Securtity opperation for the cull could cost £4 Million :eeek:
However, if it helps the farmers out it must be worth the cost. The cull is expected to lead to a 16 per cent reduction in bovine TB, which was behind the slaughter of 25,000 cattle in England last year.
Badger cull gets go-ahead with Olympic-sized police operation
The shooting of thousands of badgers will go ahead next year but not until after the Olympics to prevent police resources being overstretched by the £4? million security operation required for the cull.
Can I do some maths.
Security cost $4 million.
Cost of killing operation -0 to 4 million
Cost of dead cows cos of TB = 25,000 * £150 = million.
Loss from killing badgers at least 250k maybe as much as 5 million.
Can I have a job as an economist with the badger killing department. I will settle for a salary of 50k a year and a bonus based on profitability. My first recommendation is to not kill any badgers and have a lottery where 2000 farmers get a free cow.
According to DEFRA
Bovine tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease of cattle and one of the biggest challenges facing the cattle farming industry today, particularly in the west and south west of England. It is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis), which can also infect and cause TB in badgers, deer, goats, pigs, camelids (llamas and alcapas), dogs and cats, as well as many other mammals.
So as to help Ben, last year alone, 25,000 cattle were slaughtered in England at a cost of £90m to the taxpayer in testing and compensation for farmers.
So £90m divided by 25,000 = £3,600
It's reported that Defra estimates that 50,000-90,000 badgers will be culled over four years. The costs to farmers will exceed the benefits and will increase bovine TB in the short term. The costs of bovine TB to the taxpayer will rumble on as testing and compensation continue to be paid. The coalition agreement promised farmers a "science-led" approach on bovine TB. This cull has no scientific basis, may not work and could make matters worse. It is bad for taxpayers, bad for farmers and bad for badgers
The nation's leading scientific experts met in April this year to revisit the research. They concluded that a cull would cut TB in cattle by just 16% after nine years -
Back in 1997 the Krebs Report advised, “The best prospect for control of TB in the British herd is to develop a cattle vaccine”. Total investment (since 1998) in vaccine development reached more than £17.8 million by the end of March 2008. Over £5.5 million was invested in cattle and badger vaccine research in 2007/2008. We are told that real progress has been made yet a vaccination for cattle is STILL not available as efforts have, instead, been concentrated on a vaccine for badgers.
In 2008, Hilary Benn committed a further £20 million to be spent on vaccine development with the aim of strengthening the prospects of successfully developing a usable vaccine. The only licensed vaccine for bTB is Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG). This is inexpensive and rated as one of the safest vaccines ever developed. In humans and cattle it has moderate efficacy, providing partial protection against M bovis) It reduces risk of infection by 50% and death by 70%, so would appear to be as effective as the existing skin test policy is.
The only problem is that vaccinated animals show up as positive reactors when tested. However, unfortunately, at the moment vaccination for cattle would be illegal under European law! The reason why EU legislation currently prohibits the use of bovine tuberculosis vaccines is because injectable vaccine for bovine tuberculosis in cattle interferes with the current tuberculin skin test and any vaccinated animal would show up as a reactor!
However, there is a great deal of debate regarding the reliability of the existing skin test. Indeed it is clear that the test and slaughter policy is killing many cattle that are unlikely to be infectious and which do not have the disease. A significant percentage of reactors and inconclusive reactors, slaughtered under the existing system, reveal no evidence at all of bovine TB on post mortem (either lesions or after tissue culture).
DEFRA has revealed, in the latest consultation document, Bovine Tuberculosis: the Government's approach to tackling the disease and consultation on a badger control policy' (September 2010), that a vaccination for cattle will be available in 2012 (with the DIVA test). Vaccination could therefore be used as the basis for a successful control, rather than eradication, policy. It will be easier for farmers and cheaper in the long term too as cattle would no longer have to be slaughtered needlessly (with subsequent compensation costs) just because they are reactors or unconfirmed reactors to an unreliable skin or blood test.
It is a little mad Ben, but the testing has to take place
On the subject of vaccination, I am always very nervous of such things, we pump a very large amount of chemicals into the meat we eat as it is.
Err......Average price for a milking cow of £167! Show me where. A first calf, pedigree milking heifer will set you back well over £2000. Even a cull cow going for burger meat can make as much as £1000 at the moment.
JewlnMart
source was Farmers Weekly website today on latest auction prices page
did say average, but look and you'll see all steers, heifers, bullocks, etc. that make that the average price they quoting today
PMSL!!!!!!
The average beef price is stated in pence per kilo. It's 167p/kg not £167!!!!!
To give you an idea of dairy cattle prices see these average prices from a recent sale at Sedgemoor Market:
Holstein Calved Cows
Holstein Calved Heifers
Holstein Bulls
Holstein Incalf Heifers
Holstein Bulling Heifers
Holstein Heifer Calves
Can someone explain to me why,given that we cannot subsidise,mining ,public transport,the steel industry and many others:we can it would seem afford to throw a bottomless pit of cash at farmers ????
Of course they bloody need them. This ridiculous fantasy of farming being "natural" must cease. Farming is an industry end of.
That wrought iron fishin rod is gonna be a bugger to fly fish with.
Here we see an Ox couple with wooden plough
Maybe I could do without steel at all
thanks for the heads up