All the cattle are home ready for testing

We are just back from Kevin's with the 3 Dexters, walking them the 250 meters down the road. A few slices of bread has them running up the field...Here they are reunited with Kerry & Heifer...The vet should be here around 1430 and shouldn't take too long to get them done. Fingers crossed!From January 2015 the requirement to do blood tests for Brucellosis in the yearly round of national testing has been discontinued due to Ireland being Brucellosis free for several years. There is still a requirement to test them when moving cattle to another farm or mart if they are over 24 months old. This may be discontinued also when Northern Ireland receives full Brucellosis free health status later in the year. So today's test is for Bovine TB and is a simple test to undertake, the vet gives them two jabs in the neck and will check the size of the reaction in a few days. Its known as the single intradermal comparative cervical tuberculin test (SICCT). The test involves injecting a small amount of tuberculin (a sterile antigenic extract obtained from a culture of M. bovis) into the skin of the animal. In most cattle infected with M. bovis, this will cause the animal's immune system to react to the tuberculin and cause a localised allergic reaction (swelling) of the skin a few days after the injection.