Mr. David Graham:

Two studies on herd level prevalence have been carried out, one of which has been published and the other has been submitted for publication.

As the committee is probably aware, as compared with BVD, there are significant limitations to the tests that are available, albeit that there is quite a bit we can do with them. Within the confines of those limitations, between 20% and 30% of herds on the dairy side include test-positive animals. The percentage of such herds on the beef or suckler side is lower, at perhaps one third of that. That is a herd level figure. When one goes to the individual animal level figure, approximately 2% to 3% of animals tested overall are positive. Given the limitations of the tests in those herds, there are likely to be other undetected infected animals.

We have a reasonable indication of the magnitude of the problem. While those figures are far from ideal, we believe they show the industry in Ireland in a favourable light compared with many competitor countries. That is why, within the context of the programme that has been developed, one of the key objectives is to identify those herds that test negative and where we do not have evidence of infection in order that we can, over a period of time, build confidence that those herds are genuinely free and have those as a source of clean animals. Equally, the objective for herds that test positive is to put in place appropriate management practices to drive down that prevalence and, all being well in the fullness of time, enable them to become uninfected, although we talk about Johne's disease, as opposed to BVD, in control rather than eradication terms given the challenges of the disease.