Bluetongue virus has been identified in a blood sample of an animal from a farm in Co. Monaghan.
That's according to the Irish Farmers' Journal.
The Journal is reporting this morning that the animal was slaughtered in November 2025.
The Department of Agriculture has undertaken the testing of cattle blood samples, in an aim to grasp which geographic areas the virus may be present.
Blood samples tested originate as far back as September 2025.
Northern Sound has contacted the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine for comment.
Speaking on the Joe Finnegan Show this morning, journalist with the Irish Farmers’ Journal, Darren Carthy, explained the situation.
Mr. Carthy said: "The department are doing a lot of surveillance testing, as the norm. Its being going on nearly a year. Animals are slaughtered, there would be a blood sample taken, but those samples might not be tested for one, two, or three months.
"This is the way they have found Bluetongue in a couple of the cases so far. We don't know whether that animal moved from the South East, where most of the cases have been, or whether the virus had found itself circulating in the environment in Monaghan," he added.
