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Posted: 5th February 2013

AHWBE publish consultation results
Board says all suggestions will be seriously considered

More than 600 vets, farmers and other interested parties have responded to the AHWBE consultation on tackling bovine TB. Chairman Michael Seals said of the suggestions: "This was a very interesting way of communicating with a large and mixed group of people. We found each area had its own issues it wanted to focus on. In the east, risk-based trading was a big issue, in the south-west they were most interested in the type and cost of testing and the people who do it."

Suggestions included lifting the Badger Protection Act, increasing the use of lay testers and creating a dedicated agency to control bTB. Broad support was received for plans to improve and speed up the testing process, increasing the involvement of local vets in controlling the disease and targeting action on the edge of endemic bTB areas.

After the latest DEFRA figures showed a 12 per cent rise in cattle slaughter due to bTB, Mr Seals admits that all suggestions will receive serious consideration. He said: "Lifting the Badger Protection Act is an issue that has a long-term potential. It's not on the table in the short-term, but we have ruled nothing in and nothing out in terms of our recommendations to ministers."

The BVA and BCVA added to the suggestions by proposing a "TB Plus" scheme. This would increase the input of local vets in bTB management on farms, an idea that received wide support according to former BVA president Carl Padgett. He said: "With this approach, the local vet could be more involved in the disease management on farms and the provision of biosecurity advice, how to mange that particular outbreak and so on. At the moment, most of that work is done by the AHVLA.

"It we are looking at budget issues and providing services as efficiently as possible, our contention is more use can be made of the private veterinary surgeon in these instances to improve efficiency. He or she is the local vet, knows what is going on locally and can add value."

With front-line testing an important source of revenue for rural practices, some vets may be concerned about responses to the consult suggesting increased use of lay testers to save money. Padgett adds however that lay testers are not the biggest threat, insisting he is yet to see financial evidence that lay testers are cheaper than a team of veterinary surgeons. He said: "What I would like to see is practices having the choice in the make-up of the team they use. If the AHVLA is allowed to use lay testers then why should practices not have the same choice?"

Once the AHWBE has considered the responses to the consultation it will advise DEFRA ministers of potential policy changes regarding TB eradication in England.  



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