Over many years, various internal and external auditors have criticised DAERA for paying out 100% compensation for reactor animals. In response, the Department has tried to cut the compensation bill, firstly by suggesting in 2011 that we should follow the English approach of table values for reactor cattle.
Following that, in 2017 DAERA officials proposed that farmers should pay for annual herd tests, with compensation capped at £1,800 for pedigree animals and £1,500 for commercial cattle. Finally in 2021, DAERA suggested a cap of £5,000 per animal, alongside a plan to eventually reduce all payments to 75% of market value.
Argued
To date, farm lobby organisations have successfully (and correctly) argued that given the failure of the Department to put a policy in place that deals with the reservoir of infection in wildlife, it would be wrong to cut or cap payments for reactors. But given the recent surge in TB reactors and the current pressures on DAERA finances, we should be in no doubt that cuts to payments for reactor animals are back on the agenda.
Prosecution
That argument for cutting compensation payments has been strengthened in recent days by the successful prosecution by DAERA of a Newry farmer for creating lumps at a TB test.
We all know there is a small cohort of people who seem to take some sort of warped pleasure out of defrauding the system. Their actions are morally wrong, tarnish our industry, and negatively impact disease control.
Yet in rural areas, too often a blind eye is turned to the local rogue and they are sometimes even facilitated in their dubious farming activities.
If we are ever going to make progress with TB, attitudes towards the disease must change. We can all do more to try to keep TB out of our herds. And anyone who seeks to tamper with a TB test for financial gain, deserves a day out in court.