Mr. Hugh Farrell:

I will follow up on Deputy Carthy's question on feedlots, much of which Mr. Bourke has covered under the different categories. As he rightly said, we need it there as part of the TB programme, where there are stressed herds and numbers of cattle have to be sold or moved on. A lesson has also been learned over the past year or two, which we need to take on board, in terms of Covid, new testing and PCR. When an animal goes to the factory and has a lesion or whatever, there is no reason the farmer should wait 60 days or more for the test to culture. We have a PCR system that can return results in 24 to 48 hours. We have the laboratories available. They have been proven to work and have worked through Covid. That has been a massive saving for farmers and has allowed them to trade and be in business. That has to be the case for the Government too. Instead of monitoring something for 60 days, it should be done in two days to roll over the system and keep moving. This needs to be directed. We need to learn our lessons and move on, instead of staying static.

With regard to feedlot status, while there are many feedlots in the country, they are directed through the Department. In many cases, animals are bought to feed that have continuous lesions. Some of those people could have herd tests five times in a year with no skin reactor, yet lesions may appear again in the factory within days. This is not working. The skin test is not accurate. The farmer suffers when a lesion is found and is locked out of trading for months. Nobody can afford to lose trading time. We have to get round this.

This is what builds up the numbers granted feedlot status. The Department is giving them the option of pre- or post-testing or going into feedlot status which, as Mr. Bourke said, is one test per year or two in some cases. We need to take this on board and with the help and direction of the committee, we might help to drive that further. We have modern technology, the best in the world, and that will make a massive difference going forward.

We spoke earlier about vaccinating cattle to go forward. Such a programme is under way in England and it is hoped to know more about the matter in a couple of years. I would be very interested to follow that and see its outcome. Earlier on, Mr. Punch and I were talking. It is amazing we cannot vaccinate cattle to export them, whereas we cannot travel unless we are vaccinated. Where is the comparison within the one system? We have to get real here. How many games do we play?

I do not know whether that answers the question. We have a few options. The Department is imposing on many farmers that they should go feedlot status. It is being done by the Department directly. There is an option to speed that up so they would not need feedlot status. With a PCR, they would be trading again within a week.