Bovine TB testing intervals
Guidance for cattle keepers on the bovine TB surveillance testing intervals for areas in England, Wales and Scotland.
Applies to England, Scotland and Wales
Cattle, buffalo or bison keepers must test their animals for bovine TB as part of a regime that reflects the regional risks of the disease.
You must complete the TB testing within the time frame outlined by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA).
If you fail to meet the deadlines, APHA will:
- apply movement restrictions for your animals
- notify the paying agencies
You may also face the following consequences:
- significant reduction of any CAP scheme payments governed by cross compliance (overdue TB testing may be considered an intentional breach)
- reduction of reactor compensation payments
There are different surveillance TB testing intervals in England, Wales and Scotland.
To find out the testing interval for your area, see the:
- TB testing interval search tool
- lists of counties and parishes for England, Wales and Scotland
England TB testing intervals
In England, the surveillance TB testing intervals are based on the regional level of disease risk.
The default TB testing interval for herds are as follows:
- 48 months in the low risk area (LRA)
- 6 or 12 months in the edge area
- 6 months in the high risk area (HRA)
| HRA: 6-monthly testing | Edge area: 6-monthly testing | Edge area: annual testing | LRA: 4-yearly testing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avon | Berkshire (Part) | Berkshire (Part) | Bedfordshire |
| Cornwall | Cheshire | Buckinghamshire | Cambridgeshire |
| Devon | Derbyshire (Part) | Derbyshire (Part) | Cleveland |
| Dorset | Hampshire (Part) | East Sussex | Co. Durham |
| Gloucestershire | Oxfordshire | Hampshire (Part) | Cumbria |
| Hereford | Warwickshire | Leicestershire | Essex |
| Shropshire | Northamptonshire | Greater London | |
| Somerset | Nottinghamshire | Greater Manchester | |
| Staffordshire | Hertfordshire | ||
| West Midlands | Humberside | ||
| Wiltshire | Isle of Wight | ||
| Worcester | Isles of Scilly | ||
| Lancashire | |||
| Lincolnshire | |||
| Merseyside | |||
| Norfolk | |||
| Northumberland | |||
| North Yorkshire | |||
| South Yorkshire | |||
| Suffolk | |||
| Surrey | |||
| Tyne & Wear | |||
| West Sussex | |||
| West Yorkshire |
For more information about the recent introduction of 6-monthly testing in the HRA of England, see the TB hub website.
For further information, see the:
Changes to your individual herd’s surveillance testing intervals
If your herd is located on a 6-monthly surveillance testing area, it may meet specific criteria to be eligible for annual testing. This recognises and rewards cattle keepers with a reduced risk of suffering a TB breakdown.
Your herd will need to meet at least one of the following criteria:
- not had a TB breakdown for at least 6 years
- proactively trying to increase their resilience to bovine TB by participating in a Cattle Health Certification Standards (CHECS) licensed bovine TB health scheme; CHECS TB entry level membership does not apply
In the LRA or annual testing parts of the edge area, you may need to follow a more intensive TB testing regime (known as radial testing) if your herd is located within a 3km radius of a new lesion or culture positive TB breakdown herd.
APHA will write to keepers if there are changes to their area or herd testing interval, explaining the reason for the change.
Pre-movement and post-movement testing
Cattle keepers must comply with statutory pre-movement testing requirements, unless exempt. This includes herds in the LRA that are tested more frequently than the default 48-month interval, for example herds on radial testing.
If your herd is in the LRA and you bring in cattle from the rest of England and Wales, you must arrange and pay for post-movement tests for your animals.
Read the guidance on pre-movement and post-movement testing.
Wales TB testing intervals
Following the results of the TB Health Check Wales in 2008, the annual herd TB testing regime was introduced to maintain a high level of disease surveillance.
Annual herd testing has remained across Wales since January 2010 regardless of the regional disease situation. Herds in the intensive action area (IAA) are tested twice-yearly as part of the additional cattle controls in place in this area.
