Guidance

Dealing with TB in your herd: what to do if bovine TB is detected in your herd in Scotland

Updated 8 October 2024

Applies to Scotland and Wales

• Publication for England
• Publication for Northern Ireland

There may be significant differences in bovine tuberculosis (TB) policies in England, Wales and Scotland.

If you farm on the border of England and Scotland, the location of your animals at the time of TB testing will influence which rules are relevant to you.

Your herd’s TB status

Your herd is Officially TB Free (OTF) if:

• they are up to date with their TB testing
• there is no suspicion of TB infection

If there is suspicion of TB in your herd, the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) will put the herd under restrictions. Its OTF status will be suspended (OTFS).

If your TB status is suspended due to overdue testing, you must complete the test and receive a negative result to regain OTF status.

Your TB status may be suspended due to suspicion of disease in an animal at a slaughterhouse inspection. If the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test (or culture, in the absence of PCR) of the lesion is negative, your herd will regain OTF status.

Your herd will become a breakdown herd if either:

• it has at least one reactor (an animal that has failed a test for bovine TB)
• an animal sent to slaughter has a PCR, or culture-positive, lesion

Your herd will be subject to all the actions applied to breakdown herds.

If TB is suspected in your herd

Once APHA suspects infection with TB, it will automatically put your herd under movement restrictions.

Suspicion that animals may be infected with TB will occur when:

• at least one animal in your herd has failed the tuberculin skin test - a ‘reactor’
• an animal from your herd has lesions which are suspicious of TB when inspected in a slaughterhouse, at a knackers’ yard or hunt kennel
• one or more inconclusive reactors (IRs) have been found in your herd and you have had cattle infected with TB on your holding in the last 3 years. An inconclusive reactor (IR) is an animal with a TB skin test result that is neither clear (negative) nor positive
• clinical signs which are suspicious of TB are seen in a live animal. After slaughter, lesions which are suspicious of TB are seen at the post-mortem inspection

Clinical signs of TB in animals include:

• weakness
• lethargy
• difficulty breathing
• chronic coughing
• emaciation

It’s important that you comply with the legal requirements that apply when there’s suspicion of TB in your herd. You must:

• restrict the movement of bovine animals - you cannot move them on or off the premises where you keep the reactor or IR without a licence issued by APHA
• mark every reactor and isolate every reactor and IR from negative testing bovine animals and other animals
• not place milk from TB reactors in a bulk tank or use it in any way for human consumption. Read the Milk from reactor cattle section of this guidance for full requirements

If your herd has a TB breakdown

A veterinary officer or inspector (‘case officer’) from APHA will contact you. They will undertake a disease investigation in the early stages of your breakdown.

APHA will complete a disease report on the incident in your herd. To complete this, the case officer will need information on your farming enterprise and how you manage it.

The investigation will assess the TB breakdown on your farm, attempting to:

• identify its origin
• instigate control measures to limit its spread to other herds

The case officer will give advice to help you reduce the risk of spread of bovine TB and eradicate it from your herd. This will allow APHA to lift the restrictions as soon as possible.

You’ll receive advice on:

• public health issues and implications of the incident
• reducing the impact of the restrictions on your business
• managing the risk of infection spreading in your herd and to other herds
• licences that APHA can issue
• conditions that may be necessary to manage your livestock and business in the restriction period

APHA may issue a movement licence. This is when you can meet certain conditions which eliminate or reduce any risks associated with the movement.

The case officer will also:

• assess the possible sources of infection
• assess and advise on movements that are necessary to manage your enterprise while under restriction
• establish the boundaries of your holding and possible contact with other herds
• establish if there are other TB susceptible species on the farm
• explain the testing regime and how this may vary depending on the outcome of the post-mortem examinations and laboratory tests on reactors

To help with the disease investigation, you should provide:

• livestock movement records that are not recorded on ScotEID, going back at least 2 months before the last bovine TB herd test with negative results. For example, linked holdings
• any information that may help to establish the source and possible spread of the disease

Establishing appropriate movement restrictions

Your premises will be under restrictions until APHA carries out a breakdown assessment.

Once the assessment is complete you may be issued with a revised movement restriction notice. This changes the extent of the movement restrictions in place.

The case officer’s assessment will make sure that only areas that need to be are included in the movement restrictions.

In exceptional circumstances it may be possible to exclude certain premises from your TB herd movement restrictions.

If you have TB positive (reactor) animals

A reactor is an animal that has failed the skin test, gamma interferon blood test or any other approved TB test. Animals that have inconclusive test results at 2 consecutive tests are also reactors.

