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Percentage reduction in culling benefit

Posted by Clarity on 13 Dec 2010 at 22:24 GMT

I have 3 questions which are as follows.

I see that there are noticeable differences between culling benefits in the culling area at the end of months 30 and 36 after one year after culling ceased. This can be seen by comparing values in Table 1 reported in February (this report) and Table 1 reported in July in the posting by Prof Donnelly titled "Analysis of further data (to 2 July 2010)".

What is the reason for this?

The best fitting straight line through the points in Table 1 of this report gives a 10% reduction in culling benefit every 6 months. However a 14.3% reduction was reported.

How was this 14.3% calculated?

According to the best fitting straight line in data reported in July, the reduction in culling benefit every 6 months after culling ceased is 4%.

Are there any plans to report a lower figure which reflects cattle incidence in the 12 months leading up to July 2010? As far as I am aware the last figure reported is 14.3%.

No competing interests declared.