We are back with the cows again as today we received notification that a neighbouring farm has a confirmed case of TB and as such we have to get our cows tested again under the ‘Contiguous Test’ rules. We also (gulp!!) have to test all the alpacas and goats. We spoke to Alan at our vets about it all as our first worry was should we allow Carlos, the billy goat we are hiring, to come onto our land!! Alan’s advice was yes we can because statistically, no more instances of TB are found in Contiguous testing than in regular annual testing. TB, it appears, can be very random, a farm can have it for years and then it can go as quickly as it came and neighbouring farms may remain totally unaffected throughout!! Nonetheless, Devon is a very high risk area and TB is rife and it is of course spread by contact with animals that have the disease. Fortunately Carlos’ owners understand the TB issue and are fine with Carlos coming here. Legally, we have no restrictions placed on us due to the impending Contiguous test and as such, it really is business as usual until, god forbid, something happens to make it otherwise!!
Our test is booked for January 8th and so we wait.
PIcture from early November!