The results on a suspected case of foot-and-mouth in Co Tyrone will not be confirmed until tomorrow morning.
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Preliminary results from samples taken from a dairy herd on a farm near Cookstown are now expected between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. tomorrow, a spokesman for the Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture and Rural Development told
ireland.com
.
The samples were sent to a lab in Britain last night after a number of cattle started showing symptoms.
Northern Ireland Agriculture Minister Ms Bríd Rodgers said: "This suspect case shows the risk of foot-and-mouth disease is still with us. I very much hope that this case will not be positive but at this point in time we must expect the worst."
The North has had only one confirmed case so far on a farm in Meigh in south Armagh near the border.
It is understood the suspect cases occurred on an out-farm of a large dairy farm near Cookstown where about 80 per cent of 20 dairy heifers tested were showing symptoms suggestive of the disease.
But vets were hoping it could also be another viral condition normally found in calves.
Democratic Unionist MLA Mr Ian Paisley Jnr said he hoped fears would prove unfounded.
The Stormont Assembly Agriculture Committee member said: "If this proves to be a hot case it will show that the preventative measures that have been taken have been in vain and it will demand a fundamental rethink of the entire strategy to deal with this disease."
Additional reporting PA