‘It's the next worst thing to losing a family member': The toll of Ireland's bovine TB crisis

The Journal

20-05-2025

JIM MULHALL'S VOICE is filled with emotion as he recalls the moment a Department of Agriculture vet confirmed his prized pedigree cow, Dream, had bovine tuberculosis (bTB).
The animal had been reared by his daughter Doireann from a calf, and was the Mulhall family's 'flagship' cow – a dream to milk, to breed and to own.
'I remember her in the crush, where we examine animals and I just took one look, and I could see the lump on her neck,' the 52-year-old said.
'I just said to the vet, I think we have a problem here.
'She said to me, Jesus Jim, you have. But we won't panic for a minute. We'll see what way the rest of the herd go. And sure, it only got worse.'
Between late 2024 and early 2025, the Co Kilkenny farmer lost a total of 28 cattle to the devastating disease.
He spoke to
The Journal Investigates
in the first of a two-part investigative series into Ireland's controversial TB eradication strategy involving the trapping and culling of protected badgers.
'People say it's like losing a family member. I wouldn't go that far,' he said.
'But after a family member, it's the next worst thing.'
Until last year the Mulhall farm, located just outside Kilkenny city, had been TB-free for 18 years.
It was in a designated vaccine area – which according to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) sees badgers regularly checked and vaccinated against TB. The farming family didn't think they had much to worry about.
Herd tests had become a formality, a 'box to tick' before getting on with the daily business of milking 180 cows.
But in November, news that a neighbour's herd had come down with TB devastated the tight-knit farming community.
The fear was contagious. 'If our neighbour has it, what's going to happen to us?' Mulhall said.
Days before Christmas, DAFM officials arrived at the farm for emergency testing. Eleven cows were immediately identified as TB positive.
A more sensitive blood test in January claimed another 17. In a matter of weeks, 15% of the herd was gone. The emotional toll was overwhelming.
'I came in two days after the event, and I was really struggling,' he told
The Journal Investigates.
'I actually broke down crying in the kitchen. I said to Michelle, my wife, I will never say to anybody again that, at least it's outside the back door. It's not your family. I'll never say that again.'
Jim Mulhall's daughter Doireann pictured with the family's 'flagship' cow Dream. The animal had to be destroyed alongside 27 others following a TB outbreak on the family's farm.
Jim Mullhall
Jim Mullhall
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'It was a total farm wipe out'
The Mulhall's story is far from unique. Across Ireland, farmers on both sides of the border are experiencing a surge in bovine TB cases that is devastating herds and livelihoods.
Last year, more than 41,600 cattle were identified as TB reactors, with dairy herds accounting for a significant proportion of these cases.
According to Teagasc,
dairy cattle are prone to higher infection rates of the disease
due to larger herd sizes and the 'closer air-space proximity' of the animals when milking.
Under government regulations, when a bovine tests positive for TB, referred to as a 'reactor', it must be destroyed. Currently, herd incidence of the disease has reached 6% in Ireland – the highest in a decade.
Figures from the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA), farmers here have contributed €151.5 million to TB eradication efforts in 2024, including €55.5 million in unpaid labour for testing, €23.4 million in future production losses, and €14.8 million in net income lost even after compensation.
For Jim Mulhall, the income drop was immediate and severe.
'You're holding animals, testing every two months instead of once a year. The strain is relentless,' he said.
Darren Hughes, a 38-year-old farmer in Co Monaghan, knows this pain all too well.
He took over his family's farm in 2012, expanding from 60 to 110 cows and investing in robotic milking.
Six years ago, he lost 15 cows to bTB. Last November, disaster struck again – 82 out of 104 of his herd reacted positive to testing.
'It was a total wipe out,' he told
The Journal Investigates
.
'You were dealing with it as best you could, and putting on a front too, trying to keep your mind occupied with other things.'
The worst part, he recalls, was the 24 hours before and after the cattle were removed.
'Just seeing them go up on the lorry, and the majority of them in-calf (pregnant),' said Hughes.
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'The previous couple of days before that, I had to put all the cows down through the crush and take the collars off. A lot of the herd, I'd have reared from calves.
'You're fit to link mothers to daughters and different things. It was tough emotionally. There's not much point in dressing up any other way.'
Hughes, a well-known senior player for Monaghan GAA, said his initial focus was survival.
'My sole aim at the start was financial and then to see where I was at, from a position where I knew I was going to be out for 120 days.
