic it is.
Bovine TB is killing a lot of cattle, affecting a lot of farmers (making many give up dairy farming) and costing the country £millions. Keeping the vets busy though.
Bovine TB was all but eradicated back in the 1970's (? not 100% sure of date), there was a very small area where there were some still infected BADGERS in Gloucestershire. (All infected cattle being slaughtered after testing so the infected cattle were removed) All other parts of the UK were TB free. Then for some (political/welfare) reason the Government stopped badger culling. Also the badger became a protected species, also farmers started growing maize for cattle feed, also the winters became milder.
Gradually bovine TB spread into more and more areas, starting with the West Country - Gloucestershire (surprise), Devon, Cornwall and then into Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Wales,etc. etc. etc. There are still parts of the country which does not have TB in cattle.
Cattle are regularly tested for TB. It is a pretty accurate test, there are more false negatives than false positives. If the report comes back No Visible Lesions it doesn't mean that it hasn't got TB, it has, it just hasn't developed that far. If a cow has TB it is slaughtered, no matter what its age or pedigree. You cannot sell cattle off the farm, unless for slaughter, until you have a clear test. If you are a dairy farmer you can loose several pedigree milking cows, so you are loosing the milk production, you cannot sell your calves so you have to keep and feed them rather than sell and get some cash flow.
This is why TB is so devastating. Compensation is paid for the cattle at a set rate but not for lost production.
I cannot understand why people (i.e. the general public, badger groups, politicians) can't grasp the idea that there is an underlying source of infection and until it is removed cattle herds are going to be reinfected again and again. There is some minor spread cattle to cattle, but it isn't that infective between cattle. Typically we have had one or two cases, they came with it fromt he previous farm, and spent the whole winter in close proximity with the rest of the cattle but did not infect them.
HUMAN TB is increasing slightly, but as before, from other infected humans. There is a slight risk of BOVINE TB infecting humans, but since milk is now pasturised there is only a slight risk. I wouldn't drink unpasturised milk no matter how organic it is.
Bovine TB is killing a lot of cattle, affecting a lot of farmers (making many give up dairy farming) and costing the country £millions. Keeping the vets busy though.