On-Farm advice visit
Your adviser will ask about your farm set up, the concerns you currently have regarding TB, and issues you may face in the future. If you have a Farm Level Data Pack from APHA, it would be useful to share this with the adviser. They will then have a walk around your farm buildings and fields to better understand your current situation. Throughout the visit the adviser will identify potential areas where TB risk could be eliminated or reduced discussing why these are risks and how you can control them. At the end of the visit you and your adviser will agree on four recommendations you can carry out.
There will be a second visit three – six months later later to assess what recommendations have been concluded and what was involved in completing them including the time and monetary costs associated with each.
Don't worry we are here to help
The adviser is there to help and will not judge you or your farm. The idea is you and your TBAS vet can look at TB as an infectious disease and the recommendations are the start of an action plan to reduce your risk and length of a TB breakdown.
There is no penalty for not completing the recommendations, however the feedback we have had is “why wouldn’t you”. Many of the recommendations are “no- regrets” which means they should not involve a large financial or time commitment.
If you have any questions or concerns about having an advice visit, just call us – we are here to help!
Badger sett survey
One of your four bespoke recommendations may be more information is needed about the badger activity on farm. In which case there is extra funding available for a sett survey.
We have specialist advisers trained in badger ecology to carry out these surveys.
Telephone advice service
If you contact TBAS requesting telephone advice, your details and questions will be passed on to one of our experienced advisers, who will call you back to discuss the issue. Following the phone call, you will receive a summary of the advice given by email.