Farmers in Co Longford have received letters from the Department of Agriculture asking them to notify the department of any badger setts or badger activity.

“As you may be aware, there is an ongoing programme in the area to vaccinate healthy badgers against TB. So we are asking for your help and co-operation.

“Please let us know of any badger setts or any other signs of badger activity on your lands or in the area,” the letter reads.

Meanwhile, the ICBF has published genetic evaluations for certain dairy and beef AI bulls in relation to their TB and liver fluke resistance.

The data will be published for bulls that are either genotyped or have 20 or less progeny records in infected herds. Over time, the ICBF said that both traits will be incorporated into the EBI and €uro-Star indices and will be available for all animals.