Farmers warned not to be complacent about risks of TB spread

'The incidence of TB is rising within herds, and I think it’s certainly a significant risk at farm level now,' expert says

If you don’t consider the risks of TB and, at least have a management process on your farm for TB, it is entirely likely that you could buy in infection, or that your herd will go into breakdown because the wildlife isn’t being managed.

The number of TB herd breakdowns is slowly decreasing, but the number of reactors per breakdown is increasing, said Ann Quinn, veterinary inspector and regional manager of the Kilkenny and Waterford Regional Veterinary Office (RVO), on a recent episode of Teagasc's Environmental Edge podcast.

“It’s not that uncommon now, particularly in dairy herds, for the first test to disclose 20 to 30, to 40 reactors". She attributed this to increased animal movement, and perhaps a perception that risks from TB were quite low.