In Pembrokeshire, there are two kinds of livestock farm.

By that I don't mean dairy and beef units and neither do I use this analogy to make the distinction between conventional and organic systems.

The two I refer to are farms which have experienced the misery of bovine TB and those who statistically can expect a disease outbreak sooner or later.

A pessimistic assumption maybe, but, as TB continues to infect Pembrokeshire herds, so the net closes in on those farms which have so far been spared this misfortune.

Buying in cattle to replace culled stock is a game of Russian roulette. A herd can test negative for TB only to react six months later. A farmer with a so-called clean herd can pass on this disease without knowing it.

A recent report released by the National Assembly's environment, planning and countryside committee recognised the adverse effects bovine TB has on farmers.

The disease, it acknowledges, brings suffering to animals and affects farmers physically, mentally and financially.

Ireland is light years ahead of Wales when it comes to dealing with TB. National Assembly leaders have crossed the Irish Sea to identify what lessons can be learned.

Surely the time to act has now come. What about following Ireland's system of annual tests on all cattle, replacing the National Assembly's favoured route of pre-movement testing.

NFU Cymru has insisted that the time for discussion, reviews and reports is over.

The disease is out of control in counties like Pembrokeshire and the Assembly needs to act - not next year or the year after that, but right now.

How many more farmers must experience the dreadful consequences of bovine TB before the talking stops and the action starts?