asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will state under what circumstances five hundred reactor cattle are held on land on the Franks Estate, Leix; whether he is aware that this land is watered by the river Nore which flows through many farms in the area; and, if so, whether he considers that there is any danger of infection being spread.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Reactor Cattle in Laois.
12.
About 350 cattle which were purchased as reactors are now grazing on the Estate in question. I am aware that the land is bounded by the River Nore. The animals are under constant veterinary supervision, and I am informed that the danger of spreading infection from the Estate is negligible.
Could the Minister tell us what purpose he has in keeping these 350 reactor cattle?
It is largely experimental. When we arrived at the stage of declaring the West of Ireland and some other counties clearance areas we knew we would have to take up many young reactor cows in addition to what we had been taking up. We felt the Land Commission might have some fairly large areas of land that they might not intend to divide this year and that as an experimental effort it would be worth while taking it for at least one season to see what the result would be. Before doing so we were assured by our veterinary people that there was no danger at all such as that envisaged in this question.
Am I correct in believing that this is part of the general experiment by the Minister of acquiring immature reactors and simply keeping them for a limited period until they reach a degree of maturity which will make their sale a reasonably economic proposition to the Department?
We are trying to see if we can reduce the average loss to the Exchequer by this means. In addition, the canning factories very often close down around the month of June; we would be obliged to continue our operations in relation to the clearance areas even after that date—not so much through the Summer as at a later period —and we would want some place to keep such stock as we might have to take out.