Bovine TB reactors surge 50% in NI

The number of reactor animals taken from farms in NI in March was the highest monthly total in over 13 years, with 1,583 reactors identified, the latest figures from DAERA show.

In the first quarter of 2017, a total of 4,384 reactors have been taken off farms, representing a 50% increase on the same period last year. Herd incidence (the number of new reactor herds as a percentage of total herds tested) hit 8.23% in March, the highest rate for 12 years.

Overall, 10.7% of herds in NI had TB restrictions in place (either suspended or withdrawn status) in March.

With the scourge of bovine TB continuing to increase, it appears that the stricter testing regime adopted by vets has failed to halt the spread of bovine TB as yet.

It is now two years since MLAs on the NI Assembly’s agriculture committee were first told in June 2015 that vets were adopting a more severe interpretation of skin test readings which would initially lead to more reactors.

Speaking at an event at AFBI Hillsborough last week, DAERA senior principal veterinary officer Roly Harwood acknowledged that the current TB eradication programme in NI was not working.

“The trend of bovine TB over the last number of years has been going up. The programme we have at the moment will not eradicate TB. There is not a hope, we need to do something different,” he said.

Republic of Ireland

Meanwhile, the increasing incidence of the disease is having an effect on border counties in the Republic of Ireland.

In Cavan and Monaghan, reactors per 1,000 tests were up to 3.91 and 3.39 respectively in the first quarter of the year.

These are placed second only to west Wicklow which had 6.11 reactors/1,000 tests in the first quarter of 2017.

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