Farmer devastated as TB reactor ends his dream of showing at SIMA

DEFRA’s TB testing and valuation policy has been called into question again, with a leading UK Holstein breeder set to be paid less than £900 for a cow which previously attracted offers of £40,000 from fellow breeders.

Richard Bown should have been heading to Paris next week with a team of 10 Holsteins from his Richaven herd as the first ever UK-based exhibitor to take cattle to the SIMA Show. Instead he’s sitting at home facing the prospect of losing one of his best cows, Ecstasy Journalist Roxy.

Having undertaken numerous health checks on his cattle ahead of the show, Mr Bown regarded last Tuesday’s TB test as the final hurdle to be cleared.

Unfortunately, the show team’s leading cow, which would quite probably have been challenging for honours in Paris, failed to clear that hurdle.

Speaking to Farmers Weekly, Mr Bown, who owns the cow jointly with Worcestershire-based breeder John Jordan, said it was a devastating blow not just to him, but to the whole UK cattle breeding industry.

“It could devastate our business. Breeding stock sales heavily outweigh milk sales for us, but with a TB reactor in the herd, our opportunities to sell have been decimated. It’s also horrific news for the UK as it will be another two years before the next SIMA, limiting the chances of showing the best of UK cattle breeding to potential European buyers.”

And, as if the prospect of losing the cow wasn’t enough, tabular valuations Mr Bown will receive just £855 – a figure he described as a pittance.

With none of her daughters in the herd and currently unable to flush embryos, Mr Bown also faces losing the breeding lines of a cow which was just one of two second calvers in the UK to classify as excellent last year.

“The government must get on top of TB in this country and pay farmers fair compensation, to compare a cow of this breeding and performance to one in a standard commercial herd is idiotic. We’ll fight this all the way, not just for us, but also for others who may end up in this situation.”