LAUSR

THE Welsh government is to clamp down on a minority of farmers who are flouting requirements for postmovement TB testing of cattle. Updating the Welsh Assembly on progress with the TB eradication programme in Wales, Lesley Griffiths, minister for environment, energy and rural affairs, said last week that it was ‘disappointing’ some farmers in the low TB area of Wales were not following the rules on postmovement testing. ‘This minority risk spoiling it for everyone and must accept their responsibilities in protecting their herd and the wider area,’ Griffiths said. ‘We are tightening our enforcement protocols to take action where necessary.’ Postmovement TB testing of all cattle moved into the low TB area of Wales has been required since October 2017. Griffiths reported that, in 2018, there were 746 new TB incidents in Wales, a 5 per cent decrease on 2017. However, 11,233 cattle were slaughtered as a result of the disease, a 12 per cent increase on 2017. She said the increase was ‘largely due to the heightened sensitivity of testing and the removal of more inconclusive reactors’, and said that removing these cattle would allow the country to ‘get ahead of the disease’. As part of a ‘refreshed’ TB eradication programme launched in 2017, Wales is divided into ‘low’, ‘intermediate’ and ‘high’ TB incidence areas, with different disease control approaches implemented in each region. The aim was to protect the low TB area from infection and drive down disease in the intermediate and high TB areas. Griffiths told the Welsh Assembly that 34 new TB breakdowns were reported in the low TB area of northwest Wales in 2017, an increase from 28 in 2017. She said: ‘One in three confirmed TB breakdowns in high TB areas and eight in 10 in the low TB area are primarily attributable to cattle movements. These statistics speak for themselves: some TB breakdowns can be prevented if farmers source stock more carefully. With careful consideration of the TB test history of prospective purchases, a farmer can minimise the risk of bringing disease into their herd.’ Under the Welsh TB eradication programme, bespoke action plans are implemented in herds that have been under TB restrictions for 18 months or more. Griffiths reported that, by the end of December 2018, 59 such action plans had been put in place and 21 herds with an action plan had seen their restrictions lifted. She also announced a review of the compensation regime in Wales, saying that, in 2018/19 more than £14 million had been paid out in TB compensation to farmers. Some TB breakdowns can be prevented if farmers source stock more carefully