The results of tests for foot-and-mouth disease on cattle from two farms, in Co Waterford and Co Kilkenny, will be known by the Department of Agriculture today.
Samples from two animals were sent to the Pirbright international laboratories at the weekend. Because of the Aer Lingus dispute they did not go until Saturday, but a Department spokesman stressed the cattle were not regarded as high-risk.
On Friday the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, said the samples were taken as part of ongoing surveillance.
A Department spokesman said yesterday that as symptoms were being displayed in only one animal in each of the herds, this was a positive sign because this strain of foot-and-mouth tends to show in a large number of bovines within a herd.
The Department of Agriculture, Army marksmen and Duchas officials will continue killing all sheep and some cattle on the Cooley peninsula today.
On Friday the Minister said he was seeking a voluntary cull of remaining animals on the peninsula. This involves around 15,000 sheep and 400 cattle. Mr Walsh said as long as there were sheep on the Cooley mountains, there was going to be a risk to all animals in the area.
However, early on Saturday tests taken from sheep belonging to the Rice family at Proleek, the location of the State's first foot-and-mouth outbreak, tested positive for antibodies.
These sheep, which were located on an out-farm of Mr Rice at Slievenaglough, about nine miles from Proleek, were slaughtered and rendered, but the samples dispatched to Pirbright showed they had at least been exposed to the disease.
The Department spokesman stressed that this did not mean the animals had the disease, and as a precaution it was decided early on Saturday to kill every sheep on the peninsula.
This was a setback for veterinary officials who had hoped the slaughter of 23,727 sheep; 600 cattle, 69 goats and 15 deer in the area around the Proleek farm and in the corridor north to the Border would contain the disease.
However, because of the fragmented nature of farms in the area and the fact that many of the farmers graze sheep on commonage on the mountains, the decision was taken to slaughter all susceptible animals.
The Department believes the cull could be completed as early as Tuesday.
Despite the use of a helicopter, and Army and Duchas sharpshooters, local hunters said they were surprised at the low number of deer and goats killed up to the weekend. They believe goats in particular are being missed by the hunters and remaining deer in the area will be very difficult to hunt down and kill.
Meanwhile, there has been no let-up in the tracing operation by the Garda and the Department's own special investigation unit. Over the weekend a number of farms were visited in the west and in Kilkenny, but the concentration is on the Louth area as the search continues to locate any sheep moved from the North or Britain to the Republic between February 1st and 21st when a ban on animal imports was imposed.
Pressure is mounting on the Monaghan Committee, which advises the Minister on disease controls and risk, to allow the artificial insemination service to resume. The Irish Farmers' Association National Dairy Committee chairman, Mr Padraig Walshe, said resumption of the AI service without delay was vital to plan for next year's calving season and milk production.