An information meeting for farmers to discuss bovine tuberculosis (TB) is due to take place in west Kerry next month.
The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers’ Association (INHFA) is facilitating the meeting which will be limited just to farmers.
The event is taking place at 8:30p.m on Wednesday, September 4 in the Údarás na Gaeltachta building in Milltown, Dingle.
Meeting
INHFA vice president and local farmer John Joe Fitzgerald told Agriland that the meeting will be addressed by a representative from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).
He said that following the presentation farmers will be able questions they may have about bovine TB.
Fitzgerald hoped the meeting would provide a better insight to farmers about what is going on at a departmental level in relation to bovine TB, while also informing them of action they can take to prevent the disease on their farms.
He said that the private information meeting will be open to all farmers in the area who wish to attend.
Bovine TB
Recently published figures by the department of agriculture showed that the total expenditure on the National Bovine Tuberculosis (TB) Eradication Programme has jumped to more than €40.8 million in the first six months of this year.
This represents a 23% jump in spending compared to the same quarter last year which then totaled more than €33.1 million.
The data also showed an increase in the number of herds restricted around the country because of bovine TB to 5,280 over the 12 month period to the end of quarter two (Q2) of this year.
According to the National Bovine TB Statistics, compiled by DAFM, the herd incidence rate in Ireland hit a six year high at 5.17% by the end of Q2 2024.
Over the 12 months to the end of June this year there was also an increase in the number of reactors which rose to 32,677 – up from 25,529 in the 12 month period ending June 2023.
In July, the secretary general of the department of agriculture, Brendan Gleeson said that a “different” approach is needed to tackle bovine TB in Ireland.
He told the Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine that the increasing incidence rate of the disease this is a “real concern”.
“It is a really significant issue. We are at the point now where we have to do something different. If we just keep doing the same thing and expect different results, that’s not a great way to proceed,” Gleeson said.