Strong opposition is emerging among farmers to possible changes to compensation for TB reactor animals as proposed in the ongoing DAERA public consultation on bovine TB, which closes to responses on 1 February.

Speaking earlier this week, Ulster Farmers’ Union deputy president Victor Chestnutt was clear that if the changes are implemented, it would lead to an angry response from the farming community. He maintains that cutting compensation would effectively amount to “legalised theft” of TB-infected animals.

The proposals from DAERA are to limit compensation for a non-pedigree reactor to £1,500, and for a pedigree animal to £1,800, with compensation up to £3,500 available for one pedigree stock bull per year.

In addition, the Department proposes a 10% reduction in the compensation rate in year one, and a further 15% reduction in year two. Therefore, by the second year of the policy, a pedigree animal might be valued at £3,000, but would only be compensated to a maximum of £1,350 (£1,125 for a non-pedigree).

Rather than go down this route, the general consensus within UFU committees seems to favour a levy approach on all cattle, to be seen as the farmer contribution to dealing with the problem of TB in the wildlife population. The figure discussed is in the region of £1 to £1.10 per head. Across the entire cattle population in NI, it would raise approximately £1.7m to £1.8m per year.

That compares favourably with DAERA estimates from their consultation, which suggest that capping compensation on pedigree and non-pedigree animals would save the Department around £1.2m per year.

However, applying a 25% reduction on all TB valuations yields a further potential saving of over £4.4m.

Review

In their consultation document the Department does commit to keeping the possibility of a levy system under review, and asks respondents for comments on the issue. But it notes:

“The Department does not believe that a levy would bring about the desired culture change and shared ownership of the disease that would come from an adjustment in compensation arrangements.”

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Pedigree Trust TB conference

The Pedigree Cattle Trust has organised a conference to highlight developments in TB testing, to take place on Thursday 25 January 2018 at the Seagoe Hotel, running from 7.30 to 9.30pm.

Guest speakers include Richard Sibley, a vet who is looking at early detection methods for TB, Upper Bann MP, David Simpson, UFU Deputy President, Victor Chestnutt, and Fraser Menzies from DAERA.

Registration for this free conference is essential, and e-tickets will be available on a first come first served basis until 12 noon on Wednesday 24 January. Go to https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bovine-tb-conference-tickets-42076674466.

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