ICOS has slammed suggestions that the Department of Agriculture is seeking to impose long-term restrictions on the movement of cows from herds that have had TB, but are now clear of the disease.

Last week the Irish Farmers Journal exclusively reported the sale of cows from herds that have had TB could be severely curtailed for three years after a herd goes clear of the disease.

Owners of affected herds would only be permitted to sell cows directly for slaughter or to registered feedlots during the three-year restricted period.

“This hypothetical additional control measure has not been discussed at the TB Forum,” said Ray Doyle, livestock and environmental services executive at ICOS which represents co-operative marts.

“And we await the next TB Forum, where we will interrogate this hypothetical idea, allegedly put forward by the Department,” he added.

“If enacted, as previously put forward by the Irish Farmers Journal, this measure will have profound negative financial implications for farmers and markets alike,” Doyle maintained.

The IFA also expressed serious concerns regarding the proposed long-term restriction on cow sales.

IFA animal health committee chair TJ Maher said the imposition of a three-year restriction on the sale of cows from herds that had TB would be “totally disproportionate”.

“Such a move would completely devalue the livestock that farmers have built up over a lifetime,” Maher said.

Restricting animal movements from herds that had clear TB tests also risked undermining the credibility of the country’s testing regime, he argued.

ICMSA was more circumspect in its comments on the suggestions floated by the Department.

“ICMSA recognises the seriousness of the present situation and we know – as do most observers – that we can’t stay doing what we have been doing up to this point,” said Eamon Carroll, ICMSA deputy president.

Carroll maintained that the TB eradication programme as it’s currently structured was “not working – or at least not working sufficiently”.

But he cautioned that farmers had to be treated with respect where changes to the TB scheme are introduced.