11 Sep Policy Updates

Six-monthly surveillance testing in the High Risk Areas (HRA) of England

In 2017 Defra announced that default sixmonthly surveillance testing would be introduced for cattle herds in the HRA from the 1st of January 2019. However, partly due to concerns raised by the XL Farmcare regional representatives in relation to manpower, ministers have subsequently agreed to a ‘phased roll-out’ of six-monthly surveillance testing in parts of the HRA from 2020 with ‘earned recognition’ being introduced for lower risk herds which would allow those herds to remain testing on an annual basis.

Earned recognition will mirror what is already in place in six-monthly testing parts of the Edge Area, i.e. herds will be eligible for annual surveillance testing if they meet either of the following criteria:

• the herd has been in existence for at least six years and has not had a TB breakdown in that six-year period. A single break from keeping cattle of less than four months during the six-year period is permitted
• the herd is registered to a bovine TB health scheme accredited under the Cattle Health Certification Standards (CHeCS) at level 1 or above

Approved Finishing Units (Enhanced) with grazing (AFUE)

Approvals are being revoked for Approved Finishing Units (AFUs) that include grazing in badger control areas that have completed two seasons of culling.

In order to ensure that outlets for TB-restricted cattle remain available to farmers under restrictions, discussions with the NFU have led to the development of an alternative approved TB unit which is to be called an ‘Approved Finishing Unit (Enhanced) with grazing’

AFUEs will only be approved in the HRA of England. Operators of these units will be allowed to source cattle from single or multiple TB-restricted and officially TB free (OTF) herds for rearing, fattening and finishing with grazing. They will also be permitted to source the following cattle under licence:

• cattle less than 60 days of age from TB-restricted holdings, TB-dedicated sales (orange markets) and on-farm herd dispersal sales cattle less than 12 months of age from housed AFUs provided the calves entered the AFU at less than 60 days old

Prior to being allowed out to grazing on the unit animals will need to complete two consecutive TB skin tests with negative results. The premovement test used to move the animal onto the unit (if applicable) can count as one of the two clear tests prior to grazing.

Private vets are likely to become involved in advising farmers who wish to apply to become an AFUE. This is because the biosecurity requirements for AFUEs are more rigorous than those of existing AFUs and operators will be required to draw up a contingency plan and biosecurity protocol. Vets and their clients will be able to source templates for these plans via the government’s web pages.

Animals will only be permitted to move off AFUEs to slaughter either directly, via a housed AFU, or via an approved collection centre or slaughter gathering for TB-restricted cattle.

Calves 42 days old at TT1 not tested

There is a technical error within the iSAM software that leads to calves which become 42 days of age on day one of the test not being marked as eligible for testing. APHA are aware of this problem and are attempting to address the matter. Meanwhile, it remains the responsibility of the farmer and OV to test all eligible stock!

Unfortunately, if these young animals are untested then the test is not closed and the farmer and OV need to find the untested animals and arrange further dates to test them. It can also mean that the farm can go under restrictions and possibly suffer an overdue test financial penalty.

Between March 2018 and June 2019, there were 751 TB tests in England where at least one calf 42 days old at TT1 was not tested. The disruption and hassles caused by this issue have been highlighted by several practitioners and it is hoped that the technical problem in SAM can be resolved before too long.

In the meantime, it has been suggested that OVs are asked to make a special effort to work out the first birth date after which animals would be eligible in relation to day one of the test. If this earliest birth date is written on the test chart then any animals born on or after that date would be eligible to be included in the test.

On the basis that the farmer and their vet suffer most hassle arising from this issue then it would make sense to ensure that all the testing team are made aware of this matter.