Imports ‘more a threat to TB status than badgers’
The greatest threat to Scotland’s hard-won bovine Tb-free status is not an army of infected badgers marching northwards but rather lies in the importation of infected cattle from outside the country.
That was the warning given by NFU Scotland president Andrew Mccornick, who said that cattle keepers needed to behave responsibly and think carefully about bringing cattle from high-risk areas into Scotland.
Writing in the union’s blog page, Mccornick said that cattle keepers had a precious attribute in the form of the country’s Tb-free status – but warned that eight of the 11 outbreaks recorded in the country in the past year were directly attributed to cattle movements: “In other words, they were avoidable. Breakdowns are painful for everyone involved andcandraginneighbours and customers.”
Stating that the business and emotional impact could be crippling he said: “We need to protect [our TB free status] as it is a hard-won achievement. There can only be value in this with Brexit and trade implications and the ability to provide Tb-free stock to other.”
In a thinly veiled warning to the sector against
0 Badgers pose a threat but are not the main danger importing cattle, Mccornick said that the strain of TB in the Cumbrian badgers which had sparked media interest suggested it most likely came from imported Irish cattle – which had then infected neighbouring animals and then made its way in the local wildlife population: “And the same scenario could occur in Scotland.”
He said that bringing cattle into Scotland was risky: “Pre-movement testing of animals helps provide a layer of protection, but the sensitivity of TB testing means you do get false negatives, which is why we add the additional layer of protection by post-movement testing as well.”
In a nod to the current double testing regime, he said that the importance of post-movement testing was clear when boughtin animals failed the postmovement test.
“Failures at post-movement testing do not necessarily reflect bad practice at the pre-movement testing stage, they are often just a part of the complicated picture of TB testing and control,” he said.
Mccornick said that analysis of Scottish TB breakdowns demonstrated that that there was currently no significant reservoir of disease in the wildlife population: “But that could change and the sad fact is that, if it does, it would be most likely to be because of imported cattle and not wildlife.
“The wildlife reservoir that can be created from the movement of infected cattle is something that must be taken seriously and it seems to me to be illogical that there is no issue in culling cattle to eradicate a disease but a major vector [badgers] is protected.”