The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has confirmed that it has no plans at present to implement changes to regulations on the pre-sale test of cattle from six weeks of age to 36 months of age.
On February 1, this year, new regulations were implemented which require all cows and male cattle over 36 months of age that are moving from farm to farm or through a mart to have been tested for tuberculosis (TB) within six months before the sale date.
If not, these animals will be restricted to the buyer’s herd and should be tested within 30 days of purchase.
There had been some level of concern amongst mart managers that the same rule was going to be applied to all cattle over six weeks of age in the near future, however DAFM has confirmed that there are no plans for this.
A statement from DAFM to Agriland said: “There are at present no plans to move to the next phase of implementation of the TB test requirements under the EU Animal Health Law which would see the testing requirements introduced February 1, 2023 apply to other animals over the age of six weeks.
“Any such plans will be discussed in detail with the Bovine TB Stakeholders Forum.”
Bovine TB disease trends
Latest DAFM National Bovine Tuberculosis Eradication Programme Disease Trends show that 4,790 herds were restricted in Ireland from July 3, 2022 to July 2, 2023. This is up 320 herds from the same time period last year.
In this time period, there were 25,529 reactors – up 5,309 cattle from the number that were TB reactors between July 4, 2021 and July 3, 2022.
According to DAFM, the total expenditure on the Bovine TB Eradication Programme by the end of quarter two of 2023 was €33,143,000, which is up 45% from the €22,914,000 spent in the first quarter of 2022.