A combination of fewer reactor animals and lower-than-expected prices for cattle, mean that the total amount of compensation paid for reactor animals in NI is coming in under budget.
The recently published DAERA annual report and accounts for 2018/2019 put the provisional figure for the last financial year at £23.6m, which is £0.3m below the original target. At one stage it had been thought that the 2018/2019 bill could have finished well over £24m. In 2017/2018, the Department paid out just over £23m in compensation for reactor cattle.
Decline
While the number of TB reactors in NI remained strong throughout the summer and autumn of 2018, since then there are some signs that numbers might be on the decline.
The latest DAERA figures for the first four months of 2019 put the herd incidence rate (the number of new reactor herds as a proportion of the total that tested) at 4.35%, which is the lowest incidence rate recorded over this four-month period since 2014.
However, while those figures suggest less clear herds are picking up an infection, there remains a significant number of herds that are continually closed with TB.
During April 2019, a total of 268 herds had at least one reactor at a test. Of these, 128 were already classed as breakdown herds.
Across the first four months of 2019, a total of 4,369 cattle were removed as reactors at a test, which is down on the 5,545 and 5,609 for the same period in 2018 and 2017 respectively, but still ahead of the 2016 and 2015 figures (4,086 and 3,805).
In April 2019, the number of herds classed as officially TB-free stood at 90.4%, which is a slight improvement on the April 2018 figure of 89.8%.
Read more
EU proposals for TB tests not finalised
Biosecurity: it's all about protecting your future
A combination of fewer reactor animals and lower-than-expected prices for cattle, mean that the total amount of compensation paid for reactor animals in NI is coming in under budget.
The recently published DAERA annual report and accounts for 2018/2019 put the provisional figure for the last financial year at £23.6m, which is £0.3m below the original target. At one stage it had been thought that the 2018/2019 bill could have finished well over £24m. In 2017/2018, the Department paid out just over £23m in compensation for reactor cattle.
Decline
While the number of TB reactors in NI remained strong throughout the summer and autumn of 2018, since then there are some signs that numbers might be on the decline.
The latest DAERA figures for the first four months of 2019 put the herd incidence rate (the number of new reactor herds as a proportion of the total that tested) at 4.35%, which is the lowest incidence rate recorded over this four-month period since 2014.
However, while those figures suggest less clear herds are picking up an infection, there remains a significant number of herds that are continually closed with TB.
During April 2019, a total of 268 herds had at least one reactor at a test. Of these, 128 were already classed as breakdown herds.
Across the first four months of 2019, a total of 4,369 cattle were removed as reactors at a test, which is down on the 5,545 and 5,609 for the same period in 2018 and 2017 respectively, but still ahead of the 2016 and 2015 figures (4,086 and 3,805).
In April 2019, the number of herds classed as officially TB-free stood at 90.4%, which is a slight improvement on the April 2018 figure of 89.8%.
Read more
EU proposals for TB tests not finalised
Biosecurity: it's all about protecting your future
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