Team:Exeter/SavedandSafe
Michel Ross - Director of Saved & Safe
A company at the forefront of bTB eradication in the United Kingdom
Michael was extremely excited by our project. Having been heavily involved with New Zealand's Animal Health Board's highly successful strategy to eradicate bTB from New Zealand, his unique approach gave us many ideas as a team. Saved & Safe are at the forefront of TB eradication in the UK with 31 UK and international partners involved on a handful of ‘demonstration farms’ across the UK. A number of University research groups are also involved in this project. Michael explained some of the key principles behind the work that is occurring at these demonstration farms and told us how our project, if successful, would fit into the work they are doing.
Common Goals
Michael made it clear Bovine TB affects a wide range of people from a wide range of backgrounds. For each individual party associated with the fight against bTB comes a different set of priorities. In order for the UK to develop an effective strategy to manage and eradicate bTB it is important that common ground is established between groups. For example, the NFU represents the farming community of the UK. For them, a bTB breakdown has an immediate negative impact on their livelihood, an impact that they have limited control over. For vets, bTB testing is a continuous cycle that has to be highly organised and can be highly time consuming. For academics, bTB is not only a highly challenging disease, it is a disease where advancements have been slow to non existent.
However, each group is working towards the common goal of eradicating bTB, all from different approaches. Saved & Safe is working to bring these approaches together...Something our test may be able to assist with.
Smart Solutions
One of the problems to do with bTB in the UK is the issue of how the disease is dealt with. In its simplest form if an animal tests positive for TB it is immediately sent to slaughter, the farm is put under restriction and a second test will be conducted in 60 days. This routine will continue until the farm has no positive reactors for two successive tests. Apart from restrictions to the farm, no other measures are put in place to try and aid with clearing bTB from the farm. Any further action has to be come from the farmer individually. Where is the solution?
Yes, some farms will take a number of usually expensive and difficult measures. This can involve building a wall around the farmyard to isolate it from the environment outside - something that can cost up to £250,000. Keeping any cattle indoors all year around is also a common method to limit the effects of bTB. However none of these measures offer a genuine solution to the problem of bTB.
Michael made it clear that smart solutions are the way forward. Rather than the situation being left for the farmer to deal with, a coordinated effort that offers a motive for the farmer is needed, and this is where the UK can learn from Saved & Safe...
Providing the Missing Mechanism
Saved & Safe offer the mechanism for coordination of the elements that are needed to eradicate bTB from a farm. Taking a field by field, farm by farm, county by county approach allows for a coordinated, strategic approach to achieving officially bTB free status for the UK. M.bovis has been shown to persist in the environment for up to 21 months - during this time it is crucial an infected farm has a way to manage the infection. Isolation of the farm, disinfection of the entire area and protection of the border around the farm offers this management tool. Taking a strategy that saw a reduction of bTB incidence by 96% in just 10 years in New Zealand and bringing it to the UK makes Saved & Safe a world leader in the fight against bTB.
Click to see exactly how our relationship with Saved & Safe impacted the development of our test.