Livestock farmers and Department of Agriculture officials have clashed on the issue of TB in wild deer in Co Wicklow.

A number of farmers at the meeting of the Callary deer steering group accused the Department of not doing enough investigation of TB in deer.

Strategy

It was not offering any new strategy for tackling the disease in the Callary area or putting in enough resources in Co Wicklow, they said.

One farmer who has had herd breakdowns claimed that 80% of the deer in east Wicklow were infected with the disease and were spreading it to his and other cattle farms.

However, the Department officials said that their ongoing testing – on heads and pluck – indicated that 10% of deer in the Callary area were carrying TB. If whole deer carcases were tested, additional cases would be identified and would bring the level to over 17%, the same as the survey results of 2014, they said.

A Department speaker said he accepted that the same strain of the TB bacteria was present in cattle, deer and badgers

Asked if he accepted that infected deer were “part of the problem”, a Department speaker said he accepted that the same strain of the TB bacteria was present in cattle, deer and badgers.

That has been established by research carried out in Ireland.

Further research

Further research is ongoing on the issue of TB spreading from one species to another, according to another Department speaker.

The Department was looking at using the new technique of gene sequencing to further analyse TB across cattle, deer and badgers.

He also said that sampling and testing had not found large numbers of infected deer outside of Co Wicklow.

Three out of 73 carcases tested in the past year were positive, including one out of 39 from Co Kerry.

Take all possible steps

The Department officials advised farmers to take all possible steps to reduce the risk of getting TB in their herds.

These include raising field drinking troughs, fencing off badger setts on their lands to keep cattle away and badger-proofing cattle sheds.

“When purchasing cattle, farmers should ask about the TB history of the herd they are buying from – this can reduce the risk of buying in infection,” one Department official said.

“Also, it is clear that more needs to be done to protect the almost 97% of herds which are TB-free, while also doing more to help infected herds.”

The Callary deer steering group was set up to help farmers and hunters co-operate to reduce the density of wild deer in the area by 25%.

The Department will then assess what, if any, difference that makes to TB levels in cattle herds.

The project is now entering year three.