Joe and his father Anthony Metcalfe are dairy and beef farmers in Dunlavin, Co. Wicklow. The duo recently lost their entire herd of about 200 head of cattle due to a severe breakdown of bovine tuberculosis (TB) in their herd.
Speaking to Agriland, Joe expressed his dismay and frustration at the loss of the family’s herd, which comprised approximately 80 cows, 20 replacement heifers, the rest being beef cattle.
He explained how the bovine TB situation on the 150ac farm began to deteriorate.
“It would have originally started about 11 years ago, I think it was in 2012, we had the first reactors on the farm and it progressed from there,” he said.
“We were having maybe one or two reactors in every other test but in May 2016, we had a big breakdown with approximately 35 reactors in the TB test.”
Joe continued: “Since then, we have been having a lot of reactors every year for the past number of years and eventually it came to a head this year.
“We had 27 reactors in the last test in November 2022 and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) officials then decided the best course of action was to take all the cattle.”
Joe explained that historically, the region “wouldn’t have been a bad area for TB outbreaks”.
“My grandad would have been farming here since the mid-60s and there was never as much as an inconclusive until 2012.
“It seems to have just got worse from there. A lot of the farmers around here have had to just get out of cattle altogether.
“Some of the farmers in the local area are still suckler farming with smaller numbers and have just opted to increase their sheep enterprises instead of keeping more cattle.”
The last of the cows left the farm last week (Friday, January 6) and Joe outlined that it “was devastating” watching them leave.
“You develop a fierce attachment to all the cow families in your herd and it hit fairly hard seeing them all be taken away,” Joe added.
“There had been a huge amount of genetic progress made here in the dairy herd over the years and all that has been lost essentially.”
Destock
Joe explained that a full destocking was something that had been mentioned to them by DAFM officials in the past.
“It’s been something that was being looked at for all of 2022. This outbreak started in about June 2021 and our herd was clear of TB for about six months before that.
“Last year, we had a few reactors. It was mentioned if there was a big breakdown, they would have to take all the cattle.
“In January we had two reactors; in June there was two; in August there was four; and then in November there were 27 cattle that reacted to the bovine TB test.
“It was nearly all youngstock which concerned the DAFM officials greatly. I think there was four or five cows and the rest were nearly all spring-born calves.”
TB cause
While the official cause for the TB breakdown has not been identified, Joe believes that deer and badgers are partially to blame.
He also said “there was always an inkling that there was maybe a cow in the herd that was passing tests but was infected with TB and was spreading it around, but we could never prove this”.
“There would be deer grazing with cattle in the fields and there is a lot of badgers on forestry near here too.
“Deer numbers in the area are huge but the TB prevalence in the deer population seems to have dropped from 40% to almost 0% in the last couple of months.”
Joe explained that a person who hunts the deer in the region is also a butcher and said “they examine everything for TB”.
“Previously, they were noticing about 40% of the deer had visible legions up until a couple of months ago and now, that’s dropped to almost zero, which is definitely a positive,” he said.
The plan for the farm
Joe has not been deterred from dairy farming by the recent setback and remains ambitious to get back into milking cows.
“With the way farm incomes are across the other enterprises, there’s nothing to come close to generating the income that dairy will so hopefully, we will be back in cows by May or June,” he said.
In the meantime, Joe explained the plan is to carry out any necessary maintenance work and fully disinfect the entire yard.