DAERA enforces new crackdown on TB

Cattle in bovine tuberculosis (TB) breakdown herds that have had inconclusive (IC) results to the skin test in the last three years are now being removed as part of a new policy on bovine TB.

The latest measure is part of a tougher line that department officials are now taking with breakdown herds.

On enquiry by the Irish Farmers Journal, a DAERA spokesperson confirmed that the new rules also give officials the power to remove animals that tested IC more than three years ago. “The local veterinary officer will consider the removal of other historical standard IC animals,” the DAERA spokesperson said.

Annual test

Other recently introduced measures include bringing forward the annual herd test by six months for recently de-restricted breakdown herds, and increased application of the severe interpretation method of skin test reading by vets in breakdown herds.

“In a high-risk situation, there may be additional testing applied to herds local to a TB breakdown in an effort to detect infection early and prevent its spread between herds,” the DAERA spokesperson added

Reactor cattle

The new measures will probably lead to an increase in the number of reactor cattle being removed from farms and are unlikely to be welcomed by the majority of farmers, especially with no measures being introduced by DAERA to address the reservoir of TB in wildlife.

“Farmers are being driven to the inevitable conclusion that they must either house their animals 365 days a year or give up keeping livestock. Meanwhile, large numbers of infected wildlife are allowed to roam the fields before dying an agonising death,” Brian Walker from the Pedigree Cattle Trust said.

Other new measures, introduced in late 2017, included a quality assurance pilot of TB testing for vets, a biosecurity questionnaire to be completed by vets at herd tests and, more recently, withdrawal of the officially TB-free (OTF) status in herds that have more than one skin test reactor.

Statistics

Meanwhile, the latest TB disease statistics published by DAERA, relating to February 2018, show that the number of reactor animals taken off farms is still high, at 1,204, although down very slightly on the same month in 2017.

However, over the first two months of the year, the number of new reactor herds, as a proportion of the total that tested, is down to 5.4%, a significant reduction on the 9.61% seen in 2017. While that is positive, it is too early to judge whether it is part of a sustained decline in bovine TB.

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