Minister urges renewed caution on BVD ahead of the 2024 breeding season

With the onset of the breeding season, which is the highest-risk period for the generation of Bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) persistently infected cattle, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue T.D has urged renewed caution on BVD over the next number of months.

With the success of the programme and as BVD prevalence reduces, so too does the natural immunity of the national herd to BVD. This, along with decreased overall use of vaccination, places herds at increased risk, if infection enters a herd.
The incursion of BVD into herds with reduced BVD immunity, can have devastating impacts, and lead to the generation of further BVD persistently infected cattle.

Research has shown that a BVD outbreak costs €63 per cow in dairy herds and €32 per cow in suckler herds, and this can lead to very substantial financial losses. In the past year, epidemiological investigations have identified the emergence of a small number of local clusters of infection, with infection having spread between herds – this is thought to result from the movement of animals, equipment and people. The situation in the North Kerry West Limerick area which was a concern in 2023 has improved markedly in 2024.

Further research has identified that herds within 5km of a positive herd are at an increased risk and the risk is highest for those herds within 400 metres of test positive herds. In this context the Minister is asking herdowners to focus on biosecurity – to protect their herds and support the final move towards BVD freedom.

The Minister emphasised that it most important that:

• Herds that have BVD test positive results in 2024 promptly engage with the BVD control programme, quickly remove all test positive animals, and complete the vaccination programme.
• Herds which had test positive cattle in 2023 complete their follow-up 2024 vaccination programme ahead of the breeding period.
• Herds that have been notified of BVD test positive cattle in their neighbourhood should seek advice from their veterinary practitioner, review their biosecurity practices, including vaccination policies, and enhance these where needed.

Concluding Minister McConalogue said “Under the guidance of Animal Health Ireland (AHI) and the BVD Implementation Group (BVDIG), Irish farmers have made tremendous progress in the eradication of BVD.

The programme is now at a critical point and I am urging all farmers to be mindful of the importance of biosecurity practices including attention to boundary fences, inward and outward movement of cattle, vaccination, the washing and disinfection of any shared machinery, equipment or facilities, to reduce the risk of infection so that we as a country can achieve BVD free status, providing long term benefit for livestock farmers.