County MP backs call for badger culls
CATTLE grazing in the fields benefits tourism, according to a Devon MP as he backed moves for a badger cull to tackle TB in livestock.
Neil Parish, MP for Tiverton and Honiton, said the sight of cows out in pasture is what visitors to the county came to see. Shutting herds up in sheds all summer to stop them coming into contact with badgers, which he said were known to spread the devastating disease, was the last thing wanted.
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CULL PROPOSALS: The Government says a cattle vaccine and an oral badger vaccine are still many years away
Supporting the planned cull of badgers, he said Devon alone would see 2,000 cattle slaughtered this year as a result of bovine TB.
And the loss of young stock threatened to destroy the industry unless action was taken to check the spread of the disease.
He was speaking as ministers said they were "strongly minded" to press ahead with a controversial cull in the worst affected areas.
It would be carried out by licensed groups of farmers and landowners subject to strict controls.
Farmers have been pressing for action for years, but the killing of badgers is bitterly opposed by animal welfare campaigners.
Ministers admit a legal challenge by opponents is "inevitable".
The Government says a cattle vaccine and an oral badger vaccine are still many years away, and it is not certain these will ever be developed.
Unveiling the plans recently, Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman said: "We cannot go on like this."
Welcoming the Government proposals, Mr Parish, who sits on the Commons Environment Committee and is himself a farmer, said: "Many people do not realise the emotional effect that this disease has had on farming. Someone who has TB in their cattle is unable to trade, especially in young stock, and it affects their business extremely badly."
He added: "In the long run the farming industry is losing. Devon alone is losing nearly 2,000 cattle this year. It is terrible because not only are those cattle being lost, but it is very much the heifers, the young stock that are the seedcorn of the dairy industry for the future, that are affected.
"We want to see excellent milk production and good-quality milk in this country. That can happen only if we have the necessary stock to carry on the dairy industry.
"Across the country, 10 times as many cattle are now taken with the disease as was the case 10 or 12 years ago.
"We cannot go on like that, because eventually the industry will be destroyed. This country has such great grass-growing potential, particularly in the Westcountry.
"The Blackdown hills near Tiverton and Honiton are probably one of the best dairy areas in the country.
"We must be sure that cattle can be out grazing without being infected with TB.
"Everybody wants to see cattle out in the fields. That is what people come to Devon to see.
"This issue affects not only good agricultural production, but the tourism that benefits from the cattle."
2 Comments
by Will1947
Monday, August 01 2011, 10:17AM
“I don't know where Neil Parish gets his prediction that Devon will lose nearly 2000 cattle to TB this year. That would be a dramatic improvement on last year when about 6800 TB reactors were slaughtered in the county, according to the Defra website.
We are often told that the number of cattle slaughtered through TB is rising year by year, but this is not true either in Devon or in the western areas as a whole. The number of reactors slaughtered in Devon has declined over the last two years, from a peak in 2008 of 7163 , through 6863 in 2009 to 6781 in 2010. This may (or may not) be due to the new pre-movement testing regulations – 2008 was the first full year in which they were applied.
The 5 percent decline between 2008 and 2010 seems modest compared to the 22 percent decline in the western region as a whole over the same time period. But in both cases it is the first time that numbers have dropped in two consecutive years since before 1998, the first year published on Defra's website.
Government advisers expect four years of culling to produce only a 12-16 percent reduction in TB, although the NFU interpret the scientific data as showing that a 27-30 percent reduction is possible. If the lower figures turn it to be right no one will notice the difference, particularly if the current, apparently declining, trend continues.
It is estimated that a cattle vaccine will be available within about four years - the same length of time as the proposed culling. Is the government agreeing to the cull just to keep farmers quiet until a vaccine is available?”
by franklee1
Friday, July 29 2011, 8:56AM
“So now we should cull badgers so that grockles have the view of devon they expect?
That is a new angle.
Mr Parish, I think most people can imagine the emotional effect of this disease, they can also apply that logic to the indiscriminant killing of badgers.”