Commenting on new figures showing a 15% reduction in new bovine TB reactor herds across Northern Ireland in the first two months of 2026, Ulster Unionist Agriculture Spokesperson Robbie Butler MLA said:

“While any downward movement in TB incidence is to be cautiously welcomed, we must be honest with ourselves and with our farming families this is one data point at the very start of the year, and it is far too early to declare progress. The TB crisis gripping Northern Ireland agriculture remains one of the most serious and costly challenges our Agri-food sector has ever faced.

“The stark reality behind these figures is that 3,336 cattle were still removed from NI farms in just the first two months of this year virtually the same as 2025. Over £1 million worth of cattle are being found TB positive at slaughter annually and going straight to disposal. This is a crisis that is deeply embedded to annual Calanders and still devastating livelihoods.

“But we must not reduce this to numbers alone. Behind every reactor animal removed is a farmer, often the third or fourth generation of a family on that land, who has watched animals they have raised and cared for being taken away. The mental and emotional toll of that is profound and must be spoken about openly. Farming can be an isolating life at the best of times, and the relentless anxiety of TB never knowing when the next test will come back, never knowing if the herd you’ve built over decades will still be intact next month is breaking people. The mental health crisis in our farming community is every bit as serious as the financial one, and it demands the same urgency in response.

“What concerns me most is the financial haemorrhage that TB is inflicting on the wider industry. The TB budget is ballooning year on year, absorbing public money that should be invested in the future of our farming sector in innovation, in infrastructure, in the next generation of farmers. Every pound spent on managing this disease is a pound not invested in supporting family farms to grow and adapt. I fear DAERA’s lack of action is effectively robbing our farmers of the investment and opportunity they need and deserve.

“My party has consistently called for a comprehensive, strategic approach to tackling TB at its source. Instead, this Department and this Minister appear content to hide behind endless consultations, while farmers’ patience, understandably is rapidly running out. What is now required are practical, effective measures, including steps that have already been implemented in other jurisdictions. Northern Ireland cannot afford to fall further behind. Our farming families deserve nothing less.”