Farmers in the Republic will no longer have to round test for brucellosis from 2015, the Department of Agriculture has confirmed.

The last known case of brucellosis on Irish farms came some eight years ago and the country has had Officially Brucellosis Free (OBF) status since 2009. Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney said now was the right time to make changes to the national brucellosis control regime. Northern Ireland is also on track to apply for OBF status in 2015.

“Against a background where there has been no Brucellosis outbreak in the national herd since 2006 and none in Northern Ireland since 2012, it is now appropriate to scale back further on the scale of testing for the disease in 2015 and onwards,” Minister Coveney said.

The Minister added that as well ending the annual round test, under which some 600,000 animals have been tested annually in recent years, the milk elisa test will be discontinued from 1 January 2015. The Minister also indicated his intention to remove the remaining pre-movement testing requirement which apply to older animals next year. This is dependent on Northern Ireland applying for and obtaining OBF status.

Welcoming the news, IFA animal health chairman Bert Stewart said the change would lead to significant financial savings for Irish farmers. “The announcement is in line with the changes sought by IFA and represent direct savings of in excess of €6m annually for farmers,” Stewart said.