Free TB Advisory Service rated ‘excellent’ by farmers

The TB Advisory Service (TBAS) was delivered from 2017-2021 by Westpoint Farm Vets, now part of the VetPartners family, using RDPE funding.

According to a recent report, TBAS advisors visited a total of 2,280 farms over the four-year period, with 2,400 farmers receiving over-the-phone advice. It was also revealed that 90% of farmers who used the service rated it as excellent, and 92% found the recommendations very useful.

Sarah Tomlinson, technical director at the TBAS, commented: “This is really encouraging as it shows TBAS has provided value to thousands of farmers and has hopefully empowered them to see TB as an infectious disease that they can take steps to control, rather than something completely out of their control.”

Mrs Tomlinson highlighted that the service was designed to help farmers understand the things they can and cannot control on their farm.

“TBAS is proactive; we’re trying to reduce the risk of the next TB breakdown on a farm by helping farmers to implement certain measures, but it’s also a tool to go onto a farm where there is a breakdown,” she explained.

“The first visit takes a couple of hours. We talk about TB as an infectious disease. We look at how TB could arrive and circulate on-farm, and if it’s already on-farm we look at how we can help get the holding clear quicker and stop it coming back,” adds Mrs Tomlinson.

The report has found the five most common recommendations given to farmers were:

• Install wildlife cameras
• Use the ibTB website before purchasing livestock to find out the time of a farm’s last TB breakdown
• Add barriers to the bottom of gates and doors
• Use electric fencing to protect routes of entry
• Place animal feed in badger-proof troughs.

Moreover, the report also shows that of the four recommendations farmers received at the end of a visit, 43% completed three and just over 50% completed two by the follow-up call in six months.

Mrs Tomlinson added: “With Covid we learned that doing small seemingly insignificant things like wearing facemasks and washing our hands can have an impact on a national disease control.

“It’s the same with TB, little things farmers can do, like shutting their feed store doors at night, will help reduce their own risk but can also have an impact on national TB eradication.”

She would like to remind farmers that TBAS is available to all farming businesses in England and can be used for TB susceptible species including camelids and goats. Alongside free farm visits, the service offers free consultations over the phone on 01306 779410.

To access the service, farmers can ask their vet for referral or visit www.tbas.org.uk for more information.