29 cattle culled after bluetongue disease detected

Almost 30 cows and calves on a north Antrim farm have been slaughtered after an imported cow tested positive for the bluetongue virus last week.

Since then, a calf born to the infected cow and three others born since from the same consignment have also tested positive for the killer livestock disease.

In total, 29 cows and calves were slaughtered as a precautionary measure, Agriculture Minister Michelle Gildernew announced yesterday.

The infected cow and calf were slaughtered at the end of last week and the remaining cattle were culled yesterday.

No compensation will be paid to the farmer who imported the animals from the Netherlands in January. Evidence of contact with bluetongue emerged in the cattle even though they were tested before and after import to Northern Ireland.

Vets are also monitoring cattle on another farm near Coleraine as several animals there were imported in the same batch.

Ms Gildernew supported calls by the Ulster Farmers Union for a voluntary ban on importing cattle from bluetongue-infected parts of Europe.

"I welcome this move and would plead again with farmers - do not import. This experience demonstrates that it is quite simply too risky," she said.