Organic 'Sulution' to TB

[Jo Kemp]

Did anyone else hear the item about TB yesterday morn?
An organic farmer in a TB hotspot area had cows which tested positive I think about 8 years ago. These were removed the usual way but he had his herd bloodtested and found they were deficient in selenium and ??? As animals need to be in good condition to repel infections, he decided to put mineral licks out for the cattle but now he also puts mineral buckets out near each badger set every 6 months.
Result is that he still has oodles of badgers but they are healthy too and no TB in his herd for the past 6 years.
Healthy cattle and healthy badgers! Could this at least be a part solution? Worth a try I think and I would do this if we had badgers on farm.
Jo

[Kathy Millar]

Along the same lines (sort of), people on a nearby small island were concerned about their wild deer population which was looking scrawny and scruffy. Somehow they managed to worm some of them and I guess that helped. I never thought to ask how the heck they managed to get wormer into wild deer although it may have been via darts. That's Salt Spring Island for you; they're a bit wierd over there!

I do like the idea of providing deer with mineral licks, though. Those blocks are pretty cheap but I wonder if the government will fine me for "baiting" wildlife??

Kathy :O