Excellent BVD screening as just 0.3% untested

At end of January 2014, just 14,800 out of about 2.1 million calves registered in 2013 remained untested, in year one of the compulsory phase of the BVD eradication programme.

When calf deaths are taken into account, only 6,600 (0.3%) 2013-born calves are alive and untested.

Animal Health Ireland (AHI) says 0.8% of calves had a positive or inconclusive result in 2013, falling to 0.67% after negative confirmatory testing. Some 11.25% of herds tested in 2013 had one or more positives, with some 14,000 PIs identified. In February 2014, about 10,250 of these were recorded as dead, while 3,750 were still alive, in 2,500 herds (3% of breeding herds), based on data held on the Department of Agriculture’s Animal Identification and Move-ment System (AIMS).