Twenty thousand farmers face having to TB test cattle 30 days before selling them at the mart or farm-to-farm under the Department of Agriculture’s draft TB strategy to 2030.

Documents seen by the Irish Farmers Journal propose that all cattle moving out of high-risk herds will be required to have a pre-movement test 30 days before being sold.

In controversial letters sent to farmers in August, the Department classified high-risk herds as those which are currently locked up or have been free of TB for less than three years. Some 20,000 farms fall into this bracket.

Ireland’s draft strategy also plans to ramp up testing for inconclusive cattle and TB blackspots nationwide

New EU regulations, set to come into force in April 2021, will also require farmers to test cattle for TB pre- or post-movement, unless both the animal and the herd of origin were tested in the preceding six months.

Ireland’s draft strategy also plans to ramp up testing for inconclusive cattle and TB blackspots nationwide. There is no mention of who will foot the bill for the increased testing proposed in the document.

Stakeholders in the TB forum, including farm organisations, have until this Friday to respond to the Department with any changes to the draft strategy.