Changes to cattle measures from 1 January

Information on changes to cattle measures brought in from 1 January 2013 and 1 July 2012 are available in the TB Information Notes.

As an animal keeper, there are several things you can do to reduce the risk of TB on your farm, including complying with testing requirements and putting in place good biosecurity and husbandry measures.

The links below provide advice on these, as well as information you may need if TB is found in any of your cattle, and information for keepers of non-bovine animals.

• Testing for TB
• Biosecurity and husbandry
• Compensation for cattle
• Farmer advice and support
• TB in non-bovine species
• TB information notes

Cattle TB testing and movement restrictions are administered by AHVLA – see their website for further information including their Dealing With TB In Your Herd publications.

Defra is developing measures to further reduce disease risks, including targeting the edge of the high risk area, risk-based trading, reviewing use of interferon-gamma blood testing and how we deal with persistent herd breakdowns, and looking at measures to deal with TB in other species. Details on these will be announced as they are developed.

Bovine TB is a zoonotic disease, which means it can be transmitted from affected animals to people, causing a condition very similar to human TB. However, the risk of people contracting TB from cattle in Great Britain is currently considered very low. At present, less than 1% of all confirmed cases of TB in humans are due to infection with bovine TB. Despite this low risk, we do not ignore it and there are robust controls in place to protect public health, including controls on meat and milk.