This will be subject to a satisfactory APHA Veterinary Risk Assessment (VRA).
Where an APHA VRA concludes that delayed removal may be possible, veterinarians will be required to provide a signed declaration confirming that certain conditions for approval can be met. Completion of the veterinary declaration will be a private arrangement between the keeper and the keeper’s chosen veterinarian and at the keeper’s expense.
Read the APHA briefing here
In 2017 Defra carried out a public consultation on proposals to simplify surveillance testing in the High Risk Area of England and other disease control measures; which included a proposal to permit delayed removal of in calf TB reactor cattle for up to 60 days.
Currently reactors and DCs are removed within 10 working days and this approach reduces the need for on-farm slaughter of TB reactors in late gestation when they are unable to be transported to slaughter and also enables herd-owners to retain the calves.
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