The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) has called on Minister for Agriculture to take on board its feedback on plans to tighten TB controls and to revert back with “improved” measures with urgency.
Minister Heydon hosted a series of meetings with farming organisations on Thursday to hear their views on a planned “reset of the TB programme” amid worsening disease trends.
A 30-day pre-movement test, restriction on cow sales from herds which went down with TB and a 12-month derestriction period for herds with three or more reactors are among the range of measures tabled by the minister.
Speaking after Thursday’s meeting, the ICMSA’s president Denis Drennan expressed optimism that “significant amendments” will be made to the proposals.
“There’s no room for misunderstanding or confusion on this, ICMSA has very serious concerns in relation to specific proposals and we had bilateral engagement with the minister and his officials on the detailed specifics,” Drennan said.
“But we also highlighted several areas not included in the document that demonstrably will need to be addressed, one of those is the role of other ‘players’ in animal movements.
“We also pointed to the impact of infrastructure projects and forestry and the obvious need for a single point of contact for farmers impacted by TB.”
Drennan stated that that both wildlife and animal movements “play a role on TB” and called for “specific time-based commitments on the wildlife issues”.
“The current document has very specific commitments and requirements for farmers to meet but for no-one else,” he added.
“This point needs to be repeated: all players involved, from the Department to vets, need to have their obligations and commitments specified and set down with agreed timelines for implementation.
“For too long, the burden of TB has been placed on farmers alone and this cannot continue.”
Read more
Minister proposes sweeping new TB measures
Minister plans to move quickly to introduce new TB measures
The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) has called on Minister for Agriculture to take on board its feedback on plans to tighten TB controls and to revert back with “improved” measures with urgency.
Minister Heydon hosted a series of meetings with farming organisations on Thursday to hear their views on a planned “reset of the TB programme” amid worsening disease trends.
A 30-day pre-movement test, restriction on cow sales from herds which went down with TB and a 12-month derestriction period for herds with three or more reactors are among the range of measures tabled by the minister.
Speaking after Thursday’s meeting, the ICMSA’s president Denis Drennan expressed optimism that “significant amendments” will be made to the proposals.
“There’s no room for misunderstanding or confusion on this, ICMSA has very serious concerns in relation to specific proposals and we had bilateral engagement with the minister and his officials on the detailed specifics,” Drennan said.
“But we also highlighted several areas not included in the document that demonstrably will need to be addressed, one of those is the role of other ‘players’ in animal movements.
“We also pointed to the impact of infrastructure projects and forestry and the obvious need for a single point of contact for farmers impacted by TB.”
Drennan stated that that both wildlife and animal movements “play a role on TB” and called for “specific time-based commitments on the wildlife issues”.
“The current document has very specific commitments and requirements for farmers to meet but for no-one else,” he added.
“This point needs to be repeated: all players involved, from the Department to vets, need to have their obligations and commitments specified and set down with agreed timelines for implementation.
“For too long, the burden of TB has been placed on farmers alone and this cannot continue.”
Read more
Minister proposes sweeping new TB measures
Minister plans to move quickly to introduce new TB measures
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