THIS month saw the release of the long-awaited consultation on the compulsory Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) scheme for Wales, writes FUW president Glyn Roberts.

The release of this consultation represents a tremendous amount of industry effort and illustrates a serious commitment to tackling and eradicating this costly viral disease from cattle herds in Wales.

BVD is an immuno-suppressive disease and, as such, causes a variety of other health issues in infected stock.

This includes abortions, infertility and mucosal disease and the estimated annual costs of BVD presence to a 100-cow beef farm and a 130-cow dairy farm are around £4,500 and £15,000 per annum respectively.

The disease is maintained in herds by Persistently Infected (PI) animals that are infected in the uterus during early pregnancy.

PI animals never recover from BVD, shed the virus for life and represent a significant source of infection to the rest of the herd.

Alongside compulsory annual screening and movement restrictions for positive herds, the management of PI animals forms a significant part of the proposed BVD legislative programme.

The consultation proposes that, where a PI animal is identified, there would be a legal requirement for cattle keepers to isolate the PI indefinitely from the rest of the herd or send it directly to slaughter. 

Of course, FUW and wider industry involvement in BVD eradication did not begin with the release of the recent BVD consultation.

Since 2017, over 9,000 out of the approximate 11,000 Welsh Cattle farms have participated in the voluntary and industry-led Gwaredu BVD programme.

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This programme, which is funded by the Welsh Government, provides voluntary BVD youngstock screening, assists keepers in identifying PI animals within their herds and provides advice on how to achieve BVD freedom.

From January 1, 2023, funding from Rural Payments Wales will no longer be available for GwareduBVD and this voluntary scheme will therefore be coming to an end.

GwareduBVD could, and should, be viewed as the industry’s precursor to a legislative BVD programme in Wales.

The high level of involvement in GwareduBVD is great news for the industry as more and more cattle keepers get to know their BVD status and, where appropriate, hunt and remove PI animals in a bid to achieve BVD freedom for their herd.

However, under the voluntary GwareduBVD programme, it was not possible to ensure that PI animals were isolated or removed as there were no compulsory restrictions on such stock.

Management of PIs under the voluntary scheme has therefore been inconsistent as it is therefore hoped that future legislation will improve on, and retain, the gains made under the previous voluntary programme by tackling the management of PIs.

This public consultation on a legislative approach to controlling and eradicating BVD in Wales is now open.

Staff from the FUW’s policy team will be travelling virtually around the counties over the next month to discuss this consultation and to answer any queries you may have about how this compulsory programme will work at the ground level.

Members should contact their county office for the date and time of the BVD consultation meeting most suitable to them and I would urge you to get involved and make your views on this important issue known.