In Kenneth Graham’s classic children’s book “The Wind in the Willows”, Badger was the wise and paternalistic figure who advised and protected the various riverside and forest animals. There was certainly no mention in the book of Badger getting sick, or snuffling around the cowsheds at night, or moving into a neighbouring sett, having heard that the previous badger family had suddenly disappeared. It was a favourite childhood book of mine, and of course I realised that it wasn’t about animals at all, but was a clever allegory of human behaviour. Even as a child I wasn’t particularly sentimental about animals, but I loved them as part of the great miracle of nature.
The announcement by Defra in January this year of the two pilot areas in which landowners and farmers may apply for licences to cull badgers brought the subject of badgers back to me in clear, sharp focus. We appear to be slap-bang in the middle of one of the two areas (West Gloucestershire, the other is in West Somerset) – although the precise locations are still under wraps. It is, however, likely to affect Green Farm directly, as we have a large, active badger sett at the end of our Orchard, set into a bank against an old hedgerow. We believe our sett is healthy, as our neighbour has kept cattle in the adjoining field for some years and has never had any reactors to the regular testing for mycobacterium bovis. This set me thinking about how a cull would work … what if some landowners denied access to their land? What about ‘perturbation – if ‘our’ resident sett is culled, diseased badgers may move in? Are there effective alternatives to culling?
It’s perhaps worth stating the obvious at this point: the subject of Bovine TB and badgers is both highly complex and very sensitive. It’s estimated that it will cost taxpayers around one billion pounds over the next 10 years if not effectively dealt with. More painfully for farmers, the disease forced the slaughter of 25,000 cattle during 2010 alone. So it is a serious subject for ALL concerned, and I have always stated that, if I felt a badger cull would solve the problem, I would support it.
I’d read the report of the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust’s Badger Vaccination Deployment Programme carried out last summer, which set out to demonstrate that there is an affordable, effective alternative to the proposed cull in Bovine TB ‘hotspots’. Admittedly, it’s not a total solution (currently, there isn’t one), but it did make sense from the perspective of at least reducing the disease output from wildlife: vaccination doesn’t cure the badger but has been shown to reduce the severity of disease in badgers as well as reducing the number of bacilli excreted.Combating this disease has got to be a multi-pronged effort. Farmers can improve biosecurity wherever possible, as well maximising the herd’s health to promote a strong immune system – although even herds with the highest health status can still succumb to the disease. Scientists are working towards more effective vaccines, including a cattle vaccine that can be differentiated from the actual disease during testing. And finally, the reservoir of disease in wildlife must be reduced to prevent the risk of transmission to cattle: very selective culling of diseased animals may have a role in this, but vaccination most definitely has a role. Defra acknowledges that “Badger vaccination could help reduce the prevalence and severity of bovine TB in a badger population and thereby reduce the rate of transmission to cattle”.
In early March, we had ‘our’ badger sett and surrounding fields surveyed, for badger activity as well as the feasibility of carrying out a vaccination programme. This in itself was an interesting exercise as the ‘vaccination team’ are very knowledgeable about the secret life of badgers, and I learnt more that day than I could have from any TV wildlife programme! During the survey the team mapped setts, runs, latrines, foraging signs and interestingly, a couch (a grass nest) in an old drainage pipe! There was evidence of plenty of badger activity, and well-used latrines. Factors affecting the practicalities of trapping and vaccinating badgers were recorded.
Their recommendation is to vaccinate badgers (through intramuscular injection) annually for 5 years – roughly the lifespan of a badger, to ensure that all badgers of all ages are treated, which will increase the level of immunity within the badger group. Starting with ‘trap deployment’, peanuts are placed at ‘bait points’ to accustom the badgers to a source of food. On days 5-9, the pre-bait period, the badgers are gradually encouraged to take peanuts from an open trap, then during the next 2 days humane traps are activated and badgers are vaccinated. There is an element of flexibility in this, depending on how cooperative the badgers are! Trapped badgers are given a full clinical health-check, and a vet will be on-call if attention is needed. Each badger is marked to ensure they are only vaccinated once each year; trapping and vaccination can take place from May to November, to avoid the breeding season.
So what is the cost of this exercise? And who pays?Essentially, the landowner is responsible for the cost, which can only be calculated following a survey. It is not a cheap option, and the farmer must be prepared to complete the full 5 years for it to be worthwhile. There is Defra funding – the Badger Vaccination Fund for England, up to 50% of the cost of the first year’s vaccination for land within the pilot badger cull areas or a surrounding 2km ‘ring’. Before commencing a vaccination programme, the farmer must obtain a license from Natural England – we’re in the process of applying for our licence, and will start the programme this year.
- http://www.brockvaccination.co.uk/
- Defra - Badger Vaccine Deployment Project
- fera (The Food and Environment Research Agency) - Badger Vaccine Deployment Project
Meanwhile, there’s the rest of our smallholding activities to worry about! The one that is concerning me most is, for the second year running, a distinct lack of rainfall.
In a normal season, our pond looks like this … But this year, it’s already completely dried up …
Last year our fields ended up looking more like African Savannah than the English countryside, so we’re hoping for a good drenching soon, otherwise our hay crop will fail and we’ll have to buy in a further 600 or so bales for next winter.And finally, we’re getting ready for lambing in mid-April. This is a lot later than most flocks, but it suits us well and means the lambs will (hopefully) go out onto good grass. The ewes are looking exceptionally well, and, with just two weeks to go, they’re ‘bagging up’ nicely meaning a good supply of milk for their lambs. Between 3-4 weeks before lambing we gave all the ewes a trace element and vitamin drench specifically to counteract the deficiencies that we’ve identified in our forage (see January 2012 diary), and they’re getting a daily ration of high protein feed according to the number of lambs they’ve been scanned for and their body condition score.
February is such a difficult month for the gardener, and it’s very easy to get caught on the hop when a sunny day persuades you to get sowing in the vegetable plot, followed a few days later by a hard and frosty day that nips all your seedlings in the bud. However, I for one cannot resist the call of spring, and during the last week of February in went my rows of carrots, peas, parsnips and beetroot. Ever hopeful! The greenhouse (ours is unheated, but a bit of bubble wrap helps our more tender shoots) comes into its own at this time too, and is now stuffed with pots and trays of seedlings: cabbages, tomatoes, broad beans, onions, and lots of different herbs. Fingers crossed!
As it turned out, we’re very pleased with our scanning results this year, at 179% our flock is 2% up on last year, with a 19% improvement on 2010. It’s a good indicator that this aspect of our ‘flock improvement’ measures is working. So, for the record, we’re expecting one set of triplets, 10 sets of twins, and 3 singles – a fact that is graphically displayed by a series of spray-paint dots on the ewes’ sides!