Bríd Rodgers, Flock to be culled as precautionary measure
Foot and mouth restrictions have been imposed on a farm in Ballycastle, County Antrim. This follows a new foot and mouth alert in Northern Ireland. Blood tests taken from sheep at the farm in Murlough Bay returned symptoms similar to the virus.
Eighteen of the 325 sheep on the farm are showing foot and mouth like lesions and samples have been sent to the Pirbright laboratory in Surrey. A 3km exclusion zone has been set up around the farm. Results are not expected for a few days.
Tests on a flock of 64 sheep on a farm near Magherafelt, County Derry, have also shown positive initial screenings. The North's Agriculture Minister said that the flock was being culled as a precautionary measure. Mrs Rodgers said that this did not mean the flock has foot and mouth disease but that it may have been exposed to the virus at some stage in the past.
There have been no new cases in the North since the fourth was confirmed at Ardboe, County Tyrone, three weeks ago.
