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The leadership of the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) will put forward a response “as robust as it can be” to a DAERA consultation expected this month, which is set to outline proposals for cuts to compensation for TB-reactor animals and charging farmers for an annual herd test.
The consultation is part of a process initiated by NI Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris back in September 2023, when he wrote to all government departments directing them to look at options to raise revenue. Specifically for DAERA, he instructed officials to look at ways to reduce the annual £50m bill related to bovine TB.
Addressing Co Down members on Monday, at the first of six roadshows, UFU president David Brown said he previously told NI chief vet, Dr Robert Huey, that the union “would go to war” with DAERA if the Department tried to force through cuts to the value of reactors.
While the UFU believes the latest move is “a ploy” by Heaton-Harris to try to get politicians back into Stormont, the potential cuts are nothing new, having been proposed by DAERA on a number of occasions.
That includes in 2021, when a cap of £5,000/head was suggested, along with a 25% reduction in the value of each reactor animal.
Back in 2017, the Department also raised the potential for farmers to be charged for an annual herd test and, according to the union, it is likely to be on the agenda again in the latest DAERA consultation.
“Our hands are tied behind our backs and we are not allowed to deal with the source. We will not be countenancing that they will be charging for tests. Everybody is at a point beyond frustration,” said Brown on Monday.
That sense of frustration was exacerbated last October, when a High Court judge quashed DAERA plans to proceed with non-selective culling of badgers in TB hotspot areas.
According to UFU deputy president John McLenaghan, DAERA has decided not to appeal that judgement, but instead pursue a new course of action dependent on bringing forward primary legislation to allow a targeted badger cull.
“But to do that they need an Executive at Stormont and the direction from a minister,” said McLenaghan, who added that TB policy will be top of the list of issues for the UFU when a new minister is in post.
In the meantime, there is a pot of money collected by way of a levy on milk and beef cattle at slaughter between May and the end of October 2023, to help cover the cost of badger culling.
Managed by Animal Health and Welfare NI (AHWNI), some of the money has been used to train those involved in delivering a cull, but the majority of the funds are now frozen.
“There is enough sitting in a separate account to mean there will be no need to lift a levy until a cull team is actually on the ground,” confirmed David Brown.
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