Success of Bvd Programme Will Be Undermined Without Department Support – IFA

Animal Health

IFA Animal Health Chairman John Waters said the BVD scheme will fail to meet its objectives if the Minister for Agriculture does not provide the supports and incentives to encourage the disposal of PI calves.

He said IFA are seeking a payment of €250/suckler cow where farmers lose 10% or more of their calves as PIs and a continuation of the €15 knackery disposal cost of all Pi calves.

The IFA chairman said, “It is no surprise that farmers are reluctant to incur the financial loss of culling PI calves, particularly where large numbers are identified, in the absence of any financial incentive. This approach is detrimental to the health status of the herds involved and the early eradication of BVD from the national herd”.

The IFA chairman said farmers have and are continuing to make huge investments in the BVD programme and he again called on the Minister to play his part by supporting those that are forced into a disproportionate and unfair level of cost.

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