Cavan farmers refusing to take any more pain over TB

Cavan farmers have left the IFA president under no illusions that they cannot, and will not endure any “more pain” to deal with the persistent scourge of TB.

The matter came to a head at an occasionally heated County Cavan IFA AGM on Monday night, January 20, where Francie Gorman was guest speaker.

Mr Gorman had told the relatively large audience he expected talks between the IFA and Department of Agriculture on TB to take place within the next month.

Provisional figures obtained from the Department by The Anglo-Celt show, as of December 29, 2024 nationally the 12 month rolling herd incidence was 6.00%; in Cavan it was 6.34%.

As of the same date for Cavan, 1,420 reactors have been identified and 279 herds were restricted on a 12 month rolling basis. Meanwhile nationally 41,630 reactors have been identified and 6,142 herds were restricted on a 12 month rolling basis (again, all provisional figures).

Mr Gorman repeatedly stressed the Department had to tackle the “wildlife” issue.

In the midst of a lengthy answer to a question from the floor Mr Gorman said: “I’m not going to prejudge what the outcome of the discussions with the Department will be. There may well have to be more pain taken at farm level, but if it does, it can only be considered if they are going to put a lot more, considerable resources in to handling the wildlife.”

This “pain” comment, whether misspoken or misunderstood went down badly with some.

Taking up the mic on the floor, prominent IFA member Thomas Cooney retorted: “You’re leaving out one vital thing there, you’re saying that farmers have to take more pain. I agree with the [point you made on] wildlife, [but] no, we can’t take more pain, we need more compensation and that’s what you’re leaving out.”

As an impassioned Mr Cooney made his point, Mr Gorman tried to interject from the top table claiming, “I didn’t say that, hold on a second”.

Mr Cooney proceeded: “The Department has to buy the cattle. If they [farmers] are put in that situation where they can’t sell them in the mart.”

He added that the Department must pay farmers “full value” for affected livestock.

“That’s the only way that can be accepted,” insisted Mr Cooney. “And there’s no point going in and saying that you don’t know what the outcome is going to be - that’s the line you have to go in with.”

Mr Cooney further said the IFA Animal Health committee at national level - of which he is the Cavan representative - recently decided on this position.

“Farmers can’t be at any further loss by these restrictions. That’s a clear line that the IFA Animal Health Committee have taken, and you have to take it as well,” Mr Cooney declared to spontaneous applause.

Mr Gorman repeatedly insisted he hadn’t said farmers will have to take more pain, with some in the audience replying he had.

He tried to clarify the matter saying he wanted everyone to go in with an open mind: “We’ve kicked the thing down the road for however and a day and we’re still doing the same thing 60 years on with no difference only farmers are going broke over it - in bigger numbers than they were 10 years ago. We go in with an open mind. I’m quite clear, if they don’t do something on the wildlife first, there’s nothing on the table as far as I’m concerned. But I don’t want to do negotiations here tonight.”

Regardless, Mr Gorman posed a counterpoint to Mr Cooney: “If you go in looking for compensation, you’re accepting that somebody can’t sell his herd for three years, so I’m not accepting that somebody can’t sell his herd for three years.”

He said he’d meet with the chair of the animal health committee before meeting the Department, but cautioned:

“It’s like Mercosur Thomas - if you accept compensation, then you are accepting the deal. So I’m not accepting compensation, we go in and sit down and see what’s proposed and then we go back and consider it.”

Mr Gorman also stressed that the compensation system is “so convoluted no ordinary farmer could understand what he’s entitled to get out of it”. He gave an example of one farmer he knew whose herd had reactors and would have been “massively short-changed” only for the IFA helping make his claim for compensation.

The IFA president also held out hopes that research conducted in by the Department of Agriculture’s counterparts in England.

“In England they are trying to develop a test that would differentiate between animals that were infected with TB and animals who have a level of TB in their system from the jab,” he said, noting its potential benefit for the Irish export trade.

Meanwhile in terms of “wildlife”, the Department did not have figures for deer, as that comes under the NPWS remit. However in response to queries from the Celt, the Department provided figures which show that 1,748 badgers have been culled in Cavan in just the last five years, almost 27,000 nationally over the same period.

At 814, the number of badgers vaccinated over the same period in Cavan was much lower than those culled; but surprisingly nationally the figure of those vaccinated was much higher at 35,748.

At the end of the meeting a sign in sheet for those in attendance made its way back up to the top table and in a space left for emails, one farmer had written: ‘No pain’.