Reactor animals must be removed as quickly as possible to help:

• control the disease
• reduce the risk of spread to other animals in the herd
• your herd regain its OTF status

The testing vet will mark any reactors using a reactor tag and orange marker spray along their back. This is to make sure the correct animal is slaughtered.

You must immediately isolate reactor cattle until they are sent for slaughter. Failure to isolate reactors may result in a 95% reduction in the compensation for that animal.

In Scotland, ‘isolation’ means:

• the animals must be kept on land or in accommodation where they do not share space with other animals. No other animals must access manure, slurry or drainage from the accommodation
• there must be no nose-to-nose contact between isolated animals and other animals
• when kept in a building, there must be an airtight barrier to separate isolated animals from other animals

Milk from reactor cattle

If you have TB positive (reactor) animals, you must not:

• use milk from reactors for human consumption - milk must be withheld from the bulk tank
• feed milk from reactors or IRs to calves or other livestock unless you boil or pasteurise it

You may only use milk from IRs and negative testing cows in your herd for human consumption if it is heat treated before it goes to market. This is until the OTF status of your herd is restored.

You must also tell any commercial buyer of your milk about the herd’s lost OTF status.

You can collect the milk from TB reactors in the slurry system. But any slurry from a breakdown herd must not be spread until it has been stored for 6 months.

Land spreading of this slurry must be under a registered Waste Management Licence Exemption. To register, contact the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).

How reactors are valued and your compensation

APHA will remove any animals that are reactors or direct contacts (DCs) from your herd and send them to slaughter. You will receive compensation for the loss of these animals.

Compensation is not paid for reactors:

• which die on your premises before slaughter, regardless of the cause of death
• which are born before 1 August 1996
• imported from the Republic of Ireland that do not pass the post-import test
• which do not comply with the Cattle Identification (Scotland) Regulations 2007

You must make sure that the identification documents and tagging requirements for the animals being valued are in order.

The market value of cattle without passports is zero, as you cannot trade those animals on the open market.

Where the animal cannot be identified by ear tags and a cattle passport, the amount of compensation payable is £1.

Compensation for animals slaughtered because of bovine TB is normally determined by:

• agreement between APHA and the owner
• valuation by appointment of a valuer

You should provide any relevant information at the time of valuation. For example, milk yield records and pedigree certificates.

An animal can only be classed as ‘pedigree’ when a recognised breed society have issued a full pedigree certificate by the date the animal is identified as a reactor.

If a pedigree certificate is not available, APHA will value the animal as commercial stock.

APHA will also value cattle in the process of being graded-up as non-pedigree stock.

How your compensation is calculated

The maximum amount of compensation paid for a TB reactor slaughtered for disease control purposes is subject to a 2-tier cap. This depends on the category of the animal.

The cap is set at:

• £7,500 for all pure-bred pedigree bovine animals whose market value exceeds this amount
• £5,000 for all other non-pedigree bovine animals whose market value exceeds this amount

The compensation of reactor cattle disclosed at overdue tests will be reduced to:

• 50% if the test was overdue more than 60 days and no more than 90 days
• 5% if the test was overdue more than 90 days

A £1 nominal compensation will apply to any reactors moved onto a restricted herd without a licence.

The compensation for unclean cattle presented at slaughter for TB control purposes will be reduced by 50%.

The compensation for reactors, IRs or DCs which are not properly isolated will be reduced by 95%.

Read more about TB compensation on the Scottish Government website.

Removal and slaughter of reactors by APHA

In most cases APHA will be responsible for:

• providing you with the relevant documentation to complete
• the arrangement and cost of removing the reactor
• slaughter and disposal of the carcass if it is unfit for human consumption

The haulier under contract to remove your animal will contact you to agree a time and place. You should assist with the loading of your animal.

You must:

• send the correct documentation with your animals to the slaughterhouse - check that the ear tag numbers and documents you were sent match
• present the correct animals for collection for slaughter - APHA is not responsible for payment of compensation if you send the wrong animal (failure to present a reactor for slaughter could be a breach of legislation)
• make sure animals are fit to be transported in accordance with The Welfare of Animals (Transport) (Scotland) Regulations 2006 - you are still responsible for the welfare of the affected animals before they go to slaughter
• make sure your cattle are of an acceptable state of cleanliness for hygienic slaughter in accordance with The Food Hygiene (Scotland) Regulations 2006 when presented to the haulier. Compensation is reduced by 50% if reactor animals are too dirty to process for human consumption at the slaughterhouse. APHA may also carry out a welfare investigation

In exceptional cases APHA may slaughter reactors on your premises. This is where your animal is unfit to travel or is not fit for human consumption. For example, within a drug withdrawal period.

