TB levels in the national cattle herd remain stuck, with just over 3% of herds infected, according to figures from the Department of Agriculture.

Recent years have seen progress in eradicating the disease stall, leading Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed to set up the TB Stakeholders Forum.

In fact the latest figures, for the third quarter of 2018, show a small increase on 2017 as herd incidence rose from 3.24% to 3.29%.

The number of reactors per 1,000 tests (APT) also rose from 1.84 to 2.02, while the number of reactors removed rose from 12,119 to 13,172 head. The number of cattle tested was almost the same at 6.5m head.

East Wicklow had the highest herd incidence at 9.79% followed by west Wicklow at 8.46%.

Monaghan, where there have been several new outbreaks of the disease, had a herd incidence of 7.26%.

Other areas with higher than average herd incidence were Meath at 5.48%, north Cork at 5.45%, Louth at 4.99%, Westmeath at 4.42%, Wexford at 4.36% and Offaly at 4.08%.

Suspensions

Meanwhile, to date this year five private veterinary practitioners (PVPs) have been suspended from TB testing, the Department has confirmed to the Irish Farmers Journal.

A total of seven were suspended from testing in 2017 – less than 1% of all who carry out TB testing.

Quality control of testing by PVPs is carried out by the Department through data analysis and on-site supervision of testing.