Upset by the media’s narrow coverage of badger culls, artist Diana Boyer created ‘Collateral Damage’, an artwork showing a farmer's thoughts as she goes about her work in a high-risk area for bovine TB.
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Badger culls are only part of an overall attempt at reducing the incidence of bovine TB. By using the word ‘eradicate’, the media implies that a solution is near at hand. People in rural areas like me know this is an oversimplification of a complex problem.
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People originally thought that early herders caught the disease from their cattle. The 2017 study of the Mycobacterium bovis genome shows that it has probably evolved from Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which is commonly found in humans, so early man might well have been the carrier then.
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In general no one wants to even mention bovine TB in sheep. For the moment it is only spoken of as happening in Spain, where wild boars are the carriers. Although there have been cases of infected sheep in the UK, the thought of routine testing without evidence of infection in the flock would add extra stress on farms already dealing with the problem in cattle. Sheep are considered low risk.
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The farmer receives a message asking her to meet up while a cow helps herself to contaminated silage. Contamination of maize silage can happen early on while plants are still in the field and the badgers are spending time there eating the cobs. In the farmyard, farmers work hard to make sure that badgers do not have access to cattle, troughs or feedstuffs.
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Bovine TB exists in many species throughout the environment. There are some regions where it is more prevalent than others. The area where I live is deemed a high-risk area and there are strict controls in place.
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As a retired farmer who is cares deeply for the environment, it is at times difficult to reconcile these values with the demands and reality of contemporary farming practice. The close relationship that exists between the cattle and the farmer, particularly one who milks cows twice a day, makes culling especially traumatic.
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Despite the anxiety of farmers and others in the industry who have been grappling with this problem for many years, I am excited to hear about the M. bovis international conference held in Galway, Ireland. This will hopefully provide a fresh outlook for us all, combined with proper scientific research and guidance for the road ahead.
About the artist
Diana Boyer
After graduating in biological science (botany), Diana went to live and work on a farm and has done so ever since. Years of botanical illustration for ‘The Flora of Australia’ led her to retrain as a visual artist. Over time different aspects of the environment, and farming in particular, have informed her artwork.