Sad Outcomes of Cull Cancellation.
- Thread starter Orion
- Start date
palmer_mike
Well-Known Member
Terrible
EMcC
Well-Known Member
I do believe the Badger Act was brought in to stop Badger baiting whereas in my opinion the law should have been brought in to severely punish the Badger baiters.
From the reports that I read, Badger Baiting went on in certain limited areas but by bringing in the Badger Act it prevented farmers that had problems with Badgers in areas where Badger baiting would stand no chance of taking place, from controlling them themselves.
From the reports that I read, Badger Baiting went on in certain limited areas but by bringing in the Badger Act it prevented farmers that had problems with Badgers in areas where Badger baiting would stand no chance of taking place, from controlling them themselves.
Badgers are a huge problem. They need controlling and so it seems does the PM's wife.
My brother in law has not lost his entire herd but I see what losing stock does to him. Even the stress and anxiety of the testing procedure is palpable. He is on edge for days.
I don't know what it is about people who meddle in things that don't concern them. For every area where badgers need sorting out, there is another area that would happily allow them to roam free. Farmers should be allowed to proportionately take decisions that positively impact upon their work.
My brother in law has not lost his entire herd but I see what losing stock does to him. Even the stress and anxiety of the testing procedure is palpable. He is on edge for days.
I don't know what it is about people who meddle in things that don't concern them. For every area where badgers need sorting out, there is another area that would happily allow them to roam free. Farmers should be allowed to proportionately take decisions that positively impact upon their work.
No source or data. I am skeptical.
Has it come out at inquest?
Has it come out at inquest?
Yes it sounds too simplistic when there could be so many reasons. When you consider the raft of actual hazards farmers deal with on a daily basis, to be certain that the suicides were as a result of the disappointment in there being no decrease in the risk of infection through the cull not taking place seems dubious.
Apart from the potential horrors of losing their herd to BTB, I wonder how worried they were re. the change in post Brexit subsidies or the wet winter without being able to sow...and if there were fewer farmer suicides in the Badger culling approved areas.
Farmers traditionally had an elevated risk of suicide, but according to the ONS figures between 2011 and 2015 that had levelled off to nearer the national average rate.
Suicide by occupation, England - Office for National Statistics
Analysis of deaths from suicide in different occupational groups for people aged 20 to 64 years, based on deaths registered in England between 2011 and 2015
www.ons.gov.uk
How any farmer survives the vagaries of the weather and stock problems and doesn't commit suicide I cannot understand...Over the same period cited in the OP from September 2019 we had around 120% more rain than normal...the two arable farmers I have most to do with hadn't managed to get on the land to sow until the end of March when it finally dried up. And now of course, having planted, they want and need more rain...
I have to make an acre of hay late in the season, and for a week or three I am a gibbering wreck looking at umpteen forecasts trying to find a window of opportunity....how full time farmers cope I really don't know.
Alan
I live in an area where BTB and badgers over the years have caused untold misery to farmers. Farmers I know have been unable to trade their stock, sometimes for years. Others have seen their herds slaughtered because of the disease.
Farming isn't like keeping a couple of chickens in your back garden, it is, in many cases a lifetime's commitment, and to see it disappear before your eyes is totally devastating.
Once more people interfere in the countryside with little on no knowledge of what goes on there.
Farming isn't like keeping a couple of chickens in your back garden, it is, in many cases a lifetime's commitment, and to see it disappear before your eyes is totally devastating.
Once more people interfere in the countryside with little on no knowledge of what goes on there.
IrishStalker
Well-Known Member
to have a whole herd of animals wiped out by TB after lifetimes of work being put into it has to be the hardest thing to watch, Then you have people with no knowledge of the countryside badgers need to be culled end of story.
C.J
Well-Known Member
There were exemptions to the Badger Act to allow culling of Badgers for disease control.
Licences in England were supposed to be issued by Natural England - they would not grant any.
Are we supprised that N.E don't want to issue General Licences for bird control ?
Orion
Well-Known Member
Yes, agree with that. I wonder how many of those who want ‘to see the evidence’ are aware of the devastation that Btb can, and does, cause in terms of economic and personal suffering?
EMcC
Well-Known Member
In the area I grew up there were lots of setts and each breeding season the setts would be cleaned out and, presumably, the young wanted to extend the setts and being a sandy area the banks were broken down and scattered half blocking some of the country lanes.
Where it got excessive I, and others, used to shoot an amount, just a few we didn't intend to exterminate them altogether, just keep them under control. There was quite a bit of Folk lore about Badgers and they were eaten too so a healthy population was kept.
All the dairy cattle were subject to periodic checks for TB and there was always consternation until it was carried out and a clean bill of health given and as far back as I can remember no TB was found in our areas.
I wonder now if that was a result of our keeping them local, being a small family group there was no need for them to travel far and I know they can travel long distances over night.
Orion
Well-Known Member
Absolutely no disrespect, but was then, this is now.
Trying to undertake control in the current circumstances is a totally different kettle of fish. It’s not only the quarry that people are dealing with - the ‘external factors’ that are the difficult ones to come to terms with.
EMcC
Well-Known Member
No disrespect taken Graham.
The point I was making was that before government interference brought in as a result of Badger Baiting all seemed to be going well.
The Milk Marketing Board paid more for milk from TB tested herds so everybody ensured they were tested regularly and in the end all cattle had to be tested by law so the MMB put the price down and then it was done away with altogether.
Now we have a Badger population explosion and apart from cars they have nothing to control them and a licence is reactive instead of proactive.
The point I was making was that before government interference brought in as a result of Badger Baiting all seemed to be going well.
The Milk Marketing Board paid more for milk from TB tested herds so everybody ensured they were tested regularly and in the end all cattle had to be tested by law so the MMB put the price down and then it was done away with altogether.
Now we have a Badger population explosion and apart from cars they have nothing to control them and a licence is reactive instead of proactive.
John Gryphon
Well-Known Member
People with agendas will try anything.
Imo those suicides were probably always going to happen and any linking to badgers etc is fraught with real danger.
I think the problem in these cases was the way the whole sorry episode was concluded. From what I've been told there are numerous hoops, put in place by natural England, which must be jumped through before a cull license is granted but because of the outlay required to organise the cull, provided these hoops are jumped through then the license should always be granted. So after collecting fees from all the farmers, setting up the management company, purchasing the required equipment, organising the training for the operatives and hundreds of other little tasks everything was expected to start with no problems. To then be told that everything was cancelled because of interference by the PM's AR supporting girlfriend was a very cruel blow. Imagine renewing your f.a.c and being told it was being rejected because the chief inspectors wife had decided there were too many guns in the country and you'll get an idea of the frustration felt especially by the farmers who, in some cases, borrowed the money to finance the solution to the problem ignored for so long by the people in government responsible for it and it's easy to see why some thought 'whats the point'
JabaliHunter
Well-Known Member
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JabaliHunter
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