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Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) animal health chair TJ Maher has called on Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue to bring forward a support package for the bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) eradication programme, as testing and sample postage costs continue to rise.
The cost of posting samples has almost tripled since 2013, when BVD testing became mandatory for farmers, with the latest An Post cost hike that came into effect on 1 February.
“Farmers entered the BVD programme in good faith; they have invested close on €120m and met their obligations, bringing it to within touching distance of recognised BVD freedom,” he said.
“It is now time for the Minister to play his part and set out his funding proposals for 2024 and future years.”
The Irish Farmers Journal reported on Tuesday that the Department of Agriculture is still finalising plans to compensate farmers for the testing component of the BVD eradication programme in 2024.
BVD freedom
Maher stated that the €2/calf up to a maximum of 25 calves per herd does not cover the full extent of farmer testing costs for the disease and that these payment rates must rise.
He also claimed that reaching BVD freedom is essential to farmer confidence in Animal Health Ireland’s (AHI) disease control model, with farmers “rightly furious” at the body’s approach to BVD and infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR).
“Both the Minister and AHI have a job of work to do to restore farmers’ confidence in the AHI model. The starting point for this is a satisfactory response to the on-farm testing costs for BVD.”
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