March 22, 2023

Northern Ireland cattle farmers warned of TB testing restrictions

Northern Ireland's Department of Agriculture (DAERA) has announced that there will be restrictions on bovine tuberculosis (TB) testing for a three-week period starting on May 29, 2023 and ending on June 19, FarmingUK reported.

The latest stage of DAERA's new Northern Ireland Food Animal Information System (NIFAIS) is scheduled to go live on June 12. It will replace the current Animal and Public Health Information System (APHIS), which has been in use since 1998.

DAERA said the process of migrating all of the remaining bovine data from APHIS to NIFAIS is a complex process.

There will be restrictions on TB testing from May 29 to June 19 to reduce the possibility of data loss or corruption.

DAERA is urging herd keepers whose compulsory TB tests fall within this period to set  schedule a different appointment in order to avoid being late and facing penalties.

The department said that all tests can be completed 30 days prior to their deadline, and some non-reactor tests may be scheduled earlier.

-      FarmingUK