The Chairperson of the Irish Farmers' Associtation in Waterford is calling for staff to be redeployed to the Waterford Regional Veterinary Office (RVO) to tackle TB outbreaks.
In 2017 Waterford had the lowest incidence rate of Bovine Tuberculosis (TB) among cattle in the country representing 1.66% of farms tested but that figure has risen to a herd incidence rate of 5.05% in 2020.
Kevin Kiersey, Chairperson of Waterford IFA said there are now various parts of Waterford that are deemed to be blackspots and the impact of the disease is devastating.
"There are now many blackspots in County Waterford, at the minute it is primarily in the West of the county and the Comeragh area around Rathgormack but it is spreading into other areas.
"We would hear reports of farms getting breakdowns with TB which is very hard on the farmers in some cases losing many of the animals and in more cases losing a whole herd of animals which is devastating," Kiersey said.
Badger Vaccination
A national TB vaccination programme for badgers delivered by RVOs across the country was launched in 2018, to tackle wildlife driven TB outbreaks in cattle.
However around three years ago in the Waterford/Kilkenny office, three members of staff were lost in the space of a year and to date have not been replaced.
Kiersey said such programmes were not able to be delivered efficiently in Waterford due to the staff shortages in the Veterinary Office.
"In the past you had people gathering badgers, vaccinating them, or culling them depending on the circumstance.
"That kept the badger population controlled and the badgers with TB controlled so that they were not spreading the virus to the cattle population however they have not been able to do that work in the past two to three years," Kiersey said.
Advice for affected farms
Kevin Kiersey has this advice if farmers suspect badgers in their area may be a contributing factor to the spread of TB
"If farmers see evidence of badgers on their lands, contact the regional veterinary office and tell them about it so that the area can be mapped.
"If the RVO is notified somebody would hopefully go to the area and either catch the badgers, and either vaccinate, cull, or remove them," he said.
To contact the Waterford/Kilkenny Regional Veterinary Office located on the Glen in Waterford city, call (051) 312300 or (0761) 064413
