Be vigilant against brucella

YOU can never relax in the fight against Brucella abortus.

The bacterium inflicted horrifying damage in dairy and suckler farms in the early 1990s.

Munster was badly hit, with farmers living in fear of valuable breeding herds, built up over the years, being wiped out overnight by brucellosis. Loss of assets and of income was a real fear every time a herd test was carried out. By 1998, considerable progress had left almost 17,000 animals being slaughtered from de-populated herds each year.