THERE has been ‘little improvement’ in TB levels across West Cork in recent months, according to the West Cork executive branch of the IFA.
TB levels hit record highs in late 2024, with 5,000 reactors recorded in the area, and are continuing to affect areas across the region.
It’s a worrying situation, according to Gerry O’Sullivan, IFA animal health chair for West Cork.
A bluetongue vaccine is in use in some countries across Europe. (Photo: Shutterstock)
‘There’s very little improvement in recent months,’ he said. ‘I don’t think there’s been any improvement to be honest, it’s still very, very high.’
While some areas have seen a slight decrease in cases, the virus has also spread into new parts of West Cork.
‘There’s new pockets that have been showing up. Some areas have been improving but there are other areas coming into it as well,’ he said. Gerry farms in Leap but says there have been reports of the virus west of Ballydehob this year.
‘What we’re finding is that there are herds that were clear maybe a year or two back are back in trouble again. There is one herd that was depopulated a couple of years ago, and a new herd line came in and there have been a few reactors there again this year, in the last seven or eight months. It’s disappointing that one thing that has been happening is that we have herds that are going clear for a couple of years that get back in trouble again.’
Wildlife is one of the main issues driving the numbers, according to the IFA. Both badgers and deer can bring the virus onto farms.
‘Badgers are the main issue down in West Cork,’ according to Gerry, who noted that while deer also carry the disease, testing is far less frequent so numbers are lower.
While badgers are often pointed to as one of the main causes of TB in farms, wildlife groups such as the Irish Wildlife Trust say that factors such as farm biosecurity and cattle density are more significant.
Recent years have seen a move from culling badgers to a vaccination programme which has had mixed results, according to the IFA, who have made a submission to the Government urging a change in strategy.
The year 2023 saw 14,524 badgers captured – 9,062 of these badgers were captured for vaccination and the remaining 5,462 were culled. In 2024, over 8,699 badgers captured.
The submission states that ‘wildlife continues to be the most significant driver of between farm spread of the disease and it must be addressed effectively in a new enhanced TB programme. Farmers are prohibited from taking the most effective measures on their farms to stop badgers infecting our animals with TB.
‘In the late 1990s, TB reactor numbers were over 40,000 annually. The wildlife programme was implemented nationally in the early 2000s based solely on density reduction. By the mid-2010s TB reactor numbers were reduced to fewer than 15,000 a year and only started to really increase again from 2018 onwards when the Department of Agriculture moved from density reduction to vaccination in the wildlife programme.’
While farmers deal with TB concerns, another problem on the horizon is the potential for the bluetongue virus to make its way to Ireland. Herds of cattle and sheep across Europe and the UK have been affected in recent months, halting the exportation of livestock from the affected countries.
With Ireland exporting up to 90% of cattle and beef products, the idea of the virus affecting herds in West Cork is of huge concern, according to Gerry.
‘It would be devastating if it gets in here,’ he said. ‘It would shut down exports. It’s very, very hard to control once it gets in. Initially there would be hope that they could take out any herds or flocks affected and might be able to control it but it’s very difficult.
‘The big hope at the moment is that there are a number of vaccines. Although they are not approved [in Ireland] they are being used in some of the countries in Europe now.’
The hope, among West Cork farmers, is that those vaccines can be approved ahead of the summer, when the virus is expected to become a problem across the country.
