Grant available for reopened Badger Edge vaccination scheme

The government has allocated £300,000 for this year’s Badger Edge Vaccination Scheme, which will be awarded over a four year period and offer 50% grants to eligible groups in England. The scheme has been reopened to try to create a barrier of badgers, resistant to TB, between the high and low risk disease areas. There will be yearly tests in the high risk area for farms accredited under the Cattle Herd Certification Standards scheme, and for herds that have managed six years or more without TB. In addition, Defra has plans for new routine tests every six months for all herds in the high risk area with an aim to identifying and dealing with any outbreak more swiftly.
Robert Goodwill, Farming minister, said: “We continue to apply different ways to tackle this devastating disease, including increased testing of cattle, improved surveillance and badger control, under strict licensing criteria. Vaccinating badgers is one of these tools and has the potential to play an important role in preventing the spread of the disease to new areas. I strongly encourage interested groups to come together to develop projects that we can support financially under the Badger Edge Vaccination Scheme and help create buffer zones between areas that have the disease and those that are disease-free.”