On 1 July, the Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (Wales) Order 2024 will be
introduced to facilitate an industry-led approach to eradicating
the disease.
Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) is a widespread viral disease
affecting cattle, which can lead to abortion, infertility,
deformed calves, and compromised herd health and welfare,
particularly among young stock. Herds infected with BVD often
experience increased cases of calf pneumonia and scours, as well
as reduced productivity and other cattle health and welfare
issues. BVD is not recognised to be a risk to public health or
food safety.
Cattle sector representatives and Welsh Government have been
closely working together to develop legislation to facilitate the
next steps towards the eradication of BVD in Wales. This
compulsory phase of the industry-led BVD eradication programme
starts this summer.
Eradicating BVD from Wales will improve standards of animal
health and welfare and help Wales achieve its Net Zero targets
sooner. Eradicating BVD from a typical Welsh herd of 40 cattle
could reduce the carbon footprint by around 70,200kg CO2e
annually.
In addition, eradication should bring significant farm-level
financial benefits stemming from improved cattle health, welfare,
and productivity, including increased milk yield and reproduction
rates.
From 1st July 2024, the industry-led BVD
legislation that Welsh Government is introducing will require
keepers to:
- Screen their herds for Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) annually
by testing a small number of cattle.
- Isolate Persistently Infected (PI) animals from the rest of
the herd for the remainder of their lives.
Cattle keepers will have until 1st July 2025 to
complete their annual herd test.
These measures will support the innovative, industry-led approach
to stopping the spread of BVD, safeguarding animal welfare, and
maintaining a healthy and sustainable cattle industry in Wales.
Cattle industry representatives, with Welsh Government
assistance, will set up a Wales BVD governance body involving a
comprehensive partnership and farmer support structure to
facilitate BVD eradication efforts.
Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs, , said: “I understand and appreciate the
serious impact of BVD, not just on standards of animal health and
welfare, but also the impact on production and the serious
economic costs of this disease to farm businesses.
“The eradication of BVD in Wales is a long-standing commitment,
and I fully support industry and Government working together in
close partnership to achieve this outcome.”
Chief Veterinary Officer for Wales, Dr Richard Irvine, said: “The
benefits of being BVD-free include increased cattle health,
welfare, productivity and fertility. Eliminating BVD can reduce
costs and the carbon footprint of your herd. Maintaining a
BVD-free status strengthens the health and welfare of our cattle
farms in Wales, and can also help reduce antibiotic usage.
Embarking on this next phase of the BVD eradication programme in
Wales is a really important step. I would like to recognise the
industry-led approach, backed up by this new BVD legislation. We
can achieve eradication through the ongoing efforts of all cattle
farmers, working closely with their vets, to screen and protect
their herds from BVD.”
Supporting comments:
, Head of Agricultural
Research & Development and former manager of the Gwaredu BVD
scheme, said: “It's very important for us to work to
eradicate BVD from our herds in Welsh, and this is one disease
which is possible to eradicate. Many other countries are working
to get rid of the disease and Welsh will now join Ireland,
Scotland, and England to get rid of the disease.”
Dr Neil Paton, from Royal Veterinary College,
said: “The BVD virus causes a huge impact on the welfare
of cattle and getting rid of the virus will mean a much healthier
cattle population and a much more productive one too”.
Notes to editors
Notes:
- The Welsh Animal Health and Welfare Framework Group
recognised the control and eradication of BVD from Welsh as a top
priority for the Welsh cattle industry and supported the
development and implementation of the voluntary, industry-led
scheme for Welsh – Gwaredu BVD. £10m funding was secured from the
Welsh Government's Rural Development Programme 2014-2020. The
Gwaredu BVD scheme was launched at the 2017 Royal Welsh Show and
ended on 31st December 2022.
- There are approximately 11,000 cattle herds in Wales. During
the Gwaredu BVD voluntary programme between July 2017 and
December 2022, 9,163 of these herds were screened for BVD
(approximately 83%) and 2,539 (28%) of these herds tested
positive for the BVD virus. These results showed that a sizeable
proportion of cattle herds in Wales were affected by BVD. This
highlighted the importance of underpinning the industry-led
efforts to eradicate BVD from Wales with a comprehensive
legislative framework to protect the national herd, eradicate the
disease and improve herd health and productivity.
- Despite the successes seen during the Gwaredu BVD voluntary
phase, the challenge remains to ensure PI animals are isolated
and removed as soon as practicably possible from cattle herds to
prevent the source and spread of BVD virus within and between
farms. This is necessary to ensure an effective step towards BVD
eradication is taken.
