Farmers locked up with TB are set to be allowed buy in cattle without a clear test under revised EU regulations, the Irish Farmers Journal can reveal.

Under EU regulation 2020/869, locked up farmers can “technically” buy in cattle with veterinary guidance and a risk mitigation plan, according to Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) animal health chair TJ Maher.

However, if they do so, they will lose their on-farm market valuation and income supplement.

As part of its negotiations with farm organisations, the Department of Agriculture is set to allow continued valuation and income supplements for such farmers, pending agreement on the “financial package”, Maher said.

“This has changed the landscape. In this situation, it would now be possible for a person to try and farm as well as having TB.

“Heretofore, if you bought in, you lost your on-farm market valuation and, more particularly, you lost your income supplement.”

Live valuation

The Department has also proposed that when a farmer has one TB reactor, the herdowner will be offered the opportunity to accept compensation for that animal without live valuation.

It is understood the Department’s aim is to reduce TB spread by getting reactor cattle off farms more quickly and to reduce paperwork. It would also likely enable farmers to retest sooner.

TJ Maher described how a farmer would receive a call from the Department and be offered a payment based on available herd milk performance or market information.

Guarantee

However, Maher said: “We’re only interested in this proposal if there’s a guarantee of [reactor] removal within seven days.”

He said farmers are frustrated “at the length of time the TB animals end up remaining on farms”, but said the IFA is “looking at this for one animal only because live animal valuation is a core principle of our organisation”.