Farming Today

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Farming Today: 04/07/23 Bird flu and egg production; Bovine TB and badger cull; Hottest June

04/07/23 Bird flu and egg production; Bovine TB and badger cull; Hottest June

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 04/07/23 Bird flu and egg production; Bovine TB and badger cull; Hottest June

Egg production and avian influenza: producers call for a vaccine.

Free-range egg producers, still keeping birds inside because of risk of avian flu, call for vaccine. Anniversary of badger cull brought in to tackle bovine TB. Changing weather.

All week we're discussing egg production. The industry's been hit very hard by a combination of rising costs for feed and fuel and bird flu. The disease is still prevalent and some free range producers are keeping their birds inside because they're too worried to let them out. We speak to one family about the toll bird flu's taken on both birds and farmer. They're calling for a vaccine.

It's ten years since the government gave the go-ahead to a cull of badgers, to try and control the spread of bovine tuberculosis in cattle. The cull that started in a small corner of Gloucestershire has now spread to much of England. More than 210,000 badgers have been culled since 2013, and more than 330,000 cattle put down because of the disease too. It's been a area of fierce debate between farmers and conservationists. Now the government says it now wants to move towards a vaccination programme instead.

This June has been the warmest on record, according to the Met Office, but high temperatures can cause problems for plants and growers. We speak to meteorologist and Gardeners' Question Time host Peter Gibbs about changing weather patterns and their impact.

Presenter = Anna Hill
Producer = Rebecca Rooney

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04/07/23 Bird flu and egg production; Bovine TB and badger cull; Hottest June

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