TB breakdown takes toll on young farmer’s mental health

A young dairy farmer whose family farm suffered a major TB breakdown says farmers need more support for their mental health to cope with such trauma.

Mary Raymond, 20, is studying agricultural business management at Reading University and also works on her family’s mixed farming enterprise in Pembrokeshire.

After a three-and-a-half year wait, Welsh government officials carried out TB blood testing on one of the farm business’s two dairy herds last month.

Out of 260 Holstein-Friesian milkers, 55 tested positive and 20 were found to be inconclusive.

See also: Entire award-winning herd slaughtered in Welsh TB clampdown

Ms Raymond, whose grandfather is the former NFU president Meurig Raymond, said they had expected at least 10% of the herd to test positive, but they were shocked by the numbers.

“We have put so much work into our herd to improve our genetics and productivity. I was so upset when I found out,” she said.

Trenewydd Fawr, in Croesgoch, Haverfordwest, went down with TB for the first time in 2019 and has since been under restrictions.

Regular skin testing every 60 days has revealed between two and six reactors at a time, but never anything as bad as this.

The cows were loaded onto a lorry and taken away for slaughter after milking on Sunday 29 January. The young farmer said it was a “horrible” experience.

“The lorry drove off and we just all went our own ways to have a moment on our own.”

Mary Raymond said she was shocked by the number of cows testing positive © Mary Raymond

Ms Raymond said a TB herd breakdown affected the farm’s profit and the productivity of the herd, but was also “very damaging” to the farmer’s mental health.

“There is so much support for rural mental health, but we need to provide more support for farmers who suffer TB herd breakdowns. We’re all feeling very down,” she added.

Pembrokeshire was a TB hotspot, she said, and most neighbouring beef and dairy farms were also shut down with the disease.

She preferred not to comment on the Welsh government’s TB policy, but insisted there must be better communication between government and farmers, especially around the timing of testing intervals, which were often too long or delayed.

Government response

A Welsh government spokesperson said: “We know TB in cattle is a huge challenge and distressing for farmers who have to deal with it in their herds.

“We have seen good progress towards eradication since we established our programme, with long-term decreases in new incidents and prevalence.

“We have been clear we can’t tackle this disease alone and we all have an important role to play. Farmers are at the centre of what we’re trying to achieve and we are, of course, listening to them.”

The Welsh government said it supports a number of important activities to aid mental health in rural communities, including the Farm Support Group which brings together farming charities to provide a strong coordinated position on mental health support for the agriculture industry in Wales.