Tag Archives: Cattle

Ulster Unionist MLA for East Antrim Roy Beggs has spoken in a stormont debate following publication of a DARD Committee report on Bovine Tuberculosis: Mr Beggs: I declare an interest as my parents run a suckling cow family enterprise. I notice that the Northern Ireland Audit Office has updated the Agriculture and Rural Development Committee on public expenditure on bovine TB over the past 15 years. It is some £317 million, which is a huge sum of public money. Some £132 million was spent on compensation to farmers, some £86 million was spent on payments to private vets for herd testing, £71 million was spent on DARD staff costs and other costs beyond that. However, the cost to the industry is even more. A further £200 million per year is the estimated cost to farmers of the disruption involved in testing. For example, a farmer may have to transport cattle … Continue reading →