Swann reveals over 50,000 TB reactors removed off NI farms in just 3 years

Robin Swann said: “For far too long bovine TB has been wreaking immense financial and emotional hardship on the agricultural industry right across Northern Ireland.

“The levels of disease incidence in herds locally remain far too high, particularly compared to the rest of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, and each and every year the disease is costing the public purse tens of millions of pounds.

“The situation has become so serious in recent years that the impact of TB on farming families was a real concern to me in my previous role as Northern Ireland’s Minister of Health. I witnessed the huge distress that so many farming families are going through and I believe the disease is without doubt compounding those pressures,” Mr Swann added.

“Now, after questioning the DAERA Minister at Stormont, it has been revealed to me that 50,467 TB reactor cattle have been removed from farmyards across Northern Ireland in just the last three years. Even setting aside the huge costs associated with testing and compensation, just as significant is the incredible loss of production.

“Many of these livestock were prime cattle, including quality suck cows, young beef animals, and highly productive dairy cows. Compensation may give a short-term value on the price of an animal but it doesn’t come close to replacing the years of breeding and rearing that it took to produce those animals in the first instance.”

In addition to uncovering the number of reactor animals, Robin Swann has revealed that the current DAERA target for removing of 90% of TB reactors within 15 working days of test completion is increasingly not being met. The target has only been met within one of the last 12 months, with the most recent March 2024 figure showing only 68% reactor animals being removed on time.

Robin Swann added: “Despite the local Department of Agriculture claiming for years that tackling bovine TB is one of its top priorities, the problem has only continued to get worse rather than better. The Department is weighing down under the weight of previous plans and taskforces, and yet the agricultural industry in Northern Ireland is still crying out for clear intervention. In 2022 there was some hope with the publication of TB Eradication Strategy for Northern Ireland, which included a firm commitment on wildlife intervention to address the role of the badger population in disease maintenance and spread of bovine TB. Unfortunately, due to an administrative blunder from DAERA, the prospect of any intervention was dismissed in the courts and now the issue is back to square one.

“It's shameful that it’s seven years on from the Department launching a public consultation on a range of proposals to work towards the eradication of bovine TB, and yet we’re still waiting for meaningful progress. Instead the situation is drifting and farming families are left paying the hardest price.”