The carcass will be removed for post-mortem examination and disposal.

Post-mortem examination of reactor cattle

APHA will examine the reactor carcass to:

• look for evidence of infection
• collect tissue samples for laboratory diagnosis

The nature and extent of the lesions in the carcass may show:

• whether the disease was in an early or advanced stage
• how the animal was infected

The laboratory will attempt to detect Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis), the bacteria which causes bovine TB, from the samples, which will take at least 3 weeks. If your tuberculin test revealed several reactors, the laboratory may not collect samples from every animal slaughtered.

APHA will write to you with the results of the post-mortem examination and results of the samples sent for PCR testing.

The OTF status of your herd will be withdrawn (OTFW) if:

• TB lesions are detected at the post-mortem
• PCR, or culture, results are positive for M. bovis

If APHA withdraws the OTF status of your herd, it may review and re-interpret results from the last skin test using ‘severe interpretation’.

This interpretation lowers the criteria for an animal to be declared a reactor. It may result in APHA classing other animals as reactors.

If bovine TB is not detected in any reactors from your herd, either at the post-mortem examination or in the laboratory, your herd status will normally remain suspended (OTFS). This does not mean that the disease was not present in the animal, or that the animal had not been in contact with bovine TB.

In the early stages of the disease, it is often not possible to see lesions with the naked eye. Due to the nature of the organism, it is not always possible to detect M. bovis by PCR or culture.

In certain cases your OTF status may be withdrawn if a high risk of TB infection is identified.

You will need further herd tests to make sure that no infection remains on your farm.

Withdrawal of Officially TB Free status (OTFW)

The OTF status of your herd will be withdrawn if:

• one or more reactors with lesions are detected at post-mortem
• tissue samples taken from one or more reactors are PCR, or culture, positive
• tissue samples taken from a slaughterhouse animal are PCR, or culture, positive
• an epidemiological link suggests your herd will have a further breakdown if you do not take additional measures

APHA will consider taking additional measures to:

• trace and test any animals you move from your herd during the infected period
• investigate and test any neighbouring herds
• slaughter additional animals which are at risk of infection as DCs
• slaughter remaining animals in the group or herd if infection is severe and extensive
• cleanse and disinfect your premises - this is compulsory

Where appropriate APHA will notify your local health and environmental health authorities with the post-mortem or the positive PCR, or culture, results. For example, if you have a milk producing business.

If you have Inconclusive Reactors (IRs)

The TB infection status of IRs is uncertain.

Any animal classed as an IR must immediately be detained on the farm. Isolate it from the rest of the herd to reduce the risk of spreading TB to other cattle.

Read the definition of ‘isolation’ in the section ‘If you have TB positive (reactor) animals’.

When an IR is identified, APHA will apply movement restrictions to your herd.

APHA will contact you to confirm you have an IR and give instructions on what you need to do. This depends on whether you have reactors in the same herd.

The whole herd will remain under movement restrictions and will lose its OTF status if:

• there are reactor animals in addition to the IR
• the herd has had a TB breakdown in the last 3 years that led to the withdrawal of its OTF status
• the OTF status has been withdrawn because of epidemiological links

In all other cases, APHA will lift the herd movement restrictions. Only the IRs will be under restriction and the herd will not lose its OTF status.

Re-testing IRs

APHA will test the IR again after 60 days, either on their own or, in a herd where reactors have also been found, with the rest of the herd.

There are 3 outcomes:

• if the IR’s test is negative, it can rejoin the herd
• if it is still an IR it will be classed as a reactor and removed and slaughtered in the same way as a reactor
• it may become a reactor

Private slaughter of IRs

You can have an IR privately slaughtered at your own expense. You must tell APHA giving at least 5 working days’ notice. APHA will have to issue a licence allowing the IR to travel to a slaughterhouse of your choice.

APHA will arrange for the IR to be examined in the slaughterhouse for evidence of bovine TB. APHA may take tissue samples for PCR testing.

You will not be paid compensation for any IR that is privately slaughtered.

If you choose to have an IR privately slaughtered rather than wait for the outcome of its next TB test, this could:

• lead to additional testing
• prolong the restrictions on your herd

You should discuss the consequences with APHA.

If an IR dies on the farm or has to be put down for welfare reasons you need to tell APHA.

