PSA Brian May and badgers BBC 2, now

As above, should be interesting

Another one bites the dust (badger that is).

He looks quite like a badger to be fair.

Interesting programme, though some with entrenched views are going to struggle with the facts.

I know the farmers around me and hope they watched it. They are a hard working bunch and it will be interesting to see how their thoughts develop over the next few weeks.

It’s a pity that “ celebs” don’t pay more attention to actual facts , like the difference a cull makes to bovine tb figures in a region.

Its the Watership down affect that makes folk blind to countryside management , like the thread that stated foxes don’t kill lambs .
Sometimes bad things need to be done in order for the masses to live the way they want to.
Unfortunately, seeing things differently to said masses is a hugely frustrating way of living .

@brads did you actually watch the programme?

I thought the entirety of the programme was about trying to establish the facts about how transmission occurs in herds and understand the effectiveness or not of current testing methods?

“ celebs”

Perhaps watching the programme, and understanding a little of May’s background; he’s a scientist with a PhD, so hardly a Love Island ‘celeb’.

Anyhows, all I can hear now is ‘You’re My Be(a)st Friend’.

Yes, @tuboflard, it was about trying to establish transmission and effective testing methods. The research has been carried out over many years with the intention of a better outcome for animals (badgers and cattle) and the farmers. The research established that the reactor test used presently is very inaccurate – farmers were introducing cattle into their herds that were actually carrying TB. There was also a bull that had passed many tests that on its death was found to be riddled with the disease. The research also established that the major cause of the spread of the disease was through cattle faeces and improvements to hygiene which included simple alterations to water troughs, separating calving cows and not spreading slurry on grazing land would bring huge improvements. The first farm that the research and implementation was carried out on is now TB free whilst it’s spreading on other farms, hope for some common sense?

The thing that I hadn’t realised was how big an affect on the farmers mental health TB was having and how much they actually liked their cows.

It’s time the govt actually had a good look at the whole TB situation and had a better approach than mindless slaughter.

A very interesting and thought provoking program, reasoned science based and presented at a decent level without it being dumbed down like Springwatch.

Yes, farmers do care deeply about their livestock, take the time when out on your bike and have a chat if you meet one, it can be very rewarding. As regards the mental health issues, suicides have always been high in the farming community. If anyone is around Ashover on Sunday there’s a fundraising tractor run in aid of a farming charity- ends with a shindig at Uppertown Community Centre – loads of fun for a serious cause.

I mean, link the climate thread to this one and the rest of you lot eschew beef and dairy and the problem goes away.

One small thing and all that…..

Yes, farmers do care deeply about their livestock

To a point. See carnism. Though I admit this is a cultural thing across all society rather than a farmer thing specifically. They are just at the pointy end.

May deserves a second knighthood for this work.

I’m asking myself why it’s taken a rockstar campaigner to get to the bottom of this and show that completely inadequate testing has been in large part to blame for the spread of Bovine TB.

Why the hell has nobody at Defra thought to find out whether or how infected animals could be spreading the disease through the herd?

Why did the last government take research that showed culling badgers would be largely ineffective and turn that round to claim that it would be at least a bit effective, especially if they culled hard enough for long enough?

What entrenched interests in the industry and the government have been working together to prevent better disease control and spread misinformation among farmers?

And, of course, it’s also come down to some pretty appalling hygiene practices among farmers anyway.
Did they learn anything from Foot and Mouth or the BSE scandals?

As my wife pointed out, if humans were being forced to live in each other’s manure and started getting ill, would public health experts not think to check whether they might be in some way linked?

Some comments out there about the farm in Devon not being bTB free since the team did their work with two breakouts since. Assuming that’s correct it is very odd/unacceptable this was not identified in the BBC programme.

The team responded that once a farm is declared bTB free that are not allowed to test to see if any bTB has reappeared. Question is why does it reappear, the tests they were doing are not 100% accurate, though considerably more accurate than the reactor test, or a hygiene issue meant it was still on tbe farm or .. .. the nearby badgers from the known to be infected sets, or ???

The debate continues.

The farmer next to me hadn’t seen the programme but was open minded to the cause of bTB spread. He was well aware of the inaccuracy of the reactor test as nearly all/all (apologies, I cannot recall what he said) the cows tested positive for bTB on the farm (which have to be sent for slaughter) and then tested after slaughter are clear and dealt with as uninfected cows.

He did share with me the not insignificant losses they suffer on cows supposedly infected with bTB despite the available compensation. The slaughter does not lose out!

The positive tests at the Devon farm were mentioned towards the end of the documentary, I’ll have to watch it again to refresh myself, memory not what it was, if it was ever any good – hard to tell!

Good spot @wheelonfires1 , I missed that.

I would like to watch again but no decent internet to allow video/TV here since some trees blew down Friday early morning taking the phone wires with them and mobile reception is, at best, grim!