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Rates of bovine TB in NI look to be going in the wrong direction again. The latest DAERA results show that to the end of September a total of 10,087 cattle have been removed as reactors at TB tests, an 11% increase on the same period in 2020.
The most recent disease peak was towards the end of 2017, and while rates did fall in 2018 and 2019, the latest data tell a familiar tale.
TB herd incidence, defined as the number of new herd breakdowns as a proportion of all herds tested, currently stands at 8.64%, approximately double the figure from the Republic of Ireland.
The 2020 NI herd incidence figure was 8.44% and for 2019 it was 7.85%.
To the end of September 2021, a total of 1,380 new reactor herds have been identified in NI, and over the period there have been 1,944 herds with at least one reactor at a test.
Frustration
However, as well as reactors at a test, a major frustration for farmers is when they think they are finally free of the disease only for movement restrictions to be re-imposed when cattle are slaughtered.
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