A webinar hosted by NFUS outlined the grim impact of bovine TB and the financial and emotional implications of what could happen if it spreads in Scotland – and measures on how to minimise risk.

Dairy and beef farmer, Abi Reader, who is also deputy president of NFU Wales, told delegates that Wales has had annual TB testing for more than 10 years. It is divided into three TB areas of high risk, intermediate risk and low risk.

Ms Reader said: “I’m in the intermediate risk area and up until four years ago I didn’t even know what TB was – that’s how little it impacted my area.

“In the high risk areas, there are farms that have been shut down with TB for up to 20 years and I know some young farmers who have never known their farm to be out of TB. It’s absolutely devastating and lots of them tell me they’ve adjusted their businesses to it.

“Even in the low risk areas, there are still instances of TB, so in theory they’re worse off than Scotland.”

Ms Reader said her own experience of TB on farm began four years ago when there were two inconclusive tests. Previously, the subsequent tests after 60 days had come back negative, but not on this occasion.

The first cow, a pet, was heavily pregnant and had to be shot on farm. Ms Reader told of the 'heartbreaking' subsequent events: “The animal had to be removed from the herd and we had to wait 10 days until someone could come out and shoot her.

“I watched her every day, calling over the gate to the rest of the herd and I spent 10 days knowing that when I got to the end of it, someone was going to shoot her knowing that I was likely to see the calf inside her die at the same time – the wait was worse than when he did turn up on the farm.”

With no proper restraint facilities, the cow was put between two gates and shot in the head. “She fell to the ground and the convulsions were so dramatic, she lifted the gates off the hinges, got them wrapped around her legs and completely trashed them," said Ms Reader.

"There was blood everywhere – it was the most horrendous introduction to TB someone could see and it didn’t stop there. But when I look back, it was probably the easiest thing I did.”

Ms Reader said the cost of TB breakdown to the business was between £20,000 and £30,000 per year over and above the compensation. A four-year breakdown had lost the farm in excess of £100,000.

“I speak to farmers who are suicidal and I spoke just before Christmas to someone whose father-in-law committed suicide and they were trying to work out how they were going to disperse the herd.

“The reason I’m telling you all this is because I want you to know how much risk there is associated with TB coming into your herd,” she pointed out.

Mike Park, veterinary lead for APHA, described TB as an 'insidious disease' which develops very slowly both in the animal and the lab, which is why it takes so long for tests to come back.

He said: “Animals can be great looking cattle, yet they can be infected and move from farm to farm, or within your farm, spreading without anyone being aware they are infected.

“Clinical disease is extremely rare because, with our control measures in place, we are identifying disease on the farm and implementing those control measures before we see clinical disease.”

Mr Park said bovine TB was the 'scourge of cattle farming' around 40 years ago, with an estimated 30%-40% of the national herd infected, with clinical TB causing more problems than all other infectious diseases combined. The use of control measures had brought it down to the point where it was almost eradicated.

Mr Park warned that the disease was infectious to humans and 1000s of people had died of it during the 1930s and '40s before the introduction of pasteurised milk.

“I know lots of people are aware there’s been some high-profile cases in Scotland, but the incidence of disease is so much lower to where we are in England and Wales.

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“In Scotland, there’s no evidence of a significant reservoir of infection and negligible recurrence of disease on infected farms and control strategies are working, even in severe breakdowns, with getting people clear in a year to 15 months at the most,” he added.

Another difference north of the Border is a negligible occurrence of the genotype of the disease on adjacent, or nearby farms and where this does occur, it is from nose-to-nose contact over the fence of premises.

When disease is found, the priority for APHA is to stop the spread. Infected animals are removed more quickly than new cattle can get infected through an aggressive testing regime and then identify where the disease may have gone to and come from.

Mr Park highlighted that while Scotland was very fortunate relative to the rest of the UK, every TB breakdown caused significant problems and everyone needs to work together to maintain the nation's low incidence of disease.

NFUS vice-president, Alasdair Macnab discussed preventative measures from the farmers’ perspective, outlining key methods of transmission. Animal to animal, farm to farm and country to country through exports.

He said disease could be prevented from spreading from farm to farm through biosecurity, with a change in approach to buying in, better on farm processes and biosecurity, including vehicles, personnel, PPE and washing facilities.