Cost of Tb Test

AntrimGlens

I see there is Tb consultation out today in the North and that part of it is looking at charging the herd-owner to pay for the Tb test. This to date has always been done for free to the farmer, with the pvp receiving a lucrative payment from the Dept.

Whats the payment structure like for yourselves and whats the cost? Is there an initial cost for the first animal and then a reducing scale or average charge per animal in the herd etc.
What about re-tests, IC's etc?
Does your own vet set the price, or can you bring in any vet to do it, if they're cheaper?

Just interested to know has paying for your test meant that you have improved bio-security on your farm and tried to reduce your exposure and risk to the disease?

tanko

AntrimGlens wrote: »

I see there is Tb consultation out today in the North and that part of it is looking at charging the herd-owner to pay for the Tb test. This to date has always been done for free to the farmer, with the pvp receiving a lucrative payment from the Dept.

Whats the payment structure like for yourselves and whats the cost? Is there an initial cost for the first animal and then a reducing scale or average charge per animal in the herd etc.
What about re-tests, IC's etc?
Does your own vet set the price, or can you bring in any vet to do it, if they're cheaper?

Just interested to know has paying for your test meant that you have improved bio-security on your farm and tried to reduce your exposure and risk to the disease?

€3.25 per animal plus 2 visits x €50 +vat for annual test. Havent had TB for 30 years here thankfully so dont know about retests.
I think you can get any vet to do it but will they also come out to you at 4am on a sunday morning to calve a cow.
Who is the pvp?

pbthevet

Basically you chose your vet. You pay for one test every year and subsequent testing if required is dept paid.

Fees are anywhere from €3-€4 plus or minus call outs. Depends on the numbers. Usually a sliding scale.

Hows things going up north? I see ye close to 11% herds locked up and vets under pressure to keep reactor rates high due to extreme inspections

AntrimGlens

tanko wrote: »

€3.25 per animal plus 2 visits x €50 +vat for annual test. Havent had TB for 30 years here thankfully so dont know about retests.
I think you can get any vet to do it but will they also come out to you at 4am on a sunday morning to calve a cow.
Who is the pvp?

PVP - private veterinary practice

I take it then vets get a bit humpy about not being given your herds Tb test if they are your animal vet.. I could see why they would have a wee roll over in the bed before coming for a caesarean to you if that were the case.

AntrimGlens

pbthevet wrote: »

Basically you chose your vet. You pay for one test every year and subsequent testing if required is dept paid.

Fees are anywhere from €3-€4 plus or minus call outs. Depends on the numbers. Usually a sliding scale.

Hows things going up north? I see ye close to 11% herds locked up and vets under pressure to keep reactor rates high due to extreme inspections

I haven't been out testing with the vets in a few years now, but from speaking to many of them, they're putting a lot more down as reactors than would have been IC's previously.

There was a case either late last year or earlier this year where a young vet got badly hurt during a Tb test, as she was under so much pressure as there was an inspector present. Ordinarily she would probably have used common sense to read the neck, but having to get in close to measure it, she got headbutted full in the face, knocked out and lost consciousness. I think she fractured a few bones aswell.
Yeah sitting at 11% and rising, but in concentrated areas, which i suppose helps to try and ring fence it. The bill has just got too big now for compensation, testing, and all that goes along with it, that it's going to be hard to justify allowing B&B operations etc, without rigorous scrutiny of movements and bio-security etc.

tanko

AntrimGlens wrote: »

PVP - private veterinary practice

I take it then vets get a bit humpy about not being given your herds Tb test if they are your animal vet.. I could see why they would have a wee roll over in the bed before coming for a caesarean to you if that were the case.

Well the practice i use will do callouts to any farmer even if they dont do the farmers TB test, i suppose they get all of the work from some of those farmers in time.
But i know of a farmer who switched to a cheaper vet for TB testing and when he couldnt get in contact with the new vet one night for a cow having trouble calving had to ring the previous vet. Needless to say the old vet was doing the TB testing after that.

How much does the proposed testing cost in the north?

AntrimGlens

Proposing £55 for the first animal, £2.50/hd up to first 100 animals and then £2.28 thereafter. I'm assuming that's covering callout /visit fee as i don't see it mentioned elsewhere. £530 quid for a 200 animal herd.

The man in red and black

AFAIK the fees paid to vets in NI for TB testing were cut by 10% last year by the government. Thats a serious hit to alot of practices and made an already tight industry even more tight.