Defra has announced a raft of measures to tackle bovine TB, as figures released this week show new cases of the disease have fallen to their lowest level for a decade.

Announcing the new bTB measures, Farming Minister, George Eustice said on Wednesday that the government figures "show that the controls in our bovine TB eradication strategy are beginning to make a difference." He said, "Further measures announced today will help even more to bring this devastating disease under control. However we cannot become complacent. The impact of bovine TB on our cattle farmers, their families and their communities cannot be overstated."

Defra's monthly update on TB incidence rates, published on Wednesday, showed that the proportion of new outbreaks discovered through testing fell to around 3.25 percent in March, the lowest rate since 2004. This follows a similarly low rate in February of 3.5%.

The new government measures deal with movement controls and TB testing.

New measures and propsals

The department announced it is consulting on proposals to remove pre-movement exemptions for cattle moving between several holdings under the same farm ownership (known as Sole Occupancy Authorities), to prevent cattle keepers in areas where bTB is a threat from moving their animals over long distances without any TB testing. Owners would still be able to move cattle between areas of owned land within 10 miles.

Mr Eustice also said that the government's zero tolerance policy on late surveillance tests (introduced in January this year), had been a success, and as a result Defra will also be consulting on extending the zero tolerance approach to cover TB tests in restricted herds.

Under the approach, if a test is delayed by only one day farmers could have penalties applied to their CAP payment. Defra claims this has already helped achieve a 60 percent reduction in late TB surveillance tests since it came into force.

From 1st October, partial de-restriction of TB-breakdown holdings will be disallowed. Under the new rules, any movement restrictions placed on a holding will apply to all cattle until all the animals have achieved officially TB free status.

Cull policy criticised in light of Defra figures

Groups opposed to the badger cull, which is set to resume in two 'pilot' zones in South-West England this year, have said Defra's figures amount to "powerful proof that bTB could be wiped out without culling badgers."

On Thursday the Badger Trust said local figures showing that the number of cattle slaughtered because of the disease fell by 50 percent in Somerset and 20 percent in Gloucestershire, compared to the same time in 2013. However, Defra said the figures represent only "a snapshot" of the bTB situation, and urged that "Short term changes in these statistics should be considered in the context of long term trends."

Even so, Badger Trust spokesperson Dominic Dyer commented, "These are pretty sensational figures and highly significant. There is no way that the badger culls from last year could have influenced these numbers at all, so the drop is purely because of the tighter farming controls that have come in over the last couple of years. If I was in the government I’d be shouting these numbers from the rooftops, but unfortunately they would rather keep quiet – because these figures don’t justify a badger cull."

On the subject of the new restrictions, Dyer added, "Tackling the disease in cattle works. We’ve seen it happening in Wales, and we're seeing it happening in England. But there’s more to be done. The way cattle are tested for bTB is deeply flawed, as for every five infected cows, it can miss one. That means infected cows remain in herds to spread the disease. We need to nail that problem before we can eradicate this disease for good."

Research suggests culling could spread disease

Earlier this week, research published in the journal PNAS suggested that even small-scale badger culling might increase rather than reduce the spread of bovine tuberculosis. The study found that social stability in badger populations mitigates against disease spread, but upheaval could increase spread.

The PNAS paper looked at the impact of changes in badger behaviour that result from culling-induced perturbation. It found surviving badgers are more likely to spread out into surrounding areas, and badgers from areas surrounding culling zones are more likely to move in to fill the 'gaps' created by culling. This increases the chances of contact between badgers from different social groups, and risks spreading infection more widely to previously uninfected badgers.

The results are similar to earlier findings from Defra-funded research that demonstrated in 2013 that TB-positive badgers "were socially isolated from their own groups." The researchers said "The distinctive social position of infected badgers may help explain how social stability mitigates, and social perturbation increases, the spread of infection in badgers."

In response to the two sets of findings, animal protection the Humane Society urged farmers across England to reject badger culling and become badger-friendly instead, arguing that protecting the species is one of the best ways of mitigating the risk of infection spreading.

Mark Jones, executive director of Humane Society International UK, commented, "It’s time now for farmers to recognise that leaving badgers alone whilst they get their own farming industry practices in order, is the best thing they can do to stem the tide of cattle TB infection. If they don't, they may well be condemning themselves and their neighbours to an even worse cattle TB future."