TB on the rise

According to the most recent figures from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), the total number of reactors removed in the last 12 months to the end of quarter one of 2024 has risen to 30,332 from 23,977. This is a herd-incidence of five per cent, up from 4.4 per cent during the same period.
The scale of the problem is extremely concerning, said TJ, with this incidence level not seen for 15 years. And he was critical of the DAFM’s response so far. “Unfortunately, there have been many outbreaks in south Leinster, and we have been very frustrated by the failure of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) to deal adequately with the situation. Over the last two years, there has been an exceptionally large number of outbreaks. Wicklow has, historically, been one of the worst counties in the country and now we have other areas with big disease breakdowns. The spread into intensive dairy areas has been alarming. We are extremely disappointed, to put it mildly, at the lack of progress that’s been made in arresting the spread of TB. We raised the issue at meetings in early June with the secretary general of the DAFM, Brendan Gleeson, and senior veterinary inspector, Martin Blake.”
TJ said it is the IFA’s view that the DAFM has failed to take seriously the need to further invest in the management and control of the wildlife programme and also in the proper support structures that were agreed with the DAFM last year for farmers who have been impacted by the disease.

Substantial breakdowns

Delving a little deeper into a recent TB surge, TJ highlights the case of north Kilkenny, and why vaccination alone is not an effective way to manage it. “Historically it was a very good region, with one of the first badger-vaccination programmes. Substantial breakdowns have taken place, however, and this has been repeated in other parts of the country where vaccination has been the primary method of wildlife management. It’s our view that we now need to reassess that approach. Badger-population management is as crucial as a vaccination programme. It appears that when the vaccination programme has been operated on its own, the badger population has increased exponentially, and when disease gets into that population it spreads quite quickly and is transferred into the cattle population. The biggest difficulty is when the disease gets into bigger herds, mainly dairy herds, it is very difficult eliminate it.”

Hit-and-miss vaccine

Asked if badger vaccination is a hit-and-miss response, TJ said that while it can be effective, studies suggest that it is not an adequate response. “Again, looking at Kilkenny as a region, we have had exponential TB growth there in the last two years, despite very good vaccination programmes being in place, and previously low levels of disease. The reality is, historically, when we have failed to control the overall numbers of the badger population, we have failed to control the spread of disease everywhere. And this is an issue that obviously relates to other wildlife sources, because in Wicklow, north Wexford, east Kildare and south county Dublin, where there are huge numbers of deer, there has been clear evidence of spread between deer and livestock. The management of that population is equally critical. We are happy that the Deer Stakeholder Forum has started focussing people’s minds on an agreed policy, but we still haven’t seen enough deer removed. There’s an acknowledgement that there’s an overpopulation of deer in certain areas. Population density is the key management tool across all secondary hosts. If you’re a beef or dairy or suckler farmer and you have your stock removed for disease control, all the wildlife that are carrying the disease are left around. That is extremely frustrating.”
Despite a great improvement in on-farm biosecurity measures, farms are not immune to the spread of TB when it involves wildlife. “Irish livestock breeding farms have dramatically improved biosecurity measures over the last decade." said TJ. "There’s the use of vaccination programmes and effective disinfection and cleaning techniques. The management of young stock has improved dramatically. However, the badger has proved extremely adept at integrating into modern farming methods. A simple example of this involves electric fences now being set back from perimeters and from the boundaries of water courses. Unfortunately, this provides perfect habitats in which badgers can establish their dens in a secure location and from where they can visit farmyards where food sources such as maize, beet or loose meal, especially in wintertime, are available. Also, rotationally grazed animals are only in the field once every three weeks, which leaves badgers with plenty of time to establish and increase their populations in those environments. Farmers have an important role in assisting the DAFM in managing the badger population. We need to know where badgers have setts on the farm and identify these to DAFM officials. In addition, we must ensure there is no access by livestock to sett entrances or badger-cleaning areas, close to setts.”
From a farmer’s perspective, it’s critical that there are far more boots on the ground, but there is a problem with this, explains TJ. “Our major difficulty with the DAFM is that we entered into a financial agreement 12 months ago relating to increased support for farmers, increased investment in the programme by farmers through higher levies, and increased investment in the wildlife programme. While there is some additional investment, it was supposed to go from €3m to €9m. The reality is we are still short of agricultural officers on the ground, and we are still short of farm-relief operatives in the required areas to engage in badger TB testing and control. We now have a situation where the financial improvements that we negotiated for farmers who were unlucky enough to go down with the disease are not being paid promptly. They’re due quite a lot of money, and the system the DAFM has operated, provides very little clarity for the farmers of the actual sums that have been transferred to them or any amounts that are outstanding to them.”

Increased restrictions

TJ does not agree that further herd movement and trading restrictions should be introduced: “The evidence to support increased restrictions on farmers is not strong enough. We have negotiated a reassessment of the testing protocol around contiguous herds with the DAFM. Herds that would have had two animals failing a test, no longer prompt a contiguous programme around that area. The threshold is now three infected animals. I recommend people be vigilant with the animals they are purchasing, and we have a change in regulation on the purchase and sale of breeding stock. The EU animal health law, introduced last year, requires breeding animals or males over 30 months of age to have at least a six-month pre-movement test or have a post-movement test done.
“And if we remember that 75 per cent of all reactors are in our breeding stock, it is crucial that if a farmer is investing a large sum of money on purchasing good quality breeding stock, he ensures that the relevant TB test is as close to the purchase date as possible. That’s good risk management. On the wider scale of increased restrictions of animal movements, the testing done on breeding cows over the last six months hasn’t indicated that the spread of disease can be immediately captured by increased testing, and we do an awful lot of testing in Ireland. We do over nine and a half million tests for a population of six million cattle with testing ongoing for the past 60 years. We have better quality testing than ever, yet TB incidence has risen from two per cent to five per cent. More testing is not the solution.”