The organisations said they have agreed that a mandatory pre-movement brucellosis test of all female cattle would not be the best method of eradicating the disease, even though the veterinary organisations believe the ending of mandatory pre-movement testing is the cause of its upsurge.
"The farming organisations have decided that scarce resources should be used to voluntarily pre-movement test breeding cattle which will be sold in special catalogued live-stock mart auctions under the Department of Agriculture control and also directly from farmer to farmer," said a statement from the IFA last night.
"Animals will only be allowed to be sold once under each 60-day brucellosis pre-movement test to protect the buyers," said Mr Liam Egan, chairman of the IFA's animal health committee.
He said the proposals had been submitted to the Department of Agriculture in advance of the special meeting on brucellosis eradication in Agriculture House next Monday.