§ Mr. Home RobertsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the progress of his Department's search for cattle associated with BSE cases to be culled under the terms of the Florence agreement; how many cattle have been identified so far; what is his latest estimate of the likely total; how many farms are involved; and what is his estimate of the time scale for completing this search and concluding the accelerated cull. [16319]
§ Mr. AncramAt 7 February 1997 Department of Agriculture veterinary service staff had visited 121 natal herds, in which a confirmed case of BSE was born, and identified 721 animals to be culled. A further two natal herds remain to be visited. Approximately 700 animals born in the same cohort groups have moved out of the natal herds and at 10 February, 507 of these animals in 410 herds had been traced. It is anticipated that tracing and valuation of all such animals will be completed in four to six weeks. In total approximately 1,400 Northern Ireland cattle on 670 farms will be traced and identified under the selective cull. Slaughtering is expected to start at the beginning of March and it should take around six to eight weeks to complete the cull of home-bred cattle.
There are about 5,400 cattle imported from Great Britain, some of which may have to be slaughtered under the cull. While these animals are separately identified on the Northern Ireland animal health computer, and their herds of origin known, manual tracing of their movements in Great Britain will be necessary.