The Scottish government has announced changes will be made to routine herd testing for bovine tuberculosis; as the second anniversary of official TB freedom is reached this year, some herds will no longer be subject to routine testing. image expired

The government said herds which meet certain risk criteria will now be exempt from four yearly routine herd testing for bovine TB, which will reduce the burden on the industry. The change will affect herds due to have completed a routine test after 1st January next year. Herd owners will be notified individually.

Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead elaborated on the decision, which came following recommendations from researchers at Glasgow University, "The move to a more risk based testing programme aims to share the benefits of having OTF status with the industry and better target resources in the current economic climate. This is the next step towards achieving more effective, targeted TB surveillance across Scotland while still protecting our prized OTF status."

The exemption criteria which determine whether a herd is 'low risk' and is therefore exempt from routine herd testing are as follows:

• Herds of fewer than 20 cattle with no more than one consignment of cattle moved on from a high risk area in the previous four years
• Herds where 25 per cent or more of the stock are slaughtered annually, and with no more than one consignment of cattle moved on from a high risk area in the previous four years
• Herds where more than 40 per cent of the stock is slaughtered annually, over a four year period

Eligibility for exempt status will be reassessed annually.

Under the new scheme roughly 35 per cent of Scottish cattle herds will become exempt from routine four yearly TB testing A government statement, released on Monday (2nd October) said the changes would result in “significant savings for both industry and government, while maintaining targeted testing with pre-and post movement testing of cattle coming to Scotland from high incidence TB areas and full investigations of any new breakdowns, including testing traced animals.”