UK Parliament / Open data

TB in Cattle and Badgers

Proceeding contribution from Ruth George (Labour) in the House of Commons on Wednesday, 23 October 2019. It occurred during Debate on TB in Cattle and Badgers.

I will have to make some progress, as there are several more speakers to come in. I am sure the hon. Gentleman will have a chance to make his point later.

It is acknowledged that the pattern of livestock markets facilitates the flow of cattle in Derbyshire from the high-risk area to the edge area and that the major risk to other edge areas adjacent to Derbyshire—Cheshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicester—is mostly via cattle movements. When we say we must look at all the reasons why cattle are contracting bovine tuberculosis, we must look at cattle movement and infection in a herd.

The size of the herd was also a major factor. Herds of under 50, which account for about half of all cattle herds in Derbyshire, had only a 3% risk of contracting bovine tuberculosis. That rose to 27% in herds of 200 to 350 and 38% in the largest herds of 500-plus. It seems very odd that badgers would discriminate between small herds of cattle and large herds.

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
666 c5WH 
Session
2019-19
Chamber / Committee
Westminster Hall
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