'I knew it was going to cost me more to buy back in, than what I got paid. Initially, you're just trying to be as positive as possible.'
He acknowledges that DAFM compensation helped, but it was never enough.
'It was fit to keep me going, the family going, and pay loans and put me in a position to be fit to buy a herd,' said Hughes.
But the rebuilding process is slow, with biosecurity and the ongoing threat of bTB outbreaks hanging over every decision.
He added: 'This year will be challenging, I imagine. But I'm glad to be back up and at.'
Darren Hughes pictured at his Co Monaghan dairy farm. The farmer suffered a 'total wipe out' of his herd due to TB in late 2024.
Patricia Devlin
Patricia Devlin
Department TB proposals 'crude' and 'vague'
The Journal Investigates
has been looking into the island wide crisis, which earlier this month led to Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon holding an emergency TB summit.
Ahead of the crunch talks, he warned that Irish farming was at a 'crossroads' in its efforts to address rising TB levels.
At the May 8 meeting,
a series of proposals were put forward to key stakeholders
by Minister Heydon and senior department officials.
Ireland's biggest farming representative group, the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA), were quick to rebuff what it called
'crude' and 'unnecessary'
policy suggestions.
These include what the IFA described as 'blacklisting' entire herds through categorisation, longer restrictions and cuts to compensation.
The
Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers' Association (ICSA)
also heavily criticised the DAFM policy proposals, saying they 'ignore the emotional toll of prolonged TB restrictions and herd losses' on farming families.
Stating that the Department is 'acutely aware' of the stress bovine TB can cause, a DAFM spokesperson told
The Journal Investigates
that the Minister is currently working with farm organisations to address current high rates of the disease.
'Ireland's bovine TB Eradication Programme has a comprehensive compensation regime in place for herd owners who are affected by bovine TB, including compensation both for direct and indirect losses,' they said.
This is unique amongst all countries that operate bovine TB eradication programmes.
DAFM said it also provides a 'range of supports' to farmers affected by a TB outbreak primarily through the On Farm Market Valuation Scheme and other compensation schemes.
This included the Income Supplement, Depopulation Grant and Hardship Grant schemes as well as providing 'assistance to herd owners on all aspects of their breakdown'.
'In addition, the Department has launched the On-Feirm Ground initiative to help alleviate farmer distress,' DAFM said
For many farmers, the mental strain is as damaging as the financial hit.
In correspondence obtained by
The Journal Investigates
, one farming family laid bare the huge emotional toll losing their herd to TB has had.
In a letter sent to former Minister of Agriculture Charlie McConalogue last year, the woman wrote: 'If any of you have children, would you like to see them being taken out and killed once they come to 2 years…they were our babies.'
Minister of Agriculture Martin Heydon.
Julien Behal Photography / RollingNews.ie
Julien Behal Photography / RollingNews.ie / RollingNews.ie
Lapses in badger TB vaccination
In Northern Ireland, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) reported 1,859 reactors in January 2025 alone, a 17% increase on the previous year. Herd incidence of TB is currently at 10.87%.
Sean O'Hanlon, a 60-year-old farmer from Co Armagh, lost 90 cows in a single day in 2018.
'It still comes back, like an anniversary,' he told
The Journal Investigates
.
'They just took the lot, it was very hard. And after they left, going out to an empty yard…the silence was unbelievable.'
He received financial compensation from the north's DAERA, but no other support. He eventually decided to leave dairy farming.
'It really took me about two years to decide not to go back into the milk,' he said.
'You missed the cows calving and things like that, the children all miss that sort of thing. But after the TB, I was afraid of being closed again.'
O'Hanlon now rears calves and drives a lorry a few days a week.
'You wouldn't have the same cash flow, but a better quality of life, I don't know if you could have both.'
While divided by different rules and regulations, farmers in both jurisdictions are increasingly frustrated by what they see as systemic failures.
Glenn Cuddy, deputy president of the Ulster Farmers' Union (UFU), said: 'I don't know where we go from here. There has been a report by the Chief Veterinary Officer where there are 40 different steps in it.
'A lot of it is farmer-facing things that farmers are going to have to do, and as farmers, we accept that. But the fact is that everything has to be addressed here and that includes wildlife, the elephant in the room.'
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We asked DAERA about the issues and concerns raised by both farmers and reps about its current TB eradication policy.