If an IR dies on the farm or is privately slaughtered and post-mortem examination indicates that the animal was infected with bovine TB, APHA will apply TB movement restrictions (unless they are already in place). APHA will then test the rest of the herd.

Tests for TB during a breakdown

To make sure TB infection is cleared from a herd, APHA must carry out a series of tests. The number of tests and the interpretation of those tests depends on the status of your herd.

The interpretation of these tests will depend on the risk of infection in your herd. TB skin tests are usually carried out at a ‘standard interpretation’. But where there is a higher risk of infection in herds that are OTFW, APHA may use a ‘severe interpretation’.

Short interval tests

Short interval tests are skin tests. They usually include all animals in the herd. APHA will carry them out at minimum intervals of 60 days.

The 60-day period is from the date:

• the last reactor left your herd
• you isolated any reactors or IRs from the rest of your herd

If the OTF status of your herd is suspended (OTFS), it will need to pass one short interval test after removal of any reactors. This includes the resolution of any IRs by re-testing.

If the OTF status of your herd is withdrawn (OTFW), it will need to pass 2 consecutive short interval tests after removal of any reactors. This includes the resolution of any IRs by re-testing and additional gamma blood tests.

Where herds are OTFW and to make sure your herd is cleared of infection as quickly as possible, APHA apply severe interpretation at the first short interval test following disclosure of reactors where lesions are detected.

Gamma interferon test

The gamma interferon blood test is a supplementary TB test. APHA use it in some breakdown situations to improve the detection of infected animals.

This test does not replace the tuberculin skin test (the primary screening test for bovine TB), but it will improve the chances of detecting infected cattle, speeding up the resolution of TB incidents.

IDEXX antibody test

APHA use the IDEXX antibody test to identify TB infected animals in herds with long duration TB breakdowns. It’s used where the herd does not regain its OTF status after repeat skin and interferon gamma testing, but is not widely used in Scotland.

Not all TB infected animals respond positively to the skin test or the gamma interferon test.

The IDEXX test detects antibodies in TB infected cattle. The animal must have had a skin test between 10 and 30 days before APHA takes the blood sample.

Failed gamma interferon or IDEXX antibody tests

If animals fail the gamma interferon test or IDEXX antibody test, they are slaughtered under the Tuberculosis Order.

You will receive the same compensation as skin test reactors and APHA will remove animals in the same way.

Cleansing and disinfection: OTFS and OTFW herds

Cleansing and disinfection (C&D) is important to reduce the risk of spreading infection on your farm. You will receive a BT05 notice from APHA if your herd is OTFS or OTFW.

It is a requirement under this notice to thoroughly clean and disinfect all buildings where you’ve kept reactor cattle. It is also good practice to consider biosecurity and additional C&D of areas which may be a risk.

You must use a Defra-approved disinfectant against bovine TB at the appropriate concentration. Check the list of Defra-approved disinfectants.

Clean and disinfect fittings or equipment that may have come into contact with sputum, faeces or milk from TB reactors.

APHA will serve the BT05 notice with the requirements for C&D at the beginning of your breakdown.

You will need to sign the declaration and return the BT05 notice to APHA when the C&D is complete. This means that APHA can lift TB restrictions at the end of the breakdown.

Get a C&D notice in other circumstances

There may be other circumstances when you are served with a BT05 notice. For example, extensive infection or if you’re leaving a premises where reactors were kept.

If you’re leaving the premises and other unrestricted cattle are moving to it, you need to carry out full C&D of all the buildings used by your cattle. You must also leave the grazing ground empty of cattle for at least 60 days.

Restrictions will normally remain in place until 60 days after the last of your cattle have left the premises.

Disposal of slurry and manure

You can use slurry or manure on your own farmland while TB restrictions are in place. But you should consider the risk of spreading the disease to other stock or wildlife.

You should spray bedding and manure with an approved disinfectant. Then remove and stack it for at least 3 weeks before spreading it. You must prevent livestock coming into contact with this bedding and manure.

You must store slurry for at least 6 months before spreading it.

Methods of spreading potentially infected manure and slurry should avoid the generation of aerosols. This can increase the risk of airborne transmission of bovine TB.

If possible, you should dispose of manure and slurry from a premises under TB restrictions on land used for arable cropping.

If you have to dispose of manure or slurry on grassland, you must spread it at least 60 days before cattle graze on it.

The BT05 notice will specify if you require a licence to remove manure, slurry or other animal waste from your premises under restriction.

