The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) is set to hold a farm walk in Co. Cavan tomorrow (Tuesday, July 19) with the main focus being on bovine tuberculosis (TB).
The walk will take place on the O’Reilly farm in Glasleck, Shercock, at 11:00a.m.
There will be a number of officials from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) present, who will give a brief talk and answer any questions that attending farmers may have.
TB
TB outbreaks within a herd are a concern for most farmers, but the latest data from the DAFM shows that there has been a slight improvement in TB reactor incidence rates.
The latest data shows a slight drop from 4.38% in 2020, to 4.33% in 2021.
The highest rate was recorded in west Co. Wicklow at 18.11%, while in the east of the county, it was 8.34%.
The highest number of TB reactors in 2021 was recorded in Co. Cork at 4,823, followed by counties Tipperary (1,967); Wicklow (1,519); Kerry (1,282); and Galway (1,070).
Counties in the Border, Midlands and Western (BMW) region have seen a slight improvement, with counties Donegal, Roscommon and Cavan seeing more favourable results.
What may be a concern for many in the border region however, is that the incidence rate in Northern Ireland reached 8.85% compared to 8.44% in the previous year.
A total of 1,827,749 animals were tested for TB in Northern Ireland in 2021, compared to 1,720,280 animals in 2020.