Finding a home for dairy calves on TB-restricted farms

One of the most galling and costly consequences of Britain’s bovine TB epidemic - one largely unseen - is the premature slaughter of healthy dairy calves.

Thousands are shot each year on TB-restricted farms by farmers who lack the space and facilities to rear them, but cannot sell them on.

This autumn sees the start of a new initiative intended to address this issue in England and Wales by ensuring some of these needlessly wasted calves can be finished.

England’s TB Eradication Group (TBEG), in consultation with Animal Health, has developed a facility for calf rearers known as an Approved Quarantine Unit (AQU).

The system is complex, but the idea is simple. It gives farmers the option of setting up units to take ‘clean’ calves from TB restricted farms and retain them in a group in isolated buildings until they have tested clear twice.

At this point, they will gain Officially TB Free (OTF) status and the farmer will be free to graze them alongside other cattle on his own land, or sell them on to other rearers and finishers.

Cornish beef farmer, Bill Harper, who sits on the group and has been a key figure in developing the system, said the main aim was to give TB restricted dairy farmers a further source of

income, while allowing the beef industry to use a ‘valuable resource of fast growing cattle’.

AQUs could help moorland suckled calf producers, who suffer ‘great hardship and potential welfare issues’ if they cannot sell suckled calves in the autumn, he said.

“It is about getting these calves, particularly Holstein Friesians, reared and finished,” said Mr Harper, who is the National Beef Association’s TB chairman.

‘Unacceptable’

“About 80 to 90 per cent are currently being shot and that is quite unacceptable. We need to finish them to sustain critical mass in the English and Welsh beef industry.”

However, he was realistic about the challenge of getting farmers and the rest of the supply chain to buy into the idea.

The changes were officially implemented by Animal Health in mid-October, the week after they were announced by TBEG.

So far, just two AQUs have been set up, both in the South West. Consultation has taken place with various calf rearing organisations across England and Wales about getting more up and running.

The main problem, Mr Harper acknowledged, is the number of hoops to jump through to achieve AQU status and some of the conditions attached, such as having to move animals as a complete batch, may prove a deterrent.

He stressed the initiative is still a ‘work in progress’ and rules will continue to be developed. For example, he will press Animal Health to alter the system to allow a continuous flow of cattle in and out of units.

“It will take people a year or two to get used to the idea. In time, AQUs could enable several thousands of healthy calves to be reared for beef which would have been shot at birth,” he said.

It is not just farmers who need to get used to the idea, markets could play a key role, too, he said.

There is a provision a for TB dedicated market to be set up for cattle under 10 months, where only AQU farms and Approved Finishing Units (AFUs), which also take older cattle from restricted herds, can purchase.

“This is a chicken and egg situation. We need more AQUs and AFU’s to be set up, but if there are no markets of TB restricted cattle, there is not as much incentive to set the units up,” said Mr Harper.

“Communications between dairy and suckled calf producers, calf rearing schemes, livestock agents and authorities will be the key to making this work.”

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