Defra has announced that from 1 October 2014 AHVLA will no longer allow the partial de-restriction of TB-breakdown holdings in England. This means that from that date movement restrictions will apply to all cattle on a farm until all the animals have achieved officially TB free status.

Defra has also announced a consultation on proposed new cattle measures.

The consultation proposes the removal of pre-movement exemptions for cattle moving between several holdings under the same farm ownership, known as Sole Occupancy Authorities. This will remove the possibility of some cattle keepers in the high risk and edge areas moving their animals over long distances without any TB testing. There will still be the ability to move cattle between areas of owned land within 10 miles.

The consultation also sets out Defra’s intention to extend the current approach to late TB surveillance tests, so that all TB tests which are overdue would see farmers risk losses of their CAP scheme payments.

Published - 16 June 2014