A day in the life of a Welsh Dairy Farmer.

Today was the day. The bovine tuberculosis knocked on the door of our family farm.

We’ve been clear of this god awful disease for many years, through huge efforts in keeping wildlife and livestock separated we have been winning the battle. Right up to this morning, when on reading the test we discovered five inconclusive reactors. This is a disease that doesn’t discriminate, it can manifest itself in any age animal, at any point in time.

Having made all buildings badger proof and fenced off badger urinals many years ago it seems these lovely cows we work with have run out of luck. The stress these tests put on the cows is unreal, behaviour completely changes, cows order of milking changes. They can smell the vets disinfectant, they know the different routine and they don’t like it! From what was an annual test to now testing every sixty days and the extra duress on both livestock and for us as a family unit.

This testing continues despite there being no real protocol for eradication of Tb in wildlife. How, with all this testing of livestock is there not routine test and removal of infected wildlife? If the public knew how debilitating this disease is, if not controlled properly and efficiently. There there would be uproar. We owe it to all types of animal to remove the carriers of this disease, and hopefully the futures of agriculture and wildlife populations will enjoy the freedoms of being disease free.