IFA warns farmers to ensure all imported animals are disease-free

Farmers need to be extremely vigilant to ensure that all animals imported into Ireland are disease-free, IFA president John Bryan has warned.

Based on analysis undertaken by the Department of Agriculture, the IFA understands that a high prevalence of bovine viral diarrhoea disease has been detected in some imported consignments.

John Bryan said: “Farmers are paying a very high price in terms of the damage to the high animal health status of the national livestock herd from imports. They have been left with no alternative other than to undertake costly eradication programmes to overcome the mistakes of the past.”