TB AGAIN? - TB

[tim z]

AFTER LOSING TWO OF MY ORIGINAL DEXTERS TO TB , I HAD 2 CLEAR TESTS. I'VE JUST HAD ANOTHER TEST DONE AND IT,S COME UP WITH AN INCONCLUSIVE ON MY TWO YEAR OLD WHO CALVED END OF APRIL. WE HAVE TO HAVE ANOTHER TEST DONE IN SEPTEMBER.ALL MY NEW STOCK 2 HEIFFERS AND 2 STEERS CAME FROM 'CLEAN' HERDS . ANY ADVICE WOULD BE MUCH APPRECIATED. TIM Z

[Duncan MacIntyre]

Really sorry to hear of your tb troubles. Let us hope that the inconclusive is one of those which is just showing some reaction because of some previous exposure to the infection rather than an ongoing active infection. I do hope your own vet and the DEFRA folk are giving you meaningful help and advice. From my point of view it is difficult to say much since I do not know the exact circumstances and cannot professionally say too much about it. I would try to be very careful about the isolation of your inconclusive in case she does go down, and I would be wanting to look at the likely source of any infection and what can be done to limit exposure of your herd to it - eg is there any contact with neighbouring farms, are they infected or not, is there a likely wildlife reserve and if so can you limit future contact between your cattle and wildlife.

Duncan

[timz]

DUNCAN MY HERD HAS NO PHYSICAL CONTACT WITH OTHER CATTLE ALTHOUGH WE HAVE COMMERCIAL CATTLE ACROSS APRIVATE ROAD WITH A DISTANCE OF 20 FEET BETWEEN BOUNDARY. WE DO LET THE SHETLAND SHEEP AND GOATS INTERMINGLE . THE ONLY OTHER STOCK ARE 6 PIGS.