Written answers

Thursday, 17 September 2020

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Tuberculosis Eradication Programme

Photo of Carol NolanCarol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent)
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231. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of farmers with C10 herds who have been advised to cull cattle; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24548/20]

Photo of Carol NolanCarol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent)
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232. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of cattle farmers have been advised to cull from categories C1 to C10; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24549/20]

Photo of Charlie McConalogueCharlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 231 and 232 together.

The Bovine TB Forum Interim Report (published July 2019)  identified the need to provide more effective information to farmers to help them reduce the risk of TB in their herd and advocated for the development of herd risk categories that are “simple, clear, and convey sufficient information to enable farmers to make the decisions appropriate to their situation”.

In line with, and in view of implementing those recommendations, the Department has developed individualised reports that provide a simplified TB herd risk category for farmers, with herd-specific advice on how to reduce risk of TB. The reports do not require farmers to do anything. It is advice which they can choose to take if they wish to reduce the risk of their herd to TB and to take account of in the decisions they take as part of their annual farm management when deciding what animals to cull.

The published Bovine TB Forum Interim Report, a sample of the TB Herd History risk statement and report and frequently asked questions can be found at www.bovinetb.ie 

The table below provides an overall summary of herd risk categorisation and number of clear inconclusives and animals alive during a previous breakdown.

TBHHR Category No. of Herds in each Category No. of these herds with clear inconclusive animals Total number of clear inconclusive animals No. of these herds with animals alive during a previous breakdown No. of animals alive during a previous breakdown
C0 5,758 344 662 3,958 288,127
C1 4,522 241 387 3,071 139,341
C2 3,982 218 393 2,651 91,257
C3 3,708 173 268 2,356 68,197
C4 3,791 164 248 2,282 50,579
C5 4,289 151 235 2,522 39,110
C6 3,535 172 261 2,176 27,831
C7 3,681 166 264 2,169 22,360
C8 3,798 158 212 2,208 16,908
C9 3,541 108 154 2,041 12,274
C10 67,537 1,859 2,607 22,944 89,290
D* 304 1 1 162 1,512
INF 2,504 117 177 1,969 117,614
Total 110,950 3,872 5,869 50,509 964,400

* Dealer Herds

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