asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if the level of bovine tuberculosis and brucellosis has dropped in the dairying counties.
Written Answers. - Bovine Diseases.
44.
When the bovine tuberculosis eradication scheme began in 1954, disease levels in the dairying counties were exceptionally high and posed severe problems for herd owners. One in three cows was infected at the initial round of testing and herd incidence was upwards of 50 per cent in many areas. The situation has improved dramatically in the meantime. The present position is that 1,941 of the 82,685 herds in the ten highest milk producing counties, namely, Cork, Limerick, Tipperary, Kerry, Kilkenny, Cavan, Waterford, Wexford, Monaghan and Clare, are currently restricted due to bovine tuberculosis, that is a herd prevalence of 2.3 per cent; the disease incidence in animals is 0.2 per cent. As regards developments in more recent times, over the last two years an improvement has occurred in the bovine TB situation in the dairying counties as a whole. Following the 1987-88 round of testing, that is at the end of March last, the average level of disease prevalence in the counties concerned was 2.07 per cent of herds compared to 2.71 per cent at the end of the 1985-86 round two years earlier. Some 16,000 reactors were removed from the dairying counties over the 1987-88 round compared to almost 19,000 over the 1985-86 round. Results to date from the present (1988-89) round suggest that progress is being maintained.
As I indicated when introducing the new arrangements for the bovine TB scheme, the target set by the Government is that the remaining levels of disease should be halved over the next four years and I am confident that the target will be met in the dairying counties.
The brucellosis situation in the dairying counties at the commencement of the eradication programme in 1964 was in many ways more serious than in the case of bovine TB and the resultant losses to herd owners of even greater proportions. Substantial progress has been made in the eradication of brucellosis in the mean-time. At present, 43 herds located mainly in north Cork, Tipperary, Limerick and Waterford are considered to have a serious disease problem. Despite the very low levels of brucellosis, serious outbreaks still occur and highlight the need for constant vigilance against any resurgence of the disease.