![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/skynews-badger-tb-cull-uk_4938869.jpg\")
<\/p>\nControversial efforts to eliminate tuberculosis (TB) in cattle are likely to fail unless there’s greater urgency and funding from the government, scientists have warned.<\/p>\n
The disease has caused bitter divisions between farmers and wildlife groups because of the use of badger culls to reduce transmission of the disease to cattle.<\/p>\n
The government has vowed to end the cull in 2029 and vaccinate badgers instead, with a target of eliminating the disease in English cattle herds by 2038.<\/p>\n
Now a scientific review of the strategy has warned it will only succeed if the government rapidly rolls out badger jabs and steps up infection control within cattle herds.<\/p>\n
Professor Sir Charles Godfray, who led the government-commission review, said: “We’re obviously fully aware of the great pressures of the public finances at the moment.<\/p>\n
“Nevertheless, we believe that investment in bovine TB control now will save money in the future.”<\/p>\n
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Image:
\n The disease has sparked tensions over the use of badger culls. Pic: PA<\/p>\n
A huge cost to farming<\/strong><\/p>\n More from Science, Climate & Tech<\/p>\n TB continues to devastate British farming and wildlife almost halfway through a 25-year strategy to eliminate the disease.<\/p>\n In the last decade alone, 274,000 cattle have been compulsorily slaughtered in England, and over 230,000 badgers have been culled since 2013.<\/p>\n Last year, compensation paid out for slaughtered cattle was almost \u00a323m.<\/p>\n Jeremy Clarkson revealed in July that his farm “gone down with TB.”<\/p>\n “Bad news from Diddly Squat,” he said in a post on X. “Everyone here is absolutely devastated.”<\/p>\n Genetic tracing of the TB bug shows most cattle are infected by other animals in the herd.<\/p>\n But the original source of the disease is likely to be wildlife or the movement of infected cattle from elsewhere.<\/p>\n Vaccination of badgers will become a key part of the elimination strategy once culling stops. But the report says there are currently significant challenges, including difficulties in catching sufficient badgers.<\/p>\n Image: ‘Greater urgency’ needed<\/strong><\/p>\n Prof Godfray said: “Considerable effort will be required to scale up vaccination, so that it comes viable, both economically and logistically.”<\/p>\n But he added better biosecurity and testing was also needed to stop the disease being spread by cattle movements between farms.<\/p>\n Hopes are high for a cattle vaccine which is currently being assessed by government veterinary regulators.<\/p>\n Professor James Wood, from the University of Cambridge, and who was also part of the review team, said: “This is a very exciting advance, but we feel that greater urgency could be applied here.<\/p>\n “Cattle vaccination presents huge opportunities for protecting cattle and reducing transmission in herds.”<\/p>\n Read more from Sky News:![\"Pic:](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/skynews-cows-cattle_6283169.jpg\")
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\n Pic: iStock<\/p>\n
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