Badger vaccination!

[smullery]

Anyone actually read the Gov Statement?

The proposal is to introduce mandatory cattle vaccination. Once field trials, currently underway, have been completed.

Problem with vaccinating cattle has always been that the TB test could not differentiate between infected or vaccinated animals. Updates in testing and vaccine identifiers are the work of a decade of research and effort.

A bit too late as there will not be a dairy industry in this country much longer.

Everyone thinking that Badgers were going to be trapped, vaccinated and then released...........

 

[Odders]

It’s situations like that, being responsible for holes in the culling efforts.

Bull****.
He's quite open that were they a problem, they'd be gone

Nothing wrong with badgers as long as they are clean and kept under control.Nice to see a few about the problem comes when you see 20 or 30 on one field and you have no legal method of dealing with them.

Where did I say anything whatsoever to suggest the badger population should be allowed to increase unfettered?

Oh, I didn't...

 

[Odders]

A lot of people will be thinking 'only three'!
I don't believe there are many of us who shoot and hunt who aren't nature lovers, and we see the full picture. No matter what the Mays and Packhams of this world keep bleating, in today's world nature will never find it's own balance. Many of these protection laws and policies do nothing but exacerbate the problems facing many of the declining species.

I've noi disagreement with that.
What I do disagree with is badger culling on the pretext it'll reduce bovine TB. It's poor science & the "statistics" are being incredibly selective (Gloucestershire) to show a success when the longer term result is not only a failure but worse.

 

[starr shot]

Bull****.
He's quite open that were they a problem, they'd be gone


Where did I say anything whatsoever to suggest the badger population should be allowed to increase unfettered?

Oh, I didn't...

And where did I say you did oh I didn’t. Badgers were put on protection to stop the cruel practices that were going on at the time and quite correct I’ve no time for animal cruelty.But since they have been offered this protection they have bred quite well. My comment about 20 30 on field comes from personal experience and that was a conservative estimate.Large parts of fields have become unusable because of badgers and we have no legal way of control outside of the cull period that’s the problem not the badgers as such.

 

[finnbear270]

Another problem is, some people who appear to have no background in any of the earth sciences, biology, etc, etc, pontificating about subjects such as Bovine Tuberculosis,give succour to the furry cuddles brigade, whereas people who are on the ground so to speak, as in Farmers Veterinarians and contractors, have first hand experience of what is working and what isn't, the people that constantly quote from other peoples work, that just happens to suit their personal feelings on subjects like these, do no good to anyone or anything.

 

[Orion]

Sorry mate ,didn’t mean to upset you .
Of course the population needed reducing but reduction is one thing ,going for eradication is another and please don’t quote the official line on this as I know what’s happened here and its ott .

No upset here, just stating some inconvenient facts that many seem to turn a blind eye to when the cull is mentioned. If anyone thinks for a minute that this is eradication then they need to give their head a wobble! There is no way on this earth that a six week cull period in selected areas is going to ‘eradicate’ a species - although of course it’s obviously worked with the fox which is culled nationwide almost 365 days a year hasn’t it?

If there was an intention to ‘eradicate’ brock then there would be government appointed teams systematically gassing setts during the day. Night shooting and trapping for a limited period isn’t going to achieve anything like it - and the eyes on the ground know that. IIRC some of the large(ish) scale mammal eradication programs that have been successful in relatively recent times in the U.K. have been very limited geographically - the coypu in the Norfolk Broads, hedgehogs in the Western Isles, and grey squirrels on Anglesey - maybe some others but they have all involved much manpower and considerable amounts of money being spent.

One of the most sensible comments I’ve heard since the announcement was made was from an older farmer on one of the radio chat shows. He said that the language being used is too emotive and we should instead be focusing on the need to ‘cull’ bTB, and concentrate on a multi-faceted approach which will include reduction in high badger numbers, increased bio security, movement controls and, if available in the near future, inoculation.