MP appeals for urgent action as farmers hit by Bovine TB

MP appeals for urgent action as farmers hit by Bovine TB

24 September 2025

SOUTH Down MP Chris Hazzard has called for urgent action to address the Bovine TB issue impacting the farming industry.

He made the call after attending a meeting in Seaforde last week organised by concerned members of the farming community who revealed the area is a TB hotspot.

Mr Hazzard said the meeting in the YFC Hall focused attention on the devastating impact of Bovine TB on farming families and urged Stormont  agriculture minister, Andrew Muir, to act.

The MP said many farmers across South Down have lost a significant proportion of their herds and are experiencing huge emotional and financial hardship.

“One farmer spoke of his loss of over 70% of his herd, while another fifth generation farming family is going through a total depopulation for the second time in less than two years,” Mr Hazzard revealed.

“This is an unsustainable burden on farming families.”

The MP said he has written to Mr Muir to request an urgent meeting to discuss this crisis as well as other challenges facing rural and farming communities. 

He also raised the issue with the Assembly’s agriculture scrutiny committee.

Mr Hazzard added: “We need urgent action from the minister, working together with the farming community to deliver a long-term plan that eradicates Bovine TB to secure the future of our agri-food industry and the families who work hard to sustain it.”

Tyrella farmer, Ronnie Murphy, who is a member of Farmers For Action (FFA), said farmers at the end of their tether trying to accommodate extra stock that they have no housing for.

In addition, he said they are frustrated with the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs for taking weeks and weeks to remove TB infected cattle that have to be held in isolation.

“Farmers are expected to accept that infected badgers, the source of the problem, can’t be removed,” he said.

“The FFA uncovered in 2020 that Northern Ireland and Wales were fined millions of pounds for at least two consecutive years by the EU for not carrying out an eradication policy on 

bTB and instead were carrying out a control policy only that clearly wasn’t working,” he declared.

“Farmers in  England escaped being fined by a margin only due to their action on removing infected badgers.”