Farming industry rallies to beat costly BVD

A national drive to eradicate bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) has attracted the support of 70 industry organisations.
Seventy organisations are behind the BVD Free England campaign.Seventy organisations are behind the BVD Free England campaign.
Seventy organisations are behind the BVD Free England campaign.

The disease is believed to cost around £50m a year to manage and the new voluntary eradication programme, BVD Free England, is aimed at ridding it from England’s cattle herds by 2022.

To do so, farmers are asked to routinely identify and remove any animals that persistently suffer from BVD infections.

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Richard Findlay, regional livestock board chairman at the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), urged farmers to accept the challenge.

He said: “Although eradicating BVD will not be easy, this is something we can do and guarantee a real boost not just to our business profitability but importantly to the overall health and welfare of our national herd.”

The NFU will hold the first in a series of BVD eradication workshops at South Ross Farm, Ellerton, York on July 28. For more details, call NFU North East on 01904 451550.

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