Bovine TB testing intervals

Cattle, buffalo andor bison keepers must test their animals for bovine TB as part of a regime that reflects the regional risks of the disease.

You must complete the TB testing within the time frame givenoutlined by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA).

If you dofail notto meet the deadlines, APHA will:

• apply movement restrictions tofor your animals
• notify the paying agencies

You may also getface a:the following consequences:

• significant reduction of Commonany Agricultural Policy (CAP) scheme payments undergoverned by cross compliance -(overdue overdue TB testing may be considered an intentional breachbreach)
• reduction of reactor compensation payments

APHA will take all the necessary steps to:

• facilitate the completion of the overdue testing
• recover reasonably incurred testing expenses

There are different surveillance TB testing intervals in England, Wales and Scotland.

ReadTo the guidance to find out the testing interval for your countryarea, orsee area. You can also check:the:

• the TB testing interval search tool
• lists of counties and parishes for England, Wales and Scotland
• Great Britain map of the TB testing intervals (PDF, 896 KB, 1 page)

England TB testing intervals

In England, the surveillance TB testing intervals are based on the regional level of disease risk.

The default TB testing intervalsinterval for herds are:are as follows:

• 448 yearsmonths in the low risk area (LRA)
• 6 or 12 months in the edge area
• 6 months in the high risk area (HRA)

Table 1: England TB testing intervals

HRA: 6-monthly testing	Edge area: 6-monthly testing	Edge area: annual testing	LRA: 4-yearly testing
Avon	Berkshire (part)(Part)	Berkshire (part)(Part)	Bedfordshire
Cornwall	Cheshire	Buckinghamshire	Cambridgeshire
Devon	Derbyshire (part)(Part)	Derbyshire (part)(Part)	Cleveland
Dorset	Hampshire (part)(Part)	East Sussex	CountyCo. Durham
Gloucestershire	Oxfordshire	Hampshire (part)(Part)	Cumbria
Hereford	Warwickshire	Leicestershire	Essex
Shropshire		Northamptonshire	Greater London
Somerset		Nottinghamshire	Greater Manchester
Staffordshire			Hertfordshire
West Midlands			Humberside
Wiltshire			Isle of Wight
Worcester			Isles of Scilly
			Kent
			Lancashire
			Lincolnshire
			Merseyside
			Norfolk
			Northumberland
			North Yorkshire
			South Yorkshire
			Suffolk
			Surrey
			Tyne & Wear
			West Sussex
			West Yorkshire

For more information about the recent introduction of 6-monthly testing in the HRA of England, see the TB hub website.

For further information, see the:

• England TB testing intervals list (ODS, 234 KB) - by parish
• bovine TB surveillance testing in England
• setting routine surveillance TB testing intervals in 2021 (England) (PDF, 157 KB, 6 pages)

Changes to your individual herd’s surveillance testing intervals

If your herd is inlocated on a 6-monthly surveillance testing area, it may meet specific criteria to be eligible for annual testing. This recognises and rewards cattle keepers whosewith herds have a reduced risk of suffering a TB breakdown.

YouYour herd will need to meet at least one of the following criteria:

• your herd has not had a TB breakdown for at least 6 years
• you’re proactively trying to increase thetheir resilience of your cattle to bovine TB by participating in a Cattle Health Certification Standards (CHECS)(CHECS) licensed bovine TB health schemescheme; - CHECS TB entry level membership does not apply

In the LRA or annual testing parts of the edge area, you may need to follow a more intensive TB testing regime (radial(known testing).as Thisradial istesting) if your herd is located within a 33km kilometre radius of a new lesion or culture positive TB breakdown herd.

In the LRA you may need to follow a more frequent testing regime by default for public health reasons. For example if you sell raw milk or have a city or open farm.

APHA will write to youkeepers if there are changes to yourtheir area or herd testing interval, explaining the reason for the change.

Pre-movement and post-movement testing

YouCattle keepers must comply with statutory pre-movement testing requirements.requirements, unless exempt. This includes herds in the LRA that are tested more frequently than the default 4-yearly48-month interval.interval, Forfor example herds on radial testing.

ThereIf areyour aherd limitedis numberin ofthe exemptionsLRA to pre-movement testing.

You must arrange and pay for post-movement tests if you bring in cattle from otherthe areasrest of England or from Wales and yourWales, herdyou ismust inarrange the:

• LRAand ofpay England
• annualfor surveillancepost-movement testingtests partsfor ofyour the edge area of England

animals.

Read the guidance on pre-movement and post-movement testing and exemptions.

Wales TB testing intervals

InFollowing Wales,the thereresults isof the TB Health Check Wales in 2008, the annual herd testing,TB regardlesstesting ofregime thewas regionalintroduced to maintain a high level of disease risk.surveillance.

