Four new cases of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) were recorded this week, the Department of Agriculture said yesterday.
This brings to 71 the number of cases recorded so far this year, somewhat ahead of the number of cases recorded for the same period last year when 63 cases were recorded to the end of July.
The new cases were identified in cattle over five years old and turned up in herds in counties Monaghan, Galway, Offaly and Roscommon. Three of the cases were in beef herds and one in a dairy herd.
The oldest animal found with the disease was a nine-year-old cow in a dairy herd in Co Monaghan and there was a seven-year-old suckler cow in a herd in Co Offaly.
The two five-year-olds came from a suckler herd in Roscommon and another suckler herd in Co Galway.