Testing after restrictions are removed

After APHA lifts movement restrictions, your herd will have regained its OTF status. It may need to undergo further tuberculin tests to make sure that:

• previous tests have not missed infected animals
• no re-infection has occurred

OTFS herds return to routine testing after APHA lifts restrictions.

For OTFW herds that have regained OTF status, a skin test is needed 6 to 12 months later. If the test is negative, your herd will return to its usual routine testing.

Movements on and off TB restricted premises

You may wish to move cattle either on to or off your premises, for:

• management
• breeding
• slaughter
• sale
• contract rearing

APHA does not permit movements of cattle on or off restricted premises unless it has issued a licence.

Your case officer will discuss what movements APHA will permit and how to apply for a licence. You may wish to contact APHA to seek guidance.

Movements on and off your premises will be subject to a veterinary risk assessment. You can move cattle only if the risk of spreading TB is low.

Applications for any licence must be at least 5 days before the planned movement. This guarantees receipt of a licence in time for the movement to take place.

If restrictions are in place because TB testing on your premises is overdue, the TB status of your herd will be unknown. APHA will not issue licences to move cattle on to or off these premises.

Movement between restricted linked holdings

You can move animals between linked holdings on your premises under the same movement restrictions without a licence.

Other regulations may still apply, such as:

• pre-movement testing
• standstill rules
• reporting of movements

You need a licence to move animals between premises under separate movement restrictions.

Movement to slaughter

APHA may issue a general movement licence. This means that you do not need to apply for a movement licence every time you take negative testing cattle to slaughter. It does not need to stay with the animals whilst they are moving.

In high-risk situations, where you do not have a general licence, you must:

• apply for a specific movement licence to move animals to slaughter - apply for this beforehand and keep it with the animals during transport
• provide the ear-tag numbers of the animals you’re moving to APHA for inclusion in this licence - it will specify which animals can move, only allows a single specific movement and is for a defined period

You must apply for a specific licence at least 5 days before the planned movement. This will guarantee receipt of a licence in time for the movement to take place.

You must make sure that all TB-free animals travel to slaughter with:

• the required movement licence
• their official identification documents (passport or certificate of registration)
• the necessary food chain information (FCI)
• an orange stripe along their back

You need extra, specific documentation to send reactors, IRs and DCs to slaughter. APHA will provide this.

APHA is not responsible for any loss or inconvenience you may suffer if you do not provide the necessary paperwork for animals going to slaughter under licence.

Other requirements when moving animals to slaughter

When moving animals to slaughter there are other requirements to take into account:

• all cattle sent to an abattoir must be of an acceptable cleanliness for hygienic slaughter - read the Food Standards Scotland’s clean livestock guidance
• cattle born or reared in the UK before 1 August 1996 are excluded from the food chain. It’s illegal to send them for slaughter for human consumption. At the end of their productive lives, you must treat them in the same way as fallen stock

Movement to TB restricted and approved facilities in England

APHA may license cattle to move from one restricted premises to another. But the TB status at the destination premises must be of the same or a higher risk than at the farm of origin.

Dependent on a satisfactory risk assessment, APHA may authorise cattle from Scotland to move to any of these facilities in England by licence:

• approved TB slaughter gatherings
• approved finishing units (AFUs)
• TB isolation units
• approved TB dedicated sales and herd dispersal sales for TB restricted cattle (orange markets)

These types of facilities are not approved in Scotland.

You cannot move cattle from TB dedicated sales in England into Scotland. Get more information on approved facilities for TB restricted cattle from APHA.

Movement to TB restricted premises from unrestricted premises

You may apply for a licence to move cattle from unrestricted premises onto your premises. You will have to complete your first short interval test before APHA issue a licence to allow restocking of your herd.

Contact APHA if you need replacement suckler calves or a breeding bull. It will normally issue a specific licence for these animals unless:

• there is a high disease risk
• your TB testing is overdue

Movement of carcasses from your premises

If an IR, DC or reactor dies or is slaughtered on your farm for welfare reasons, tell APHA immediately. There is a 24-hour contact service.

You do not need a licence to move the carcass but APHA may wish to carry out a post-mortem.

Remember:

• you must never wait to contact APHA before arranging to have an animal slaughtered if the delay puts the animal’s welfare at risk
• you will not get compensation for reactors, IRs and DCs that die on your farm before they are due to be slaughtered
• carcasses of reactors, DCs or IRs sent to a slaughterhouse must have a notice issued by APHA

You must also comply with other conditions when removing fallen stock.