A Co. Monaghan farmer is “hoping” that TB proposals introduced by the Department of Agriculture in 2025, will be implemented this year.
David Hall, from Newbliss, has been elected as the IFA’s new animal health chair.
He believes that the department’s TB plan has to be implemented, and highlighted that the Minister for Agriculture, Martin Heydon, has made a commitment to wildlife development.
Speaking to Northern Sound, he called for more active wildlife management, and “progress” in areas where there has been severe TB outbreaks.
Mr. Hall noted that numbers of TB are still very high, with the density of wild animals and farm animals living in close proximity.
The Co. Monaghan man believes that eliminating badgers is “not an option” to tackle the disease.
He said: "Since the vaccination programme started a couple of years ago, the numbers of badgers was increasing to a level that was too high for good biosecurity.
"Some people would have the opinion that the simple thing would be to eliminate the badgers, but that's not an option.
"They are a protected species, they're part of our natural biodiversity, an important part. From an IFA point of view, we want the numbers to be managed so that they don't have a negative affect on farmers," Mr. Hall added.
