By kind permission of the Besent family, members gathered at Penmaen Isaf in Pennal, Machynlleth after a recent review of Welsh Government’s TB Eradication Programme highlighted the Pennal cluster area as a specific hotspot for the disease. Members of Welsh Government’s TB Policy Team and the TB team at APHA attended the meeting and presented information on the disease and its control.
Highly discussed topic
NFU Cymru Dairy Board Chairman and member of the NFU Cymru TB Focus Group, Jonathan Wilkinson, who chaired the meeting said: “In recent months bovine TB has become a highly discussed topic across the counties, with more new breakdowns, increasing numbers of herds living under restrictions and more cattle being slaughtered because of this disease.
“It continues to be a blight on our national herd, and I’d like to thank the members of the team from Welsh Government and APHA who came along to give us an overview of the proposed measures they have in place for the Pennal and Mid Wales regions, as well as the processes and protocols around the handing of bovine TB breakdowns.”
NFU Cymru TB Focus Group Chairman Roger Lewis, who also sat on the panel, gave an overview of the work the union and the group have done in recent years and gave information of the proposed measures they now have in place in his home county of Pembrokeshire.
Mr Lewis said: “While there have been a number of changes announced in recent months regarding the management of TB in our herds, which we have welcomed, we must remember the bigger picture; the latest government statistics show that the TB picture in Wales is getting worse, with Welsh farmers and their families continuing to suffer the emotional and financial impact of this dreadful disease.
“NFU Cymru continues to call for a comprehensive eradication strategy that deals with this disease wherever it exists.”
Mr Wilkinson added: “I’d like to thank the Besent family for hosting this meeting and all who came along and took part in some robust discussions about how to eradicate this disease from Wales once and for all.”