Presentation tool for Animal Health Veterinary Officers

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Presentation tool for Animal Health Veterinary
Officers

• Bovine TB
• Husbandry Best Practice Advice

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Dairy products Meat
M. bovis transmission
PURCHASE
Cattle testing Surveillance Biosecurity Husbandry
SALE
X
X
X
Pasteurisation Meat inspection
Pre-movement testing
Pre-movement testing
X
Cattle herd
X
Biosecurity Husbandry measures
SLAUGHTER
Cattle testing and Surveillance Biosecurity Husban
dry measures
Biosecurity Husbandry measures
DIRECT Badgers to cattle
DIRECT Cattle to Badgers
Badger social group
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Bovine TB Husbandry Advice suggested measures
to reduce your risk

• Keep badgers away from stored feed badgers
  infected with TB can contaminate feed.
• Make your farmyard less attractive for badgers
  badgers are likely to be attracted to accessible
  feed and may spread disease to cattle.
• Be aware of main badger latrines and active setts
  at pasture where possible keep cattle away from
  these high risk areas.
• Keep cattle away from neighbouring cattle herds
  disease can spread between cattle.
• Protect your herd Source bought in stock
  carefully and adhere to isolation procedures for
  any inconclusive or reactor animals.

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Keep badgers away from stored cattle feed

• Make walls and doors of feed stores secure
  especially if they are used for storage of
  straights or concentrate feed.

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Keep badgers away from stored cattle feed

• Ensure feed store doors are shut, especially in
  the evening / at night as this is the peak time
  for badger visits.
• Ensure doors and walls of feed stores have no
  gaps and are inaccessible to badgers.
• If your feed store is accessible to badgers and
  too costly to modify consider storing your feed
  in a different building or in secure containers.
• If building a new feed store, consider ways of
  preventing wildlife access.

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Badger and feed sacks
Click here to play video
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Badgers and dog
Click here to play video
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Badgers on a grain pile
Click here to play video
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Badgers access feed from a silo chute
Click here to play video
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Badgers around a feed trailer inside a feed store
Click here to play video
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Make your farmyard less attractive for badgers

• Avoid leaving feed easily accessible in the farm
  yard as this is an attraction to badgers.
• Avoid feeding cattle on the ground in the
  farmyard. Consider ways of preventing badgers
  from gaining access to feed.
• Ensure silage clamps, are well covered and
  consider protecting the open face by electric
  netting at times when access is not needed.

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Make your farmyard less attractive for badgers

• While it may be
• difficult to keep badgers out of cattle housing
  completely, it makes sense where possible to make
  cattle housing more difficult for badgers to
  access

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Badger in bull pen
Click here to play video
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Badgers in cattle housing
Click here to play video
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Electric fencing
Click here to play video
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Be aware of main badger latrines and active setts
at pasture

• Be aware that feeding at pasture may be a higher
  risk than feeding in the farmyard. Avoid feeding
  concentrates on the ground at pasture.
• Be aware of high risk areas such as badger
  latrines and active setts at pasture
• Be aware that certain forms of grazing can be
  more of a risk. Intensive grazing in particular
  may encourage cattle to feed at field margins
  where there is a greater risk of contamination
  from badger faeces and urine at badger latrines.
  Avoid allowing cattle access to woodland.

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Be aware of main badger latrines and active setts
at pasture

• Feed troughs can become contaminated by wildlife
  so keep an eye out for such signs of
  contamination and clean these out regularly
• If you use molassed blocks, consider taking
  measures to make them more difficult for badgers
  to access e.g. suspending them
• Be aware that badger carcasses are a potential
  source of disease and dispose of them sensibly.

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Keep cattle away from neighbouring cattle herds

• Ensure perimeter fencing, including gateways, are
  adequate to prevent nose-to-nose contact with
  cattle on neighbouring farms. Common grazing,
  nose-to-nose contact at shared water courses etc
  are areas of particular risk for disease
  transmission between cattle.
• Be aware that there is a risk of disease
  transmission from hired or shared bulls.

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Protect your herd

• Check the TB status of farms from where you buy
  your cattle (both the testing interval and the
  date of the last 2 tests). Always ask for
  appropriate evidence of testing and TB status for
  all bought in cattle (more information available
  in leaflet PB12494 TB in Cattle Reducing the
  Risk Pre-and Post Movement Testing in Great
  Britain )
• Where possible breed your own replacements and /
  or use Artificial Insemination (AI) where
  practical

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Protect your herd

• Adhere to isolation procedures for any
  inconclusive or reactor animals. Isolate
  inconclusive, reactor animals and any tracings
  from confirmed TB breakdowns separately from the
  herd.
• Adhere to any statutory notice regarding
  cleansing and disinfecting of buildings and
  equipment.

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Sources of information

• Your Vet
• As all farms are different, farmers should
  discuss the
• most appropriate measures for their farms with
  their vet.
• TB Husbandry
• Defra TB Husbandry website www.defra.gov.uk/anima
  lh/tb/abouttb/protect.htm
• Leaflets (available from Animal Health Offices)
• Welsh Assembly Government advice
  http//new.wales.gov.uk/topics/environmentcountry
  side/ahw/disease_surveillance_control
• Continued

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continued

• Farm Health Planning
• Defra Farm Health Planning website
  www.defra.gov.uk/fhp/index.htm
• Other useful publications
• Dealing with TB in Your Herd
• http//www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/tb/pdf/tbinyh.pdf
  
• TB Pre-Movement Testing Booklet
• http//www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/tb/premovement/pr
  emove-booklet.pdf