The latest Wales TB Eradication Programme was launched on 1 October 2017.
Following a 12-week consultation with industry in 2016, the Welsh government TB Programme committed to a regionalised approach to eradicating TB in Wales. Low, intermediate and high TB areas were established on 1 October 2017 based on disease incidence.
Enhanced measures are applied in each TB area. Measures are tailored to protect the low TB area from disease and reduce the level of disease in the intermediate and high TB areas.
For epidemiology purposes, counties in Wales are further divided into smaller areas called spatial units. Each unit covers several complete parishes and is standardised on herd numbers. There are 59 spatial units in Wales, each typically containing 225 herds on average, giving a resolution between parish and county level. Each unit has a name made of the 2 first letters of the county name and a number. For example CL7 is spatial unit 7 in Clwyd.
See the Welsh Government website for guidance on the Wales TB Eradication Programme delivery plan.
Whole-herd annual TB testing continues to be applied across Wales except in the IAA where 6-monthly testing applies.
The TB area and spatial unit for each parish can be found on the:
- TB testing interval search tool
- Wales TB regionalisation map on the Welsh Government website
Pre-movement and post-movement testing
Cattle keepers must comply with statutory pre-movement testing requirements unless exempt.
Cattle keepers in the low TB area of Wales who move cattle from herds located in the intermediate and high TB areas of Wales, the high risk or edge areas of England or from Northern Ireland, must also comply with post-movement testing requirements unless exempt.
On 1 November 2021, 3 spatial units moved from the low TB area into the intermediate TB area North temporarily:
- GW1
- CL1
- CL2
For cattle keepers in these spatial units, post-movement testing requirements will no longer apply. Pre-movement testing requirement will still apply.
Scotland TB testing intervals
Scotland has been designated officially TB free (OTF) since September 2009. As a result, changes were introduced to exempt low risk herds from the default routine testing regime of 48 months that applies to all other non-exempt herds.
Low risk herds must fully comply with one of the following. Herds that:
- have fewer than 50 cattle (total stock on farm at 1 January in the year the herd is assessed) which have no more than one consignment of cattle moved on from high incidence TB areas (including Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland) in the previous 4 years
- slaughter more than 25% of their stock annually in each of the previous 4 years and have had no more than one consignment of cattle moved on from high incidence TB areas (including Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland) in the previous 4 years
- slaughter more than 40% of their stock annually in each of the previous 4 years
Slaughtered animals are animals that have been on the holding for at least 60 days and move from the farm either:
- direct to a slaughterhouse
- direct to market and then to the slaughterhouse
It does not include animals moved on to another holding temporarily between market and slaughterhouse.
The annual slaughter rate is calculated on the total number of cattle slaughtered in a slaughterhouse in the previous calendar year divided by the herd size (total stock on farm on 1 January).
APHA annually assesses each individual herd’s eligibility for exemption from TB testing. APHA will write to all cattle keepers in Scotland to confirm their herd’s exemption status.
Since 12 December 2018, animals that are required to be post-movement tested following their arrival in Scotland need to be held on the original premises of destination until this testing is carried out. The test must be completed within 60 to 120 days of arrival on farm and with negative results before that animal is permitted to move again.
This restriction also applies to cattle imported from Northern Ireland and the conditions of the general import licence were amended to support this change. Exceptions to this are permitted for animals that move directly to slaughter within 120 days of arrival or are moved for veterinary treatment or under the authority of a licence issued by a veterinary inspector.
For further information, see the:
- guidance on pre-movement and post-movement testing
- Scottish government website for bovine TB control and surveillance in Scotland
Last updated 7 June 2023 + show all updates
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The bovine TB surveillance testing in England policy has been updated.
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Updated Wales TB testing intervals section: 3 spatial units (GW1, CL1, CL2) have moved from the low TB area into the intermediate TB area North temporarily. For cattle keepers in these spatial units, post-movement testing requirements will no longer apply.
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Updated the England TB testing intervals.
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First published.