IBR testing for the National Beef Welfare Scheme

IBR is common in Irish beef and dairy herds, but animals can be infected and test positive even if they never had typical signs of the disease.

Group of young steers in the meadow

The launch of the new National Beef Welfare Scheme has brought a somewhat unwelcome reminder of Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis (IBR), a viral disease mainly associated with pneumonia and death but which can also result in reproductive losses, particularly abortions.

The one-year scheme essentially replaces the BEEP-S scheme, where applicants had to weigh the unweaned cow and calf, plus the option of either meal feeding around weaning, vaccination of calves, or faecal sampling.