'Why is the life of a diseased animal worth more than the life of a diseased cow?'
A FARMER who has lost his herd of rare cattle to Bovine Tuberculosis wants to know why badgers are "worth more" than his cows.
Dai Bevan spent his life building up his herd of Longhorn Cattle — but dozens were shot last month after testing positive for TB.
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Farmer Dai Bevan from Lanarthne with his last few remaining cattle that are going to be destroyed after contracting TB
The cull has left the 50-year-old Llanarthne farmer angry and at a loss for what to do next.
Many farmers believe their cattle are contracting TB from badgers. Supporters of badgers argue transmission of the disease from badgers to cattle has never been proved.
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A lot of cattle farmers want a cull of diseased badgers, while badger supporters want a vaccination programme.
Mr Bevan is expecting most of his remaining stock to be slaughtered this week.
"In the end I will be left with two cows and a calf," he said.
He does not know what he will do next, but he will have to wait for two clear tests, which will take at least four months, before he can consider restocking.
"I can't go and be anything else," he said, but added: "There's no way I can go out and buy pedigree cows because the wildlife is still going to harbour a residual source of infection.
"Pedigree breeding in this area is a nonsense."
Mr Bevan said the badger was protected in 1980s to stop badger baiting and nobody wanted the return of baiting.
But he argued the problem of TB has grown up since then and "no one has the balls to stop it".
Mr Bevan said: "Why is the life of a diseased animal worth more than the life of a diseased cow?
"They're going to take out cows and leave the diseased badgers.
"All around us there are farms going down.
"Farms that have never got TB — we are going down like dominoes one after the other.
"There are hundreds of cows that have been lost in this area in the last month.
"How is it acceptable that all this money is being spent protecting an animal that is diseased?"
Mr Bevan also warned valuable rare animals and decades of breeding are being lost. He said: "As a concern, the vulnerability of the cattle and their genetics is being ignored as is evidenced by the removal of three White Park from Dinefwr, an ancient and historical breed connected with the history of Wales and the Princes of Deheubarth, whose involvement in the cultural, progression and laws are noted in the Mabinogion.
"This breed of cattle today number about 360 breeding females. There are approximately 1,000 giant panda left in the world.
"If we were killing three giant Panda, the world would be in uproar and yet nothing is done or said because they're only cows. Why?"
Mr Bevan believes campaigning by celebrity badger supporters has skewed the debate.
He said: "I'm not a badger-hater, but I abhor the fact that members of wildlife organisations have a greater say on how the countryside is run than I do. I'm the one that lives here."
The farmer argues vaccinating badgers will be ineffective because it will not stop animals that already have the disease from spreading it.
And he believes diseased badgers should be culled.
A Welsh Government spokesman said it hoped to begin vaccinating badgers in early summer.
Comments
by badgerjan
Saturday, August 18 2012, 12:07AM
“Carcases of TB cattle go into to the food chain for the cooked meet industry, so if you eat meet pies of any thing pre-cooked, you could be eating these cows. The milk from TB cows goes into the milk tank for sale, it will be pasteurised so it won't hurt anyone.
It is a big loss to the pedigree cattle society's though, as they loose the blood lines.”
by badgerjan
Friday, August 17 2012, 11:59PM
“Some cows are what is called 'anergic' meaning they consistently test negative even though they have the disease.
Also the TB test is only 80% accurate, that is a high margin of error, leaving 20% of possible sick cows undetected.
There is no pre-movement testing for cows going to shows, and all pedigree stock is shown, these were.
I understand where this farmer has been, have stood in the cowshed and heard the awful news that it is your turn now.
Until we sort the other issues out though, the TB test, and the fact that negative testing cows, could be sick, not to mention the problem of the liver fluke parasite which masks the symtoms,and makes a cow a negative at testing, we should not even consider shooting any wildlife.
This is primarily a bovine disease, it needs treating in the cow first, a vaccine would be the answer, but at the meeting last night they said they don't want it.
There is a vaccine for cows being developed now, with a tag on it, so that cows can still be exported, when they are tested on arrival , the test will show they are protected and not sick.
At the moment we are prevented from vaccinating our cattle by an EU directive, because of the export trade, The Americans make me laugh, they won't take our cows if we vaccinate, yet when they arrive on US soil they are tested and vaccinated immediatly, marvelous.”
by Neathboy234
Thursday, June 14 2012, 2:42PM
“Welsh Badger TB vaccination gets under way
http://tinyurl.com/6waawxk
great news with 275 badgers, suspected to be the carriers of the disease, so far injected. I'm sure Mr Bevan will be delighted something possitive is being done”
by Nye_Zwerk
Thursday, June 07 2012, 8:39PM
“Ah. Weasel words and guilt by association :-)
According to Nature Magazine, cattle infected with a common parasite could be spreading TB across Britain undetected.
Link: http://tinyurl.com/cvxwvlf”
by Neathboy234
Thursday, June 07 2012, 8:17PM
“Some might call the hunting/shooting enthusiasts vermin, including me.”
by gorseboy
Thursday, June 07 2012, 8:00PM
“Rosemary Bush
The disease is spread by the badger's urine and faeces left on the grass which is the staple diet of cattle.
The Badger is a member of the Mustelidae family which includes the Weasel.
Weasels are considered Vermin by many so by association so are Badgers and should be treated as such.”
by GretaCarbo
Thursday, June 07 2012, 7:20PM
“weslangdon
I am well aware of that.
Just because I visit the SWEP website doesn't mean that I want to read the Daily Mail's opinions or add to their number of webpage visits.”
by weslangdon
Thursday, June 07 2012, 7:01PM
“GretaCargo; don't you realise that the Evening Post IS a Daily Mail website???”
by RosemaryBush
Thursday, June 07 2012, 3:51PM
“How do the badgers infect the cattle in the first place? Do they sneeze or spit on them? I read that folklore blamed the badgers because they thought that badgerswanting milk would suckle on the udders of cows lying down in fields. How do we know that the cows don't infect the badgers? Badgers eat worms and insects which are drawn to cow pats.”
by GretaCarbo
Thursday, June 07 2012, 2:57PM
“weslangdon
None of your links has anything to do with infected cattle.
Please warn readers when you post a link to the Daily Mail as I, and many others, do not wish to boost the number of hits to their website.”