Battle over bull condemned to TB slaughter

A renowned cattle breeder fighting a rearguard action to save his prize-winning bull from death sought to enlist the support of fellow farmers at a meeting in Selby this week. They were also seeking information from experts about the threat of Bovine TB and clarification of the exact nature about how it is transmitted.
By The Newsroom
Published 4th Jun 2010, 16:23 BST
Updated 4th Jun 2010, 16:23 BST

Ken Jackson, of Forlorn Hope Farm, Stubbs Walden, north of Doncaster discovered he had Bovine TB in his herd following a routine skin test and his prize-winning bull Hallmark Boxster, from his pedigree British Blonde herd, was condemned to slaughter when he was found to have traces of the disease two months ago.

Boxster, who won seven championships on the county's agricultural show circuit last year, is still alive and Ken, his wife Anita and their daughter Kate McNeil are currently battling against what they say is intransigence on the part of Defra.

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Kate said: "They won't allow us to even pay for a re-test. There is human error around and they (Defra) have already made a few mistakes with us that doesn't give us great confidence. They have phoned us twice previously and given us results of someone else's cattle. We wanted to let all of our fellow farmers know what Bovine TB is about, because we didn't know much when we first got what they call a reactor. We also wanted to drum up some support."

The meeting was also attended by officials from Animal Health, an executive agency of Defra, local vets and the National Farmers' Union. Claire Taylor of Animal Health told the meeting that Yorkshire – not a hotspot for Bovine TB – had 11 confirmed cases last year. The main areas in the country where the disease occurs are in the South West and Wales.

Another Blonde breeder Alan Hall, who shows stock alongside Ken at agricultural shows through the summer season, asked how easy it was for the disease to spread.

"If I took an animal to a show and it breathed onto another, then brought it home, is it as easy as that to pick it up?" Claire Taylor's response was that potentially it could be as easy as that, it really could take just that one

time.

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Ken Jackson was delighted with the response from the meeting. "I'd just like to thank everyone for coming. We couldn't really get anything out of Defra but the NFU have agreed to take our case to London and our local MP Nigel Adams looks like being our next best bet. We're not giving up."

Ken Jackson, 65, runs a commercial beef herd of cross-breds, which he has reduced from about 300 to about 100 over the past couple of years. But his pride and joy is his 40 pedigree British Blondes derived from the French Blondes d'Aquitaine.

The best of his two stock bulls, Hallmark Boxster, won its category in every show it entered last year and would have been worth five figures to another breeder.

Defra will pay compensation only at average meat market rates, which means about 2,500 for a bull too old to make best steak.

Ken Jackson has been refused permission to save semen from the bull, for future breeding to avoid any possibility of passing on the disease.

CW 5/6/10

Related topics:DEFRA