Veterinary Improvement Notices explained

VINs will never be used as the first recourse once a disease risk is identified by a Veterinary Inspector. The cattle keeper will always be part of the ongoing discussion and in the first instance will be asked to undertake actions on a voluntary basis.

For example, a cattle keeper may be asked to consider how contact between his cattle and the stock on a neighbouring holding could be avoided. This does not necessarily mean that the keeper has to permanently double-fence or exclude cattle from the farm boundary.

Temporary solutions such as a strand of barbed wire or an electric fence when cattle are present in the field could be agreed as a solution.

It is only when various avenues have been fully explored and recommended action has not been put in place by the cattle keeper that the Veterinary Inspector would consider the use of a VIN – and then only as a last resort. Even at this stage the farmer will be part of the discussion and each action required by the VIN will need to be practical, appropriate and achievable within a fair timescale.

Failure to complete by the set timescale, however, will have consequences with regards the value of any cattle subsequently lost as a result of bovine TB.