Payments made last week under the Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) 2025 Tag Testing Transition to Freedom, or what is commonly known as the BVD tag subsidy scheme, generated plenty of discussion and queries at the National Ploughing Championships.

Farmers who received a payment were sent SMS correspondence informing them that a payment has been made. However, many were unaware of the background to the payment and there was no usual press release from the Department of Agriculture providing information.

The payment relates to calves registered between 1 August 2024 and 31 July 2025, with a flat rate of €3.50 paid per registered calf, up to a maximum of 25 calves registered on a holding. This gives a maximum payment of €87.50/herd. The payment is made automatically to farmers based on eligible calf registration data, with no application procedure required.

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The 2025 payment increased by €1.10 per registered calf, or €27.50 for a holding receiving the maximum level of support. In announcing the support payment last April, Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon reported that the payment “will assist farmers in further driving the levels of the disease”.

Future progress

The payment has again raised questions as to the future of the BVD National Eradication Programme and puts a spotlight on funding ahead of Budget 2026. Recent advice from Animal Health Ireland (AHI) cautioning farmers to treat the risk of BVD entering their herds, with the highest degree of caution, and stating that if momentum can be achieved Ireland will move towards BVD-free status has also raised plenty of discussion and queries on if BVD-free status will be applied for in 2025.

There is no information on whether or not the Department of Agriculture will apply in 2025 for BVD-free status under EU Animal Health Law. To meet the requirements of EU Animal Health Law, Ireland must “achieve an 18-month period without the disclosure of a confirmed BVD persistently infected animal with 99.8% of cattle establishments BVD free, accounting for 99.9% of the bovine population”.

The Irish Farmers Journal understands that discussions are ongoing on whether Ireland will move to apply for BVD-free status in 2025. There was more positivity on this being completed earlier in 2025 but an increase in cases has questioned if this should be progressed.

Securing BVD freedom prohibits the vaccination of animals for BVD apart from exceptional circumstances. Even if Ireland was to achieve BVD Freedom it does not bring an end to tissue testing, with monitoring required for at least two years and tissue tagging viewed as the best method of achieving this.

As mentioned earlier, there is a closer spotlight on support and the next steps taken by Minister Heydon and his department ahead of Budget 2026 and beyond.

Programme results

The latest BVD programme results published by AHI paint a more positive picture than earlier this year. The number of BVD-positive animals identified and herd prevalence rates up to week are detailed in Table 1. While the number of BVD-positive animals identified continues to trend 30% above 2024 levels, the herd prevalence levels is running 6% higher. This figure was running at a double-digit increase earlier in the year and there were fears that it could track well above 2024 levels, which thankfully now appears not to be the case. The increase in animals identified relates to a higher number of substantial herd breakdowns, which remains a concern.