Department defends TB risk letters

In a statement, the Department of Agriculture has defended the issuing of TB herd history risk letters, claiming that farmers are not required to take further action and that the letters serve merely as advice which can be taken in an effort to reduce the risk of TB to individual herds.

The statement has come in response to backlash from farmers and farm organisations, most notably the burning of letters by the IFA over the weekend.

Almost 20,000 farms have been classed as high-risk TB herds. The new risk categorisations are said to have been created to replace older categorisations which were complex and were primarily used internally to manage the programme.

Eradication

A spokesperson for the Department said: “Policy and advice is based on science, with a large body of independent scientific research on how TB infects cattle, which must continue to be the basis of disease policy and advice.

“It is by acknowledging the science of how TB spreads between cattle that will help us eradicate this disease.”

The new way of categorising herds was the method favoured by stakeholders in the TB forum and is based on the herd categorisation model used in New Zealand.

Herds clear for four to six years, of which there are currently 11,800, are considered medium risk, while those clear for seven years or more are deemed lower risk.

The majority of herds (78,000) are classed lower risk, with over 60% clear of TB for 10 years or more.

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