Next June is the likely deadline for a reduction in compulsory BSE testing

CATTLE farmers are expected to benefit in the coming months from overdue changes in regulations which have cost them millions of euro per year.

Reducing compulsory BSE testing of slaughter cattle and allowing butchers to slaughter heifers aged over 24 months will bring welcome relief for many farmers.

More than €10 million per year is being paid for BSE testing of beef animals aged over 30 months, which costs €20 per head on average. A sharp decline in incidence of BSE, and the low likelihood of infection in animals aged under four years, have led to member states urging the EU Commission to end compulsory testing at 30 months.

Ireland is one of a number of countries supporting an EU proposal that only animals born before 2004 be tested. This would help autumn finishers, many of whose beef animals go over 30 months.

Farmers supplying the butcher trade have also sought a change in rules to allow slaughter of heifers over 24 months without removal and disposal of the spinal cord.

Last July, Agriculture Minister Mary Coughlan welcomed EU Commissioner Markos Kyprianou’s proposal to increase the age limit to 30 months. But farmers still await this breakthrough, and the end of next June seems to be the Department of Agriculture’s target date for it to come into effect.