The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has confirmed that there has been a change to the TB requirements for donor cows in Ireland.

The EU regulation regarding donor cows refers to intra-community trade only. However, in Ireland, all germinal product establishments are approved under this standard, regardless of whether they are involved in domestic or intra-community trade.

The regulation presents two specific requirements – firstly, that donor animals must come from an establishment that was free from mycobacterium tuberculosis complex and brucella species at the time of collection and, secondly, that donor cows must not have been present in a herd during a TB or brucella breakdown.

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This latter requirement represents a change from the previous legislation, which did not include this specific lifetime herd health status requirement.

In a statement to the Irish Farmers Journal, a spokesperson for the Department said: "In practical terms, this means that if a donor cow has, at any point in its lifetime, been kept in a herd with a lower TB health status, embryos would not be eligible for trade under the current regulations."

Regulation

The statement continued: "While the regulation applies to intra-EU trade, considering the lack of documented cases of TB transmission via IETS-washed embryos in peer-reviewed literature or international regulatory records, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has reviewed the policy as it applies to domestic trade and updated guidance on the TB requirements for domestic trade of oocytes and embryos, which will revert to the previous TB history requirements under directive 89/566. This will be issued shortly.

"In the meantime, it is important that embryos intended for trade continue to comply with the current EU regulations.

"Maintaining these standards is essential to protecting the integrity of Ireland's embryo trade and preserving confidence in our high animal health status."

Donor cows play an important role in pedigree and commercial cattle breeding in Ireland. Many of the highest-priced animals and prizewinners at shows across the country are bred through embryo transfer means.

The process also allows breeders to retain elite bloodlines within their herds, which may be lost otherwise.