Bovine TB continues to be huge barrier for farmers achieving this ambition and NFU Cymru recently hosted Welsh Government, APHA, Defra and other industry partners on Deputy President Abi Reader's farm just outside of Cardiff to discuss the issue.
Pressure of bovine TB
During a farm tour, officials were able to witness first-hand the pressures bovine TB puts on a farm. Abi explained how dealing with the ongoing uncertainty impacts decisions about youngstock management and the impact TB can have on wider calf health.
During the meeting industry representatives stressed the need for flexibility and urged the government and APHA to do more to support bio-secure units such as Approved Finishing Units (AFUs) to help ensure businesses can survive life under TB restrictions.
As part of the GB calf strategy, we have identified several barriers related to bovine TB which we believe hold industry back from meeting its commitment of raising every calf with care.
General licences for movements
NFU Cymru discussed with officials the potential for general licences for movements to be introduced for calves moving into AFUs. We believe this would help enable more timely movement of calves, by removing the unnecessary administrative barrier of applying for an individual licence for every animal and controls can be put in place to ensure traceability and disease eradication is not compromised. Progress is being made on this ask and NFU Cymru will continue to press for this change.
GB Calf Strategy Group met on farm to discuss improving access for calves to Biosecure units #AFUs for herds shut down with bTB
— Abi Reader (@AbiReader) January 21, 2023
Proper partnership working with @NFUCymru @NFUtweets @TheAHDB @WGRural @DefraGovUK @APHAgovuk @BladeFarming#LivingWithTB #tbfree pic.twitter.com/5d4Fo3DfGW
We also discussed increasing the pre-movement testing age threshold for AFU entry from 42 days to 90 days. NFU Cymru believes this change would be beneficial as it would give farmers the flexibility to make management-led decisions which are beneficial to the health and welfare of calves and are economically sustainable.
Government analysis suggests the disease risk would be very low if the threshold was increased but officials were keen to understand from industry the appetite for this change and how much difference it would make.
Devastating impact
Speaking after the meeting Deputy President Abi Reader said: “Bovine TB continues to devastate farmers across Wales and continues to be a barrier to us meeting our commitment of raising every calf with care. It was great to be able to show government officials first hand the impact the disease has on farm and to discuss with them practical ways to introduce more flexibility for farmers without compromising on disease eradication”.
