If farmers really reckon that culling badgers will help reduce TB in cattle, then so be it. The argument has been rumbling for years and I suppose the only way forward is to give it a try and see what happens.
But don't forget to do this one as well.
Tuesday, 23 October 2007
Badger cull
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7 comments:
Oooh, a chance to put my Marlin into action in the field. I should think .38 specials out of a long barrel are just right for the vicious little National Trust mascots.
Don't forget your night-sights!
Well with a bit of luck they'll get the one that keeps digging gurt great holes in my lawn or rooting up newly planted shrubs ...
Brock is a natural resource which should be judiciously harvested for the good of brock, the cows, furriers and brush makers.* That way, the farmer has some small insurance stock against another bovine catastrophe.
Cows, Mr Raft informs me, are extravagant in terms of their use of land. According to him, we should be munching more sheep, or goats if you can overcome the cultural resistance.
We might also try eating the Chancellor of the Exchequer, but I don't think there is much meat on him.
*A badger hair shaving brush starts at around £18 and goes up to £88.
I don't know if the badger hair is contingent on the original wearer being dead, or if there is a mad bastard somewhere who harvests hair from live badgers. However, if you have a badger set on your land, a suit of chainmail, a tranquilizer gun and experience in sheep shearing, I would have thought that it would be possible to harvest badger hair repeatedly. Although there would have to be some change in the law as at the moment it is illegal to shave, molest or take them out for a good meal and a proper education.
One of the uses for clipped hair is in top-coat daub in timber-framed houses. Without boring you with the technicalities, at the moment China has a bigger industry than you would credit in supplying goat hair which gives lightness, strength and pliability to the plaster. If Chinese goats can be repeatedly clipped to turn in to porous wall dressing, I see no reason why our home-grown badger should not be a slice of that market. It's a niche product, but then the badger is a niche animal.
Good point about sheep and goats. Is there a cultural bias against eating goat meat? I'd never really thought about it.
"I don't know if ... there is a mad bastard somewhere who harvests hair from live badgers."
If so, he almost certainly has a webpage! Have you tried Google..? ;)
"Is there a cultural bias against eating goat meat?"
You rarely see it (outside of Caribbean restaurant), which is surprising as young kid is very nice. Not sure why there would be a cultural reason against eating it - I know there is against eating horsemeat (also delicious).
"...they just feel most comfortable with mince. They are silly about it..."
Ah, well, they don't know what they are missing, but more meat for me ;)
Especially now it's Game Season...
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