Blood and tissue samples from a three-month-old calf found to have lesions on its mouth and feet on a farm at Inchigeela, west Cork, were sent yesterday to the Pirbright foot-and-mouth test laboratory in Surrey.
A Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development spokesman said the samples were being sent as a precaution and there was no major concern. No other animals on the farm were sick.
The samples are the second ones to be sent to Pirbright in the past three days after a break of more than a week when no samples were sent. The other samples were taken from a sheep in Co Carlow on Thursday.
The Department also announced yesterday it would not lift the ban on sheep shearing until May 28th.
It had said it would review the ban on shearing on May 21st but has decided to delay the date.
But other foot-and-mouth restrictions were eased yesterday when the movement of horses without permit inside the State and for export, was allowed.
Farmers who want to move animals to other parts of their farm will be allowed to collect permits to do so from local district veterinary offices rather than through Bandon, Co Cork, the national control centre.
The Department also said permit applications for farm-to-farm movement could be obtained by fax from Monday next rather than by post. The fax number is 023-29160.
Permits for sending animals for slaughter from farms will be issued by the district veterinary offices from Wednesday next rather than through local Teagasc offices.
There were no cases of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy reported this week and the Department said 76,035 cattle aged over 30 months had been tested for BSE since January 2nd and there had been only one positive case.