Victory in sight over B abortus
WHEN the Government launched a scheme in 1966 to eradicate brucellosis from Irish cattle, little did they know that they were kicking off decades of hardship for farmers, and hundreds of millions of punts and euros in expenditure, in a campaign which has left an indelible mark on the Irish agri-food industry.
In 1965, a bulk milk survey had shown that 12% of Ireland's 105,000 dairy herds were infected by Brucella abortus. It has taken 41 years since then to nearly win the war against the bacterium.
