Dairy Chitchat 4, an udder new thread.

Neighbour rang me. He's locked again some fellow bounding him on the outfarm gone down. Both of them lost a lot of cows last year but both were gone clear.

Clear test here a fortnight ago tg.

if I’ve reactors in September I’ll knock walls down to get them blood remaining animals ….I know I may loose few Faldo positives but hopefully it will weed out the problem

Wouldn’t be so sure of that, local farmer here lost 7 to skin test blooded them then lost around 50 more none of them killed out with lesions. That would drive you insane.

was just locking out cows there before finishing up for morning ….dept started laying snares to try trap badgers in a known set in a fort just over my ditch …..there’s 12 plus burrows and all active ….they lay traps last Tuesday and check every morning ….was chatting to neighbour who owns the fort ….they took snares away Friday morning and will re lay them again tomorrow 🙄🙄🙄🙄….seems badgers do be off for weekend and stay in there sets ….things like this just show how much the dept really want to try control this

No visible lesions in the factory doesn't mean that disease wasn't present. With 7 failing the skin test its 100% guarantee there's disease in that herd. I've seen it happen where cattle had no lesions but showed positive on lymph node cultures in the lab.

Quoting lesions or no lesions is Confusing people, you'd wo.der why the Dept still do it.

Another neighbour has 17 reactors this week. It's time to start searching and killing. The badgers around here must be rotten with it. Its either a covid type cull job with the testing or it's the fact that this generation of farmers have taken their eye off the ball, when it comes to wildlife.

if the lumps on the neck are rock hard you can be sure tb is present… if the lumps are very soft its debatable… plenty of experience of TB here back in 2011/12/13… wouldnt wish it on anyone… the blood test craic for TB is basically an unofficial cow reductions scheme… a joke… sure a farmer hasnt a clue whats a reactor or not on blood.. least with skin you can see something concrete like a lump… blood test result are just a heap of numbers on a page… Avoid blood test at all costs…

Can't agree. If there's a skin reaction to a properly administered test, the likelihood of TB present is 95% plus. More than one reaction, you may as well say 100%. The problem is not the cow with massive lumps and the skin peeling off them, the problem is marginal calls and small reactions- these may be the cows with most advanced infection. Out the gap with them. Repeat for clarity, false positives on skin are tiny in number.

If you want to clear a herd level infection quickly, where there is circulating disease in the herd, then bloods are a part of the overall response, case by case though. Unlike the skin, false positive rates are more significant so there will be difficult collateral damage in trying to clear the situation fast. But better to lose 20 cows in 8 months than 8 cows in 20 months, given the other implications. You have to factor in bloods as part of managing a significant outbreak. My experience on this goes back 30 years or more at this stage unfortunately, and I'm saying it in the interest of anyone who is struggling with the problem. Do all you can to clear it fast I would say, and put your case vet back over previous readings on older cows if needed. Any track of reaction in the older cows especially is a red flag.

As for an unofficial cow reduction scheme, take the tinfoil off your head and talk sense for a minute. The Dept don't and won't use bloods for annual screening test precisely because of the greater chance of unnecessary culls, and are reluctant to go in even if an outbreak occurs.

If the skin test isn’t accurate, the presence /absence of lesions isn’t accurate and the blood test isn’t indicative what is left ? If there isn’t a test that can be relied upon why continue with any of the testing ?

I know that tests applied to determine whether a motorist can be convicted of drink driving are also dubious so is there any test that works in this country ?

The skin test has very high specificity, so a very low false positive rate.

It's problem is low sensitivity, meaning a higher than ideal false negative rate. That's where the frustration lies, stock with the infection not being picked up. It's also why you need 2 clear tests to go clear,to reduce the likelihood of missing an infected animal.

But it does mean in practice that lumps mean TB, but no lumps doesn't mean no TB. A big part of the reason why trading high risk animals from high risk herds is adding to the problem.

If you can see badgers out by day walking between the lines of slurry you can be shure they are badly infected with TB.

Totally de populated here in 2022 ,wouldnt wish it on any one.Had cows that had passed around seven skin tests and one blood test in two years and when taken out still killed out with lesions.Until there is a conclusive test we are at nothing.Had aclosed herd, dept asking me how did or could i explain out break.

Think that we are in asituation where younger animals have never been challlanged by the virus and have no resistence.in my own situation nearly all first and second calvers went down to skin test or maybe older stock are tested so often its like a vacinne.

hope ive done it right picture is of sixty young healthy cows skin tb reactors

Fcuk. That’s insane. Must put a farmers mental health under serious pressure too