In a statement, a spokesperson said the department is 'acutely aware that rates of bovine TB in Northern Ireland are too high' and the 'significant' financial and emotional impact on farmers affected.
It said a new stakeholder body – the TB Partnership Steering Group (TBPSG) – recently set up by the Agriculture Minister is considering recommendations put forward by the Chief Veterinary Officer.
DAERA added that a recently published blueprint in tackling the disease, with department officials working with TBPSG on moving forward on action proposals.
The department added that 'officials are working on the development of advice for the Minister on relating to potential wildlife intervention options'.
'This action will be subject to further public consultation before the Minister can make an informed decision on the way forward,' DAERA said.
The majority of those
The Journal Investigates
spoke to, all want larger controls, including culling, of wildlife carriers of TB. This includes the protected badger.
In the second part of our investigative series, which will be published just after midnight, we will reveal new information surrounding Ireland's culling programme, which experts say raises questions over its future.
Presently, culling of the protected species is banned in Northern Ireland, similar to Scotland and Wales.
The Republic of Ireland controversially culls badgers under the same legislation which protects it from persecution. It also has a vaccination programme.
Research around the species infecting cattle with the disease is highly contested.
The south is also an outlier in Europe by being one of only two countries that operates a government licensed badger culling programme.
Mulhall points to lapses in the DAFM's badger vaccination programme.
'We were in a vaccination area, so as far as I can ascertain, under that we're in a vaccination area, the setts are meant to be visited every year, and the badgers are meant to be caught, tested and vaccinated.
'When I inquired, I asked when was the last time there was anything (vaccinations) done in our area? I was told it was over three years. We've been just left ignored.'
We asked DAFM about the Kilkenny farmer's vaccination concerns. In response, a spokesperson said that bTB is a 'challenging disease to control and eradicate' due to several factors which vary 'farm to farm'.
'Research demonstrates that TB levels in badgers are highest in areas where TB levels in cattle are highest and that the targeted removal of badgers in such areas contributes to a reduction in the incidence of TB,' they said.
'For this reason, capturing of badgers only takes place in areas where serious outbreaks of TB have been identified in cattle herds and where the Department's Veterinary Inspectorate has found following an epidemiological examination that badgers are the likely source of infection.'
In Scotland, which has held TB-free since 2009, culling is banned, with the government managing the disease through robust biosecurity measures such as vaccination and cattle movement.
The Journal Investigates
looks deeper into how other countries manage bovine TB in the second part of our investigative series.
DAFM said that various measures should also be taken by farmers to reduce the levels of bovine TB.
This includes reducing the risk of introducing infection to a herd from 'purchased or moved in cattle' and reducing the risk of contact between wildlife and cattle 'through fencing off badger setts'.
'It should be noted that the rate of transmission within a species is much greater than the rate of transmission from one species to another,' DAFM said.
'In other words the rate of transmission of the disease between cattle is much greater than the rate of transmission from badger to cattle and vice versa.'
Earlier this year, the
British government invited farmers to take part in new field trials
of a TB cattle vaccine as part of its efforts to drive down the disease.
The Animal and Plant Health Agency said studies indicated the BCG vaccine is safe and 'performs well' in UK labs.
However, in
response to a parliamentary question
on a possible vaccine last year, the then Minister for Agriculture said Ireland faces a 'significant number of legal and international trade obstacles' in rolling out any similar vaccine.
DAFM said it is in the process of setting up 15 deer management units in its latest effort in battling bovine TB.
Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie
Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie / RollingNews.ie
Deer to be culled in new DAFM TB measure
DAFM said the Minister is 'currently discussing with farm organisations the implementation of additional measures under the Bovine TB programme'.
One measure already confirmed is a new wildlife management programme, which will target deer in TB hotspots.
Like the badger, the species is protected under the Wildlife Act, but under special licence can now be destroyed in DAFM's TB eradication efforts. The department said the animals have been identified as significant carriers of TB.
In a statement to
The Journal Investigates
, the department confirmed that the locations of 15 'deer management units' were currently being finalised.
This will be led by Farm Relief Services – the same contractor which carries out the trapping and culling of badgers on behalf of DAFM – following a tender process in late 2024.
A Department spokesperson added that the contract with Farm Relief Services 'commenced on 1 February 2025' and is for a period of three years, with the right to extend up to a further year.
'The location of the 15 local deer management units is currently being finalised, these units will be located in areas of greatest deer density,' DAFM said.
The Journal Investigates
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