Across the first four months of 2024, the number of cattle returning a positive result at TB tests is up 15% on the same period in 2023, the latest figures published by DAERA indicate.

To the end of April 2024, a total of 6,435 reactors have been removed from NI farms, compared to 5,602 in the same period in 2023 and 4,640 in 2022.

As shown in Figure 1, the 2024 total is the highest ever recorded in NI, with the DAERA dataset going back to 2005.

Annual herd incidence, which is a measure of the number of new breakdown herds as a proportion of all those who presented cattle for testing, stood at 10.17% in April 2024, up slightly on the 10.1% recorded at the end of March 2024.

To the end of April, there were 785 new reactor herds in NI, compared to 774 in the same period in 2023.

The DAERA data also includes analysis of individual animal incidence rate. On average over the last 12 months, 1.05% of cattle presented for testing have given positive results.

However, there is a significant range across the different Divisional Veterinary Offices (DVOs), with Enniskillen in front on 1.58%, followed by Newtownards at 1.38% and Newry at 1.27%. The lowest individual animal rate is in the area covered by Mallusk DVO at just 0.19%.

Despite the recent increase seen in TB reactor numbers, fewer cattle were tested in the 12 months to April 2024 (1.806m) than in the previous 12-month period (1.837m).