Dexter Cattle For Sale Discussion Board

This film is made following the heartbreaking T.B story of David Bevans Longhorn Herd.

I watched it from a link off the Farmers weekly website, if you Google Longhorn Cattle Society and scrool down to "Mayday at Heolfawr Cross - a member's experience of Bovine TB" you can also watch it there. CAUTION It contains very harrowing scenes, it would be good if the general public watched it.

What a strong ,dignified person David Bevan is. What a tragic loss of wonderful cattle.

Very sad - strikes a chord with us all.

I watched it with tears in my eyes.

Stephanie

Very sad indeed and in my opinion, totally unnecessary. If TB had been controlled properly from the start, then cattle, badgers and everyone else would all be better off and the public would not have to spend tens of millions culling cows!

What general public don't realise & I didn't until husband pointed it out is that the current system for TB control in cattle is blatantly not working!!! It's been like this for year I believe - testing & culling reactors etc has it not? (Will stand corrected as not personally been involved with livestock for that many years) And what is happening - TB is creeping across the country.

It needs someone in the public eye to get this sort of media out there and start really making a fuss.

Any suggestions?

Hi Rachael

The TB fiasco has been going on a great deal longer than a year!

We had our first animals taken as reactors in December 2000 as a result of our routine annual test (we are in a 1 year testing parish) & it was a most traumatic experience. We have subsequently been under TB restrictions a couple of times, loosing one or two animals each time. No matter whether it's one or ten reactors the effects are the same, your farming life is put on hold by movement restrictions, paperwork & licences, visits by DEFRA officials to discuss the height of your water troughs (low enough for Dexter cattle, of course!!) & what YOUR policy is for getting rid of TB from your herd, not too mention being unable to trade, except by going direct to slaughter. If farmers under TB restrictions worked in the public sector they'd be on permenant sick leave due to STRESS or PTSD & getting paid for it!!

We are encouraging as many as possible of our non farming friends to pass on the link for this video in the hopes that we can get the facts into some the public domain. Well.............I know its not much, but it might help, 'cos at the moment we might as well be trying to fill a bucket with a hole in it until the public get behind us.
Regards Steve

PS: incidently our first "reactors" were reclassified after slaughter & tissue culture as NON REACTORS!!

Steve wrote:Hi Rachael

The TB fiasco has been going on a great deal longer than a year!

I must apologise Steve for my typo - it was supposed to read "it's been like this for years I believe" but unfortunately I missed off the 's' from year. I do come from a farming family and have been making a living (trying to!) from commercial sheep breeding for 4 yrs now so fully appreciate the trials and tribulations of it all - had our cows TB tested a few months back and although in a 'low' risk area I was still dreading it all, especially as one of the calves had to be done too!! I'm sorry to hear you have had to deal with the problem yourself.

I, like you, have plastered the film link over social media in an attempt to get the message out there. I suppose my question at the end of the post was a faint cry out in the hope that the farmer fairies out there can get the message heard!

Hi Rachael

Oooh eer wot a difference a typo makes. Me thinks we need more than a few Farmer fairies, at least a large friendly fairy godmother or perhaps a genie with a lamp? Just sent the wife down the garden to look, in case I missed 'em

Take care
Steve.