The Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) has said that it has made it “clear” to the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) that there is to be “no cuts to stock valuation regarding TB reactor cattle”.
According to the UFU, this comes after recent “failings” to fully implement the revised bovine tuberculosis (TB) strategy set out by the previous DAERA minister.
David Brown, UFU president said: “DAERA is in a difficult financial position with a lesser budget for 2023-2024 and stated at the meeting that it will now be reviewing all of its financial responsibilities as part of its monitoring process.
“We made it perfectly clear that there are to be no cuts to the value of livestock removed from farms that have gone down with TB, in an attempt to make up for this shortfall.
“When a herd is infected with TB, farmers are already suffering a significant loss of income coupled with mental stress, and to hit them when they are already down is absolutely unacceptable and unjust.”
Brown has reminded DAERA that “stock valuations are not compensation” and that the cattle are not being removed by “choice”, but because there is no other alternative.
TB in Northern Ireland
According to a DAERA spokesperson, the most recent figures show that Northern Ireland has a TB incidence rate of 10.67%.
Commenting on the concerns regarding the Northern Ireland TB programme, DAERA said: “The department shares the concerns of individual farmers about the current high level of TB herd incidence in Northern Ireland.
“The department, through its TB programme, spent over £53 million in the last financial year to support farmers in their efforts to control this disease.
“The Northern Ireland TB programme is approved by the European Commission and helps ensure that our cattle farmers can continue to access international markets for their products.
“However, in the current economic climate, this level of public expenditure is clearly not sustainable.”
The department spokesperson said that “given the extremely difficult budgetary position that all departments across Northern Ireland, including DAERA, are seeking to manage, all areas of the bTB Eradication Programme are being reviewed to ensure that the approach taken to eradicate the disease and pay compensation is affordable within the budgets allocated by the Secretary of State and delivers value for money for the public purse”.
The UFU has said it will continue to “keep the pressure on DAERA officials and engage with the wider industry to get the proposed measures implemented, so we can work towards eradicating the disease once and for all”.