Below-par farm biosecurity should block farmers from participating in England's badger culls, writes Anna Dale. But a large body of evidence of poor and negligent biosecurity by farmers suggests that Natural England, the government's official regulator, is turning a blind eye to this strict requirement - and undermining the purpose of the cull.
… Anna Dale | 29th March 2017 Activism Badgers Farming Regulation UK England Health Science …
A growing number of farmers are now questioning the nature of the cull and its effectiveness. And some are blaming poor biosecurity and intensive farming for the spread of TB in the UK cattle herd. Andrew Wasley and Sarah Stirk report
… Stirk | 18th June 2013 News News Food And Farming Badgers Milk Dairy Animal Health … are blaming poor biosecurity and intensive farming for the spread of TB in the UK cattle … with high powered rifles', the government and farming bodies should urgently be looking …
Published in Nature today, a new cattle herd model shows how bTB infects cattle and how to halt its spread, writes Matt Keeling. Most effective is the slaughter of entire herds with even a single TB infection detected. Culling badgers has very little impact.
… Keeling | 3rd July 2014 News Badgers Health Farming UK Science btb-graph-cut.jpg Published …
The government may want to press ahead with the English badger cull, writes Lesley Docksey. But after the Brexit vote it may just cost too much - for taxpayers and for the farmers who bear part an increasing share of the expense, now facing the loss of the 55% of their income that currently comes from Brussels.
… Docksey | 27th July 2016 Comment Badgers Farming Brexit Politics Natural World Finance … continue? Some 55% of the UK's income from farming comes from the EU via the Common … When faced with the possibility that British farming might be destroyed by the way FMD was …
Al available science indicates that badgers have little if anything to do with bovine TB in cattle, writes Lesley Docksey. This is reflected in Wales's consultation on its 'refreshed TB Eradication Programme'. We must hope that Northern Ireland's bTB Eradication Strategy will be equally science based - and ready to campaign hard if it relies on cruel, ineffective and expensive badger culls.
Badger cull free TB eradication in Wales and Northern Ireland? The science demands it! Lesley Docksey | 6th December 2016 News Badgers Science Health UK Northern Ireland Wales farmyard-cut.jpg Al …
As they argue for an extended and intensified badger cull, some farmers have been making extravagant and improbable claims about giant badgers frolicking with their cattle in the sunshine, write Jay Tiernan & Lesley Docksey. But despite holding office in the NFU, they display astonishing negligence by failing to adopt the most elementary bio-security measures advised by Defra to keep their cattle TB free.
… Docksey | 22nd August 2015 Activism Badgers Farming Health UK cattle-cut.jpg As they argue … to convince people that it's not down to bad farming practice but the fault of the badgers? … wildlife is easier than letting better farming practices, testing and cattle controls …
With controversial plans to allow farmers to cull badgers later this year, Ed Hamer asks whether Bovine TB is really a health problem for either cows or humans
… | 30th January 2011 Comment Badgers Food And Farming Disease badger.jpg Badger culling … Land magazine READ MORE... NEWS Asian factory farming boom spreading animal diseases like … controls on excessive use in intensive farming NEWS ANALYSIS Warning as infectious …
With the 6th International Conference on Bovine TB under way today in Cardiff, Lesley Docksey reports on Defra's latest statistics. BTB in England is falling - and it's falling fastest where the strongest biosecurity measures are in place, confirming the experience of Wales and Scotland.
… 2014 News Natural World Badgers UK Health Farming cows-wales-cut.jpg With the 6th … other country ... ' Yet all Owen Paterson, Farming Minister George Eustice, Defra and the … call for more TB testing BBC Radio 4's Farming Today featured the story in early …
A programme to be broadcast on BBC2 promoting badger culling as the answer to bovine TB is praised in the corporation's flagship Radio Times, writes Lesley Docksey. But both are criticised by experts for their inaccuracy and bias. The main reservoir for bTB is, and always has been, the cattle themselves - and that's where the real solutions begin.
… March 2016 Comment Badgers UK Natural World Farming Health Media biosecurity-cut.jpg A … Region media, and other media outlets, in farming programmes on radio and TV and papers devoted to farming. As Mark Jones, veterinarian and …
Owen Paterson's departure from Government could see the end of the hated badger culls and a wider return to environmental sanity, writes Lesley Docksey. Given his disbelief in climate change and his arrogant disregard of science, it's not a moment too soon!
… Docksey | 15th July 2014 Comment Badgers Farming Flooding Politics UK Climate Change … "He understands farmers, he understands the farming community and he understands how … future and therefore need for a competitive farming industry." And Tory peer Lord Howard …
Environment secretary says farmers will be allowed to kill badgers if pilot schemes confirm shooting is humane and effective
… News Badgers Wildlife Natural World Food And Farming badger.jpg Badgers are believed to … to mount a legal challenge to the plans, but farming representatives welcomed the … of TB in cattle herds – an outcome that farming leaders and the secretary of state …
Pending the publication of the long-delayed Independent Panel report on the badger cull, Lesley Docksey finds that the fight for England's badgers is part of an even bigger campaign for scientific and political integrity.
