DEAR SIR:

I write this letter to vent my anger and frustration with DAERA over the issue of bovine TB.

I am well aware that TB is a contentious subject at the moment, mainly due to the rate of TB incidence beginning to spiral out of control.

DAERA looked to make things more stringent for farmers before Christmas with additional immediate changes including further herd tests after a breakdown and further application of severe interpretation skin tests. This all leads to more work for farmers.

However, as a farmer who went down with TB in a number of animals before Christmas (after being clear for over 10 years), I am somewhat dismayed at the length of time it has taken for the animals to be valued and, secondly, for the animals to be removed from my farm. Our animals stood for just over four weeks in an isolation pen. The ‘‘excuse’’ for the delay I was given was the Christmas holidays, and an increase in the spread of the disease. If DAERA is genuinely serious about tackling part of this TB problem, my “infected” animals should not have had to stand on my farm for over four weeks before collection.

How can I run a biosecure farm when potentially a number of infected animals stand on my farm for nearly one month, with the potential to infect the other animals in my herd? This is simply not good enough. If DAERA is serious about tackling the TB issue, this whole process of valuing and collection should be much quicker and slicker.

I would like DAERA to explain why my animals, and other farmers’ animals in the same situation stood for more than the expected 14 days.

In conclusion, I would have put my name at the bottom of this letter, but the fear of putting my head above the parapet, and receiving a subsequent cross-compliance check, was not a risk I was willing to take.