The number of cattle removed as TB reactors continues to set unwanted records in NI, with 13,101 reactor animals found at TB tests in the first eight months of 2024.

That total is 22% ahead of the equivalent figure from 2023 and 35% more than in the same period in 2022. The 2024 total to the end of August is the highest ever recorded in a dataset that goes back to the early 2000s.

Despite the big increase in reactors, herd incidence of the disease is actually trending down. In the 12 months to the end of August 2024, it stands at 10.15%, compared to 10.71% in the previous 12 months.

However, this incidence figure now needs to be treated with some caution, given the number of herds that are continually locked up with TB.

Herd incidence measures the number of NEW reactor herds as a proportion of those that undertook a TB test over the period. It is, therefore, not correct to say that around 10% of NI herds are locked up with TB – the reality is much higher than that.

Since the start of 2024, there have been 1,426 new reactor herds in NI, which is only 20 more than was seen in the same period in 2023. However, to date in 2024, there have been 2,248 “unique herd breakdowns” recorded by DAERA.