Ireland has one of the longest time frames in which TB reactors remain on-farm before they are removed for slaughter.

This is according to figures provided by Irish authorities and those in other countries around the world.

As TB is a contagious disease, the longer reactors are left on a farm, the greater the risk of the disease spreading to other animals in the herd and to wildlife.

In a statement issued to the Irish Farmers Journal, the Department of Agriculture said “on average, reactors are removed within 23 days of the disclosure of TB”. This timeline includes the time it takes to value the animal in order to compensate the farmer for its destruction.

Although this sits within the time frame specified by the 1977 European Commission directive of “not later than 30 days”, after taking weekends into account it is still approximately nine days longer than the length of time that Scotland, our closest TB-free neighbour, allows reactors to remain on a farm.

Despite efforts by the competent authority - some of their key targets could not be met in relation to the removal of reactors from breakdown herds

The Department of Agriculture in Scotland told the Irish Farmers Journal that its government policy states reactors should be removed within 10 working days of a reactor being discovered. Scotland has been TB-free since 2009 and tests animals at an interval that is appropriate to both the incidence of TB infection in the area where the herd is and the risk that the herd presents.

Moreover, other countries that have successfully eradicated bovine TB have been working to similar, if not shorter, time periods.

For example, Switzerland, TB-free since the 1950s, removes reactors within 10 non-working days, Germany, TB-free since 1996, told us that “most infected animals are killed immediately in order to prevent the spread of infection”. In the Netherlands, TB-free since 1999, reactors are removed from the farm “the same day the positive test result is known”, while Sweden, TB-free since 1958, has a policy of culling reactors “within one to three days”. Norway, TB-free since 1963, culls the reactors in “about one to two days” after the positive test result.

International

Moving outside Europe, Australia, TB-free since December 1997, and held up as an example of successful eradication by many countries, has a policy of removal within 21 days. However, a spokesperson for Animal Health Australia, the body responsible for managing animal health programmes on the continent, told the Irish Farmers Journal that in practice “the eradication policy was generally immediate (within 48 hours)”. And in Canada, TB-free since the early 1990s, reactors are culled “typically within a few days”.

Tighter targets

Even countries that, like Ireland, are still fighting to eradicate TB have set themselves tighter targets than Ireland’s 23-day time period. For example, the Animal and Plant Health Agency in England and Wales has a target of 10 working days, while DAERA in Northern Ireland has a target of 15 working days.

It is important that reactors are taken off the farm as quickly as possible

Moreover, in 2011 the European Commission criticised the authorities in the UK for not meeting the 10-working-day target in relation to the removal of reactors, saying this was a “potential weakness” in its TB eradication programme.

"The audit identified a number of potential weaknesses”, the report said. “Despite efforts by the competent authority - some of their key targets could not be met in relation to the removal of reactors from breakdown herds. In Great Britain the removal of reactors is below the target of 90% in 10 days as of July 2011.”

However, although Irish herds are tested once every 12 months, cattle in England are tested only once every four years if the herd is in a part of the country classified as low-risk.

Herds are tested once a year if they are in a high-risk area. All cattle herds in Wales are currently tested at least once a year.

The Irish Farmers Association animal health committee chair Bert Stewart said: “It is important that reactors are taken off the farm as quickly as possible.”

TB in Ireland

In terms of national herd incidence, Ireland is among the worst bovine TB affected countries in Europe, alongside England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

TB control in Ireland costs approximately €90m annually. At a total of €25.5m, Department of Agriculture salaries linked to bovine TB eradication are more than double that of the money farmers get in compensation, which is approximately €12m per year.

Although the levels of TB are slowly decreasing in Ireland, a European Commission report published in April 2015 concluded that “additional measures” need to be taken by the Irish authorities if TB is to be eradicated from the national herd. It said Ireland is “still far away” from the EU’s statutory target of 0.1% herd prevalence which is necessary for a country to be designated with the official status of being free of bovine TB.

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Department allowed reactors to remain on a farm for over a month in 2010