Livestock disease investigations

The Department of Primary Industry and Resources provides disease investigation service, including free diagnostic testing through the Berrimah Veterinary Laboratory, to livestock owners for diagnosis or exclusion of notifiable emergency, exotic and endemic disease, including zoonotic diseases free of charge. Subsidies are available for producers to contact private veterinarians for significant disease investigations in livestock.

Subsidies for disease investigation

• Subsidies of up to $2,000 are available for disease investigations in cattle conducted by private vets as part of the Northern Australia Biosecurity Surveillance project.
• Subsidies for disease investigations in horses and other species, subsidies of up to $250 are available.
• Remember that $300 is available for cattle showing nervous signs where a post-mortem is performed and the brain is collected for ’Mad Cow‘ exclusion testing.

Please contact your local vet or regional Livestock Biosecurity Officer for more information.

From April-June 2019, 62 livestock disease investigations were conducted to rule out emergency diseases or investigate suspect notifiable diseases across the Northern Territory (NT).