Incidence of tuberculosis (TB) in cattle in Great Britain: December 2022

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) Statistics release, on which this statistical headline is based, includes statistics on the basis of the Wales TB areas.

New TB herd incidents

Figure 1: New herd incidents in Wales, January 2008 to December 2022

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Description of Figure 1: Chart showing the trend in new herd incidents in Wales since 2008. There were 599 new incidents in the 12 months to December 2022, a decrease of 9.9% compared with the previous 12 months when there were 665 new incidents.

Source: Defra TB statistics published on 8 March 2023

Animals slaughtered for TB control

Figure 2: Animals slaughtered for TB control, January 2008 to December 2022

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Description of Figure 2: Chart showing the trend in animals slaughtered for TB control in Wales since 2008. There were 9,516 animals slaughtered in the 12 months to December 2022, a decrease of 10.6% compared with the previous 12 months when there were 10,641 animals slaughtered.

Source: Defra TB statistics published on 8 March 2023

Further information

The overall trend for animals slaughtered due to bovine TB control is variable. Much of the rise since 2014 is attributable to increased use of high-sensitivity testing. For example, gamma-testing, removal of Inconclusive Reactors (IRs) and severe interpretation of the skin test have all been used with the intention of clearing up infection and reducing the risk of the disease spreading and breakdowns recurring.

As the chart shows, the monthly series is extremely variable and peaks can be expected from time to time. There had been an increase in the trend since the peak in October 2018 was reached, this has since began to fall. Further analysis of this trend up to June 2019 has been published in the statistical article: Analysis on the number of animals slaughtered due to bovine TB controls, October 2018 to June 2019.