BVD tests to last for a further two years

BVD tissue tagging will continue to remain a reality for farmers for the next year or two at least – as small pockets of the infection still survive on Irish farms despite an eradication programme being in place for the last four years.

Galway IFA Livestock Committee Chairman, Michael Flynn, said that the main reason for the failure of the BVD eradication to meet its deadline lay with the Department’s refusal to initially introduce an adequate compensation scheme to facilitate the quick culling of all infected bovines.

Mr. Flynn warned that the IFA didn’t want a repeat of previous disease eradication scheme delays where the programmes ‘dragged on and pn’.

“This is a serious cost issue for suckler and dairy farmers right across the country. Unfortunately a very, very small percentage of infected animals are still showing up – if a proper compensation scheme had been introduced at the start, this wouldn’t have happened,” said Michael Flynn.

He added that the IFA had been pressing for a one tag system to cover farmers for BVD and also for those involved in the BDGP (Beef Data and Genomics Programme) but little progress seemed to have been made with the Department on that.

“Tissue tagging for BVD will be here for 2017 at least which is longer than we expected. We all to see the complete eradication of this disease as soon as possible,” said Michael Flynn.

IFA National Health Committee Chairman, Bert Stewart, said that the extra testing and costs involved with the BVD eradication programme, were unacceptable and had to be addressed with through the establishment of a new funding model.

For more, read  this week’s Connacht Tribune.