Annual Theherd onlytesting exceptionhas areremained herdsacross Wales since January 2010 regardless of the regional disease situation. Herds in the Intensiveintensive Actionaction Areaarea (IAA) which are tested everytwice-yearly 6-months as part of the additional cattle controls in place in this area.

ThereThe islatest Wales TB Eradication Programme was launched on 1 October 2017.

Following a 12-week consultation with industry in 2016, the Welsh government TB Programme committed to a regionalised approach to eradicating TB in WalesWales. withLow, low, intermediate and high TB areas.areas Thiswere allows:established on 1 October 2017 based on disease incidence.

• Enhanced measures are applied in each TB area. Measures are tailored to protect the low TB area specificfrom controldisease measures

• improvedand monitoringreduce ofthe changinglevel of disease patterns

• trackingin progressthe againstintermediate eradicationand targetshigh TB areas.

CountiesFor epidemiology purposes, counties in Wales are further divided into smaller areas called spatial units. Each unit covers several complete parishes and hasis standardised on herd numbers.

There are 59 spatial units in Wales.Wales, Eacheach unittypically containscontaining 225 herds on average.

average, giving a resolution between parish and county level. Each unit has a name made of the 2 first letters of the county name and a number. For example CL7 is spatial unit 7 in Clwyd.

FindSee the Welsh Government website for guidance on the Wales TB Eradication Programme delivery plan.

Whole-herd annual TB testing continues to be applied across Wales except in the IAA where 6-monthly testing applies.

The TB area and spatial unit for each parish usingcan be found on the:

• TB testing interval search tool
• Wales TB testing intervals list (ODS, 39.2 KB)
• Wales TB regionalisation map on the Welsh Government website

The latest Wales TB eradication programme delivery plan was published on 28 March 2023.

Pre-movement and post-movement testing

YouCattle keepers must comply with statutory pre-movement testing requirements unless exempt.

Cattle keepers in the low TB area of Wales mustwho complymove with post-movement testing requirements (unless exempt) when moving cattle from herds in:

• located in the intermediate and high TB areas of Wales
• Wales, the high risk or edge areas of England
• or from Northern Ireland

Ireland, must also comply with post-movement testing requirements unless exempt.

On 1 November 2021, 3 spatial units moved from the low TB area into the intermediate TB area North:North temporarily:

• GW1
• CL1
• CL2

IfFor you’recattle keepers in these spatial units, post-movement testing requirements will no longer apply. ButPre-movement pre-movement testing requirementsrequirement will still apply.

Scotland TB testing intervals

Scotland ishas been designated officially TB free (OTF) since September 2009. SinceAs 2009,a lowresult, riskchanges herdswere areintroduced to exempt low risk herds from the default routine testing regime of 448 yearsmonths that applies to all other non-exempt herds.

YourLow herdrisk isherds consideredmust lowfully riskcomply ifwith youone either:of the following. Herds that:

• have fewer than 50 cattle (total stock on farm at 1 January in the year the herd is assessed) which have no more than one consignment of cattle moved on from high incidence TB areas (including Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland) in the pastprevious 4 years
• slaughter more than 25% of yourtheir stock annually in each of the pastprevious 4 years and have had no more than one consignment of cattle moved on from high incidence TB areas (including Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland) in the pastprevious 4 years
• slaughter more than 40% of yourtheir stock annually in each of the pastprevious 4 years

Slaughtered animals are animals that have been on the holding for at least 60 days and move from the farm either:

• direct to a slaughterhouse
• direct to market and then to the slaughterhouse

It does not include animals moved on to another holding temporarily between market and slaughterhouse.

The annual slaughter rate is calculated on the total number of cattle slaughtered in a slaughterhouse in the pastprevious calendar year divided by the herd size (total stock on farm on 1 January).

APHA annually assesses each individual herd’s eligibility for exemption from TB testing. TheyAPHA will write to youall cattle keepers in Scotland to confirm yourtheir herd’s exemption status.

OnSince 1812 MayDecember 2023,2018, legislationanimals changedthat are required to include:be post-movement tested following their arrival in Scotland need to be held on the original premises of destination until this testing is carried out. The test must be completed within 60 to 120 days of arrival on farm and with negative results before that animal is permitted to move again.

• stricter

  This pre-movementrestriction testingalso requirements forapplies to cattle

• a newimported definitionfrom forNorthern ‘isolation’Ireland and the conditions of reactors,the inconclusivegeneral reactorsimport (IRs)licence andwere directamended contactsto (DCs)
• newsupport compensationthis reductionschange. Exceptions to this are permitted for uncleananimals cattlethat slaughteredmove directly to slaughter within 120 days of arrival or are moved for TBveterinary controltreatment purposesor andunder reactors,the IRsauthority andof DCsa notlicence properlyissued isolatedby ona farm

veterinary inspector.

For morefurther information, see the:

• guidance on pre-movement and post-movement testing
• Scotland TB testing intervals list (PDF, 230 KB, 22 pages)
• Scottish government website for bovine TB control and surveillance in Scotland