A further 1,997 cattle were removed as reactors at TB tests in October 2022, making it the highest monthly total in around 18 years, disease statistics published by DAERA show.

The areas covered by Newry and Enniskillen Divisional Veterinary Offices continue to be real hotspots of infection, and combined they account for nearly 900 animals in October.

In the first 10 months of 2022 the reactor total now comes to 13,588, which is 19% more than in the same period in 2021.

Herd incidence (the number of new reactor herds as a proportion that are tested) currently stands at 9.95%, the highest it has been since the early 2000s.

Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) president David Brown said that the longer it is taking for DAERA to fully implement a new TB eradication strategy, the more money it is costing taxpayers.

In the 2021/22 financial year, the TB programme cost £45m, and the 2022/23 forecast was in the region of £48m. But given the recent surge in cases, and higher cattle values this year, it is thought that the final bill could easily top £50m.

“These costs do not take into account any of the lost revenue incurred on farms, let alone the stress that farm families are subjected to when they lose livestock to bovine TB,” said Brown.

He said farmers were eager to adopt a different strategy to reduce TB, highlighted by the overwhelming support at recent information roadshows for plans to implement a targeted cull of badgers in TB hotspot areas, paid for by farmer levies.

“We have a finalised strategy that has followed the science sitting there ready to go. Meanwhile, the absence of meaningful action continues to yield huge financial losses, causing emotional devastation on NI farms,” concluded Brown.

Republic of Ireland

Meanwhile, the latest statistics from the Republic of Ireland suggest that cases of bovine TB might also be on the rise there, although from a much lower base than in NI. The total number of reactors recorded in 2022 is up 5% to around 22,000. However, the actual number of reactor herds is down, meaning there are more cattle reacting in individual herds.

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