Will the Cabinet Secretary explain why calves under 42 days of age are not tested for bovine TB?
Answered by Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
| Answered on 17/06/2024
TB skin test reactors are rarely identified in this age group. The likelihood that reactors, under 42 days of age, will be identified in the absence of reactors in older animals, in a herd skin test in an Officially TB Free herd is considered very low. The lower risk presented by such animals has long been recognised, not just in the United Kingdom, but also in the European Union.