Animal Health and Welfare NI (AHWNI), the industry body that administers the bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) eradication programme in Northern Ireland, is pushing for the introduction of stronger restrictions on herds that retain persistently infected (PI) animals.

It has asked DAERA to notify NI farmers if BVD PI cattle are being retained on neighbouring farms. The so called ‘name and shame’ letters were part of a suite of measures introduced in recent years to the southern BVD eradication programme.

AHWNI said that these proposals are still under development

AHWNI also wants to see movement restrictions on herds that retain BVD-positive cattle and the provision of targeted veterinary advice for these farms, both of which are also part of the southern programme and credited with bringing about a significant reduction in PI animals.

AHWNI said that these proposals are still under development, but farmers south of the border will be keen to see them introduced, as there have been question marks in the past on the feasibility of moving away from compulsory testing of all animals until progress is made in NI.

The latest figures indicate that the number of BVD positive cattle on NI farms has fallen to below 500 for the first time. There were 380 retained BVD-positive cattle in 264 herds in NI at the start of January 2020.