DEAR SIR: The predicament of John Graham and family who featured in an article “Locked up with TB” in your edition of 24 July has prompted me to put pen to paper to further highlight this issue.

An outbreak in the dairy herd on our farm in 2019 resulted in the loss of 90 milking Holstein Friesian cows over a period of 30 months and the subsequent depletion of a beautiful dairy herd.

The future of this enterprise remains precarious.

A programme for the eradication of bovine TB was implemented in Ireland in 1958 and continues to this day.

Without a background in the science of this, I cannot measure its success.

However, successful eradication schemes have been implemented in a number of European countries.

The islands of Britain and Ireland remain a significant aberration to this trend.

It is not surprising to note that in Ireland we have the highest density of badger compared to any other country in Europe.

The photograph of John Graham grasping the leg of a dead badger that he himself sent to the Department of Agriculture and for testing does nothing to instil confidence in the system.

Individual farmers battle this disease in isolation. I can share the sense of helplessness and frustration that permeates his account of living with the impact of disease on his farm.

Farm families who find themselves at the coalface of this disease do not appear to have a united force to confront this situation.

Each individual deals with the consequences in his or her own personal way. A more cohesive approach could improve the outcomes.