The latest statistics from Animal Health and Welfare NI (AHWNI), the body responsible for the bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) eradication programme in NI, show that just short of 16,000 cattle in NI have an unknown BVD status.

These cattle were all born since tissue tagging became compulsory on 1 March 2016. Within this total, 12,801 are less than one year old. The remaining 3,066 cattle are kept in 1,266 herds across NI.

The unknown BVD status could be for a number of reasons, including an empty sample being sent to the lab for analysis, or some farmers choosing to ignore the rules around testing.

Cattle with an unknown BVD status cannot move off the farm to another holding

The legislation requires all newborn calves to be sampled within 20 days of birth and the tissue sample then sent to an approved lab within seven days. Cattle with an unknown BVD status cannot move off the farm to another holding.

On enquiry, BVD programme manager Sharon Verner confirmed that AHWNI has contacted owners of cattle with an unknown status, encouraging them to take action to establish whether animals are infected with BVD.

Vital

“It is vital for the NI Eradication Programme that the BVD status of all cattle is known so that BVD positive animals can be identified and culled,” she said.

Farmers can either take a sample by applying a supplementary ear tissue tag available from local tag suppliers, or get their vet to blood sample the animals concerned.

It is also understood that the UFU has suggested that all NI farm quality assurance scheme (FQAS) herds that have animals over one year old with an unknown status, should have a non-conformance recorded.

Rule change

That would be in addition to the recent FQAS rule change where assurance status will be removed if a farm retains a persistently infected (PI) animal more than 35 days after an initial positive test.

At the start of June, there were 449 PI animals in 295 herds

Meanwhile, the most recent data from AHWNI shows that BVD numbers in NI continue on a downward trend. At the start of June, there were 449 PI animals in 295 herds.

A total of 193 herds have retained 277 animals for more than 35 days after a positive test result.

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