HC Deb 09 December 1946 vol 431 cc164-5W
50. Colonel Ropner

asked the Minister of Agriculture whether he will consult the National Veterinary Medical Association in connection with his plans for initiating in 1947 a large-scale campaign to utilise scientific knowledge to the full in eradicating from the dairy herds of this country bovine tuberculosis and other diseases; whether he will indicate the present approximate annual loss caused by such diseases; what is the present cost of the campaign for eradicating the diseases; and what estimate has been made of the cost of the new campaign now contemplated.

Mr. T. Williams

In July last, a memorandum on problems associated with large-scale measures for the eradication of bovine tuberculosis was sent by my Department to farming and other organisations, including the National Veterinary Medical Association, and I shall have due regard to the views expressed by any of these organisations. No reliable estimate of the annual loss caused by diseases of dairy cattle alone is available, but in their second report, issued in 1944, the Committee on Veterinary Education in Great Britain quoted an estimate of £30 million as a minimum figure for animal diseases as a whole, the greater part of which was related to diseases of dairy cattle. The expenditure this year on the veterinary service, excluding the cost of compensation for animals slaughtered on account of foot-and-mouth disease, is estimated to be about £1 million; but it is hardly practicable to segregate the expenditure on diseases affecting dairy cattle particularly. As to the last part of the Question, I am unable at present to make an estimate, as detailed plans have not yet been formulated.