Alternatives to on-farm slaughter
FOLLOWING an announcement last month, the long-awaited Bovine TB Technical Advisory Group (TAG) met for the first time, with the chair Professor Glyn Hewinson, Sêr Cymru chair of the TB Centre of Excellence, leading the group.
The 10 publicly appointed members have a wealth of knowledge covering social sciences, epidemiology and veterinary medicine. However, questions have been raised concerning the absence of farmer representatives on the group.
Speaking after the first meeting of the TAG, FUW policy officer Elin Jenkins said: “We welcome the opportunity to present alternative options for the group to consider that would reduce the number of cattle slaughtered on-farm following bovine TB breakdowns and provide support in circumstances where on-farm slaughter is unavoidable.”
During the three-year period between 2020 and 2023, 2,337 cattle were slaughtered on-farm – 8% of the total number of cattle culled due to bovine TB in Wales during that period.
The majority of these cases of on-farm slaughter were due to animals testing positive for TB while under medicated withdrawal periods, or when they were heavily pregnant or within the first week post-calving and were therefore deemed unfit for transport according to animal transport regulations.
“Some of the options we presented included providing greater flexibility around arranging routine testing to avoid block calving periods, and minimising the risk of on-farm slaughter cases due to medical withdrawal periods,” added Mrs Jenkins.
“However, the need to discuss the subject of alleviating the horrors of on-farm slaughter looks to remedy the symptom rather than address the root cause of the issue, which is the abysmal track record of a long-standing ineffective TB eradication programme in Wales.”