The Welsh Assembly’s 15-month initiative to test all cattle herds in Wales for bovine TB ended on December 31st and was hailed a resounding success by rural affairs minister Elin Jones.

Health Check Wales was established to test Wales’ 13,130 registered cattle herds to gain a more accurate picture of the spread of bovine TB across Wales.

In his new year message Dai Davies, Carmarthenshshire dairy farmer and NFU Cymru president, hoped 2010 would be the year to finally begin to remove all sources of bovine TB infection.

He said: “If we are to halt the steady escalation of this pernicious disease, and turn the disease into a declining one, with the ultimate objective of eradication, then as I have said all along we have to deal with the problem in the round.”

All registered herds in Wales have now had a TB test during the past 15 months or have a test booked for early in the new year. The number of overdue tests has been reduced from 711 at the beginning of the programme, to just six at the end of November 2009.

The initiative has also resulted in the slaughter of 185 infected cattle from 96 herds previously thought to be free from bovine TB.

Elin Jones said: “Not only has TB Health Check Wales given us a clear picture of disease levels in Wales, but it has helped to stop the disease from establishing itself in new areas.”

*The Badger Trust is applying for a Judicial Review of the decision made by the Welsh Assembly to carry out a badger cull in an area in north Pembrokeshire known as the Intensive Action Pilot Area.

Trust chairman David Williams said: “It is with some reluctance but nevertheless firm resolve that we must, as an organisation dedicated to the welfare and protection of the badger, enter into these proceedings at the highest level. The decision is unjust and goes against the scientific evidence, and the law affords us this opportunity of challenging the legality of the Welsh Assembly’s intention to kill badgers, and we are now taking it.”