… Hall last December, in which the Shadow Farming Minister called for any further culls … out in the RBC trials? Or of more intensified farming with larger herds? Or of ever-greater … a sentimental matter for many people" , said Farming Minister George Eustice. While MPs and …
In a private letter to Tony Blair released today Prince Charles strongly urged Tony Blair to expedite a badger cull in 2005, raising the spectre of a third 'food scare' that would strike down British farming on the scale of BSE and Foot & Mouth disease.
… | 13th May 2015 News Media Politics Badgers Farming charles-piccadilly.jpg In a private … 'food scare' that would strike down British farming on the scale of BSE and Foot & Mouth …
If you love wildlife and enjoy country walks, you've got the makings of a badger patroller, writes Lesley Docksey. You can walk at night if you want to, but daytime observation on country lanes and footpaths is no less important, watching out for the signs of cullers at work. And with the trust and warm friendship that builds among badger patrollers, you'll never be without congenial company.
… 2017 Ethical Living Badgers Natural World Farming UK England … horrified at the threatening behaviour of two farming women. One tried to stop us on the …
With 29 applications for new badger culls, writes Lesley Docksey, the government still has no idea how many badgers there are in the cull areas, or how many of them have TB. Nor does it want to find out. The badger culling project is getting less scientific by the day - or should that be by the square kilometre?
… when one considers that intensive farming methods compromise the immune systems … comes from herds where bTB is endemic. The farming industry, not badgers, needs to bite …
The news that the Kimblewick Hunt's hounds are infested with bovine TB has come as a shock to farmers and hunters, writes Lesley Docksey. But it's no surprise to campaigners against the badger cull, who have long complained about poor farm hygiene and the feeding by hunts of disease-ridden 'fallen cattle' carcasses to foxhounds - never mind that the cattle are likely bTB carriers!
… News Badgers Natural World Health Hunting Farming slaughtered fallen stock - hounds …
Anyone working to protect badgers from culling will know of Dominic Dyer - wildlife advocate and new director of the Badger Trust. Lesley Docksey met him 'on the hoof' at a recent march - and found out just why the badger campaign is so important to him.
… Natural World Badgers Campaigning Politics Farming dominic-dyer-exeter.jpg Anyone working … trends which were influencing the shape of farming and food production in the UK and … Politics versus science Jim Paice, Shadow Farming Minister when the Tories were in …
Milk farmers in the badger cull zones hardly depend on Caffè Nero's custom, writes Dominic Dyer. So why are the pro-cull lobby so hot under the collar with the coffee chain's refusal to buy their produce? Because it could force the entire food chain to take responsibility for how milk is produced - and a very good thing too!
… Dyer | 13th June 2015 Comment Badgers Food Farming Consumerism UK badger-milk-cut.jpg … side lines and allowed the government and the farming industry to play the badger blame … gate level and work with the government and farming industry to bring forward a cattle TB …
Are the shortcoming of existing cattle TB tests soon to be exposed by a simple, clever blood test that has been waiting in the wings? The development may shine light on practical compromises in the extended, failing fight against TB in England - at huge tax-payers expense. Biologist TOM LANGTON looks at a growing dilemma in the world of bovine TB cattle testing
… alone has not. This is also because cattle farming practises have changed and cattle …
Sneaked out just before Christmas, Defra's assessment of the 2014 badger cull inspired NFU leaders to claim 'success', writes Rosie Woodroffe. But the figures indicate the precise reverse: that too few badgers were killed to be effective against bovine TB, indeed the cull may even help to spread the disease.
… January 2015 Comment Badgers Natural World Farming UK Science … - and the numbers Although ministers and farming representatives do indeed now claim … TB, potentially making a bad situation worse. Farming leaders have managed to press forward …
A scientific paper published today says badger persecution may be one of the reasons for the persistence of bovine TB hotspots, writes Oliver Tickell. A further finding is that the main risk factors for bTB are all to do with cattle - not badgers at all.
… Oliver Tickell | 17th August 2015 News Farming UK Ireland Science Badgers …
Number 10 is seeking an 'escape plan' for a badger cull gone disastrously wrong under Owen Paterson's direction. Lesley Docksey reports on a likely end to the cull - and to Paterson's ministerial role.
… a minimal amount had been achieved by good farming practice, not by culling badgers. The …
The 25 TB-infected hounds of the Kimblewick hunt, all put down, remind us that the lot of hunting dogs is not a happy one, writes Lesley Docksey. Unloved and at constant risk of slaughter, they are prone to a host of diseases, from bovine TB to brucellosis, neospora and botulism, which they can pass on to farm stock, humans and other dogs. They deserve better!
… on their land, witness these comments on The Farming Forum : "Heard about this some months …
In the first of a three part analysis of the ongoing UK badger cull Lesley Docksey examines current and historical data and concludes that the government are simply ignoring the science of epidemiology..........
… Comment Badgers Agriculture Politics Food And Farming badger.jpg One way or another (road …