The launch of an independent report into the indirect costs borne by farmers as a result of bovine TB took place last Thursday morning at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast.

The choice of venue was no coincidence – the aim was to get MLAs into the room to hear first-hand from consultants at the Andersons Centre on the extent of the costs associated with both TB testing and also movement restrictions when reactors are found.

Unfortunately, no MLAs darkened the doors that morning, although to be fair there were diary clashes with committee meetings and in the case of Minister Muir, a meeting of the Stormont Executive.

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However, what was delivered last Thursday was hard evidence that needs to be properly scrutinised and considered by politicians who are ultimately responsible for putting in place local legislation around TB controls and wildlife intervention.

What the Andersons work clearly shows is that none of this is sustainable for farmers or taxpayers.

The report puts the indirect costs on farmers at £96.1m but given recent hikes in energy prices etc, it is probably an annual cost of over £100m now. Adding in the cost to DAERA for its TB programme to cover payments for reactor cattle, testing by vets etc, it is total bill of around £160m.

Getting this annual bill down will require pain for everyone, including farmers, whether by way of more testing, tougher movement controls or improved farm biosecurity.

But the only way to unlock all these other measures is for politicians and DAERA to take the first step and put in place a meaningful plan to deal with the reservoir of TB in wildlife.

There is simply no way the department can expect farmers to take on any more costs, while that reality is ignored.

Mental health

The other major issue raised in the Andersons work was the mental stress TB puts on farmers.

The fact that over 50% of survey respondents said they have considered leaving the industry due to TB, is a stark figure.