Defra officially launched its Bovine TB eradication Strategy today, which it hopes will rid England of bovine TB within 25 years.

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Unveiling the Strategy on Thursday (4th July), Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said the plan would, "Start a countdown towards an England free from this terrible disease." He added, "We must stop bTB spreading into previously unaffected areas while bringing it under control in places where it has taken hold."

The new rules will see farmers taking on board more of the cost of bovine TB control and management.

Defra has sanctioned trial badger culls in two areas of the South West as part of its plans. The culls are widely opposed by the public and scientific opinion on the policy is deeply split. Although licenses issued to companies of farmers and landowners by Natural England came into effect on 1st June, there is no evidence that culling has started in either trial zone.

Despite the vehement opposition of many experts to Defra's culls, including Lord Krebs, the architect of previous culling trials on which much of Defra's evidence is based, Mr Paterson has touted the wildlife culling policies of other countries as successes that an English badger cull will be able to replicate. On Thursday, he continued in this vein.

Mr Paterson said, "I have visited Australia, New Zealand, the Republic of Ireland and the USA and we must learn from their successful TB eradication programmes." However, scientists maintain that the Antipodean, and even Irish experiences of culling are not comparable to the situation in England.  

Details of the strategy

Although provisional statistics released by Defra earlier in the year appear to suggest that a tightening of biosecurity measures has begun to pay off, bovine TB remains a devastating and deeply worrying disease in the UK; in England 28,000 cattle were slaughtered as TB reactors last year.   

The Defra strategy unveiled on Thursday also covers action in areas such as disease surveillance, pre- and post-movement cattle testing, removal of cattle exposed to bTB and vaccination trials.

According to Defra, the strategy aims to:

• Preserve the low risk of TB in the north and east of England;
• Stop and reverse the spread of bovine TB at the frontier of the disease (the 'edge area'); and
• Reduce the level of infection in the high risk area, mainly in the south west.

Under the new plan, England will be split into three distinct 'risk areas'. These are the 'Low Risk Area', 'Edge Area' and 'High Risk Area'. Approaches to combating the disease will differ between the three zones.  

If the strategy proves successful, counties in the 'low risk area' will be able to attain Officially TB-Free (OTF) status, and reduce the burden of TB control measures. The 'enhanced partnership', which Defra claims is inspired by "The robust government-industry partnership approach [of the] New Zealand experience in particular," will see farmers taking on more of the cost of bTB measures and taking greater responsibility for control activities.

Risk-Based Trading

Defra has already released information on one novel measure; working with the industry, the department introduced risk-based trading in May, to help farmers make more informed decisions about the cattle they buy. However, as with the vast majority of the government's initiatives, the trading strategy remains strictly voluntary.

Under the risk-based trading scheme, a range of crucial TB risk information such as movement and testing history will be shared at the point of sale so farmers will know the animal's TB testing history before purchase.

The TB Strategy will also 'review' TB compensation for farmers, cutting compensation in cases where farmers are deemed to have conducted 'risky' business; conversely, an assurance scheme may be set up to ensure farmers are abiding by best practice in biosecurity and other measures, which will allow them to obtain increased compensation in the case of a breakdown. Tougher penalties for failing to comply with disease control rules could also be introduced.  

However, Farming Minister David Heath said a number of the new policy measures have not been finalised and will be subject to consultation. More information on the consultation, and a draft of the new strategy, are available from Defra here.

Further details of the three risk areas:

• The Low Risk Area Covers the North and East of England, where most cases of TB are linked to animals which have been brought in from herds in higher risk areas. Here, the objective will be to continue to prevent any spread of the disease. Wildlife in this area will not be targeted. Efforts here will focus on improving surveillance, tightening movement testing and boosting biosecurity measures.
• The High Risk Area covering the South West, West Midlands and parts of the South Coast has a high level of bTB breakdowns. Here, badger culling will be pursued, along with increases in testing, stricter biosecurity measures and potentially trials of cattle and badger vaccines.
• In the Edge Area, which covers the boundary between the High and Low Risk Areas, efforts will focus on identifying where bTB is spreading and how it can be contained. As well as increased surveillance and tightened cattle measures, vaccination trials will also go ahead here.

NFU President Peter Kendall welcomed the "ambitious and comprehensive package" on Thursday. He said, "It recognises the importance of a risk-based approach that puts the ability to trade responsibly at the heart of cattle controls to minimise risks of disease transmission while allowing businesses to continue to operate."