A raft of new actions to curtail the spread of TB are set to be introduced next month, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon has indicated.

It is understood that a "communications strategy" to inform farmers of the upcoming changes will begin in the week beginning March 30.

After that, the actions under the new TB action plan will commence just after Easter.

Speaking to Agriland at the AGM of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers' Association (ICSA) today (Tuesday, March 10), Minister Heydon said: "I launched my new bovine TB action plan last September. I did that in advance of the [Budget 2026] negotiations to give myself the best chance to get a record allocation of €157 million for this year.

"So I needed to wait for 2026 to come in to have that money available to us," the minister said.

He added: "A number of those measures within the plan are already in train. We have the tender process now being assessed in in terms of the additional staff around wildlife measures.

"My support for farmers in biosecurity measures are all advancing, and then there are direct measures that will impact farmers when they're in the mart and beyond."

"I'll be writing to all farmers with very clear information around this in the coming weeks, and we will have a communications campaign as well with a view to the measures all coming into place, the vast majority of them, in April," Minister Heydon explained.

He added: "That’s really important, that some of these changes, like changes to the [Animal Identification and Movement System] - a dynamic system that farmers depend on and use everyday - when we’re incorporating a new TB element into that, we want to make sure that the day that happens, the system continues to work for farmers, that they need on an ongoing basis."

"There are challenges there for us that we have to meet. We have them well planned out, we'll communicate them very clearly in advance to farmers and let them know our goals and intentions and why we’re doing all this, to have less farmers impacted by bovine TB into the future."

TB action plan

The new bovine TB action plan features five 'high-level measures', which will be underpinned by some 30 different actions.

The new testing requirements included in the plan are:

30-day pre-movement test for dairy cows entering dairy herds;
Suckler cows and males over 36 months-of-age can move for six months after a clear test before they will require a 30-day pre-movement test if entering a breeding farm;
Cull cows for further fattening will not require a 30-day pre-movement test but will be restricted to the herd they are sold into;
The gamma interferon (GIF) test will be mandatory in breeding herds with 80 cows or more where 5% of the exposed cohort or 10 reactors - whichever is lesser - is identified.

As well as additional testing requirements, there are also a range of new movement controls set to be implemented.

These new movement controls include:

Cows that were part of the exposed cohort in breeding herds with 80 cows or more where 5% of exposed cohort test positive or 10 reactors - whichever is lesser - will be restricted from movement to other farms for a period of two years after the removal of the last reactor. Sales to Controlled Finishing Units (CFUs) will be permitted;
Female animals aged 18 months and older that have been present in an exposed cohort in a 'H' breakdown will be identified at the point of sale;
A 'H' breakdown is where there are three or more standard reactors in a herd.