An effective Bovine Tuberculosis (bTB) eradication programme must address wildlife transmission, according to the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU).

The UFU deputy president, Clement Lynch, said in a statement that: “Bovine [tuberculosis (bTB)] continues to have a devastating impact on farm businesses and farming families across Northern Ireland".

According to the statement, UFU had submitted its response to the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) consultation on potential wildlife intervention options, as part of the Bovine Tuberculosis in Northern Ireland: Blueprint for Eradication.

"Farmers have complied with increasingly stringent cattle controls for decades, yet we are still not making the progress towards eradication that is desperately needed," Lynch said.

"The UFU’s position is clear. Wildlife intervention is essential.

Lynch explained that the UFU's response had been developed "around the evidence presented, the practical realities of delivering an intervention programme and, crucially, what will achieve meaningful disease reduction within the shortest possible timeframe".Lynch stressed that any intervention had to be "evidence-based, practical, affordable and capable of being delivered at the scale required"."Research commissioned by the UFU, Dairy Council for Northern Ireland and Livestock and Meat Commission estimates the indirect cost of bTB to Northern Ireland farmers at approximately £96 million every year."

Total cost

When DAERA’s direct expenditure is included, the total annual cost is estimated at about £156 million, he said.

"Behind those figures are farmers dealing with repeated testing, movement restrictions, the loss of productive animals and the stress and uncertainty of herd breakdowns.”Lynch said he was strongly encouraging individual farmers to respond directly to the consultation and make their views known.

“It is important that DAERA hears directly from the farmers and farming families living with the consequences of TB."

The Bovine Tuberculosis in Northern Ireland: Blueprint for Eradication published by DAERA in April last year, describes bTB as being "caused mainly by Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis)".

Complex disease

"It is a complex and challenging zoonotic disease (a disease that is transmissible from animals to humans) of cattle, endemic in many countries across the globe.

"Whilst primarily a disease of cattle, it also infects a broad range of farm and wild animals, further complicating attempts to control and eradicate the disease.Although a programme to eradicate bTB had been in place in Northern Ireland since the late 1950s, "the current bTB programme, which is required under European law, underpins theability of NI’s livestock sectors to trade with the EU and internationally", the blueprint said.