Sheep farming at Christmas, the Quorn Hunt, and bovine TB

Farming Today

• Episode: Sheep farming at Christmas, the Quorn Hunt, and bovine TB
• Website: Farming Today
• Feed URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qj8q/episodes/downloads.rss
• Duration: 00:13:29
• Published: 2016-12-16 01:00

A badger cull is being proposed in Northern Ireland as part of a package of measures aimed at reducing TB in cattle. TB costs taxpayers in Northern Ireland £30 million pounds a year, and a group established by the authorities to develop an eradication strategy has just published its report. Conor Macauley reports from Desmond Fulton's farm in Ballymoney. If ever there's a time when shepherds figure highly in the public consciousness it's in the run-up to Christmas, when village halls, churches and schools are adorned with nativity scenes full of mangers, crooks, straw and even - occasionally - live sheep. But what's the reality of sheep farming at this time of year? Nancy Nicholson travelled to the Borders to meet Graham and Kathleen Lofthouse, Socttish Sheep Farmers of the Year, to find out. This week we've been looking at hunting. 12 years on from the hunting ban, we've covered both sides of the debate. Today Ben Jackson joins the Quorn Hunt in Leicestershire. Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Martin Poyntz-Roberts.