The total number of individual cattle TB tests carried out in NI last year was the highest on record, the latest figures published by DAERA confirm.

In total, 3.28m tests for bovine TB were completed by vets in NI during 2018. This is a 4.5% increase on the 3.14m tests completed in 2017 and is 38.6% higher than the earliest available record in 2007, when 2.37m tests were completed.

Private veterinary practices and DAERA vets are under significant pressure as the workload with TB testing increases, and farmers report growing waiting times when booking herd tests.

Minutes of a meeting of senior DAERA officials in late December, published last week, also show that chief vet Robert Huey raised the issue of resource requirements due to bovine TB rates.

The latest figures from DAERA indicate that the incidence rate of bovine TB in NI increased every month throughout 2018.

Herd incidence rate is the percentage of new reactor herds as a proportion of the total tested. The final 2018 figure of 9.22% is slightly lower than that from 2017 (9.61%) but still the second highest annual rate seen across the 12 years of available records.

DAERA figures also show that in late 2018 the percentage of herds in NI closed up with bovine TB was the highest seen in the last 10 years. In October 2018, 12.4% of herds in NI were either Officially TB Suspended or Officially TB Withdrawn.

A contributing factor is stricter TB rules which were rolled out by DAERA in late 2017 and early 2018. The new rules included the introduction of a further herd test in some breakdown herds after restrictions have been lifted, and withdrawal of Officially TB Free status in herds that have more than one skin test reactor.

Across the 10 Divisional Veterinary Office (DVO) areas in NI, Newtownards continued to have the highest herd incidence rate in 2018 at 13.13%. Other TB hotspot areas include Coleraine (11.51%) and Ballymena (10.78%).

Meanwhile, Farmers For Action (FFA) has written to DAERA chief vet Robert Huey asking him when he is going to start implementing a badger cull. FFA points out that recent decisions by Secretary of State Karen Bradley have effectively given local civil servants more decision-making powers.

The organisation has also raised concerns that more TB testing is leading to increased health and safety risks on farms.

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