Champion bull sails through test for bovine TB

His owners, Ken and Anita Jackson, beef farmers and pedigree breeders at Stubbs Walden, near Doncaster, were told late yesterday afternoon that “Boxy” had passed a skin test performed on Tuesday this week with flying colours.

But the Jacksons’ agony of uncertainty is not yet over.

The skin test, which is the standard initial screening for TB, involves injecting dead TB bacteria just under the skin and measuring the swelling which results. Boxster showed no reaction at all, which is a strong sign that he has never been infected.

In March last year, he was condemned on the basis of a blood sample, after a heifer bought into the herd was diagnosed with TB, and the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural affairs (DEFRA) now wants to repeat the blood test. A judge ruled the last one invalid because of procedural mistakes.

The Jacksons reluctantly allowed another blood sample on Tuesday and were expecting the result of laboratory tests on that, too, yesterday. But DEFRA said the sample had clotted, so it could not be properly analysed.

They want to come back and take yet another. But the Jacksons argue they might get a false positive arising from the skin test procedure. They say the Department should wait until Boxster is due for his second skin test, 60 days from the first.

The bull has to remain in quarantine anyway until after a second negative skin test.

The Jackson family and a delegation from Animal Health, DEFRA’s veterinary service, argued the point last night without coming to any agreement.

Mr and Mrs Jackson’s married daughter, Kate McNeil, said last night: “Obviously we are over the moon that he has passed his skin test on the severest interpretation.

“Normally, a second good skin-test result would be enough to clear an animal. Cattle are being moved around the country and herds are being declared TB-free all the time on the basis of skin tests.

“But because there was once an infected animal in our herd, DEFRA is insisting on the extra test – although the rest of the herd has been testing clean for ages and if Boxster had ever been infected, he would be riddled with it by now.

“DEFRA has failed to give us an understandable reason why they are treating him differently or why they cannot wait 60 days. We want to establish whether they are quoting the law at us or just their own policy.

“We don’t want to speculate on motives. We only want an end to all this. We have allowed DEFRA to take two blood samples and they have made a mess of both, through no fault of ours. It actually requires quite a lot of preparation – hiring a crush, for a start, to keep the bull still while they do it.”

DEFRA fought hard against allowing Boxster a re-test because it was worried about setting a precedent and must be hoping to prove that its diagnosis was right in the first place. But it has explained its behaviour by saying it has to always act on the safe side if it hopes to contain TB effectively.

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