The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Slow progress on BVD ‘down to some farmers’
VIRUS: Union figure appalled at number of infected cattle on certain farms
The methodology used by Scotland’s bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) eradication scheme has come under fire from farmers’ union vice-president Gary Mitchell.
He is frustrated by the slow progress of the scheme and the anomalies thrown up by using blood testing rather than tissue tagging of animals.
“We should have tissue tagged from day one,” he said.
“But we need to nail this now or all the work that has been done and the money spent on this scheme will have been squandered.”
However Mr Mitchell directed most of his criticism at farmers who fail to get rid of persistently infected (PI) cattle.
Mr Mitchell said he took the decision to tissue tag his own stock three years ago as it was the only way to discover the BVD status of every cow on the farm.
He is now close to securing BVD-free status and says he wishes every farmer was as committed.
“I have been shocked to discover how many PI animals there are in the country and found out there are 24 on one farm.
“That’s ludicrous because vets tell me very few of them will make it to the end of their adult life and they will go on spreading the virus.”
In Scotland, there are still 382 known PI animals at large and 140 holdings have two or more PIs.
“Do these farmers understand this disease? What on earth do their neighbours think?,” Mr Mitchell said.
“If you are unwilling to remove these animals, then as an industry, we need all farmers to know just where these PIs are, because they are putting a lot of good work at risk.
Mr Mitchell questioned if the time had now come to ‘name and shame’ farmers who risk the country’s disease-free plans.
“It’s said.
“We don’t want consumers thinking we’re waiting until we’re told to do it.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said the BVD scheme had been developed alongside industry and it was time we got this tidied up,” he estimated that the cattle sector would save around £80 million over 10 years.
He added: “During the course of the scheme the level of exposure to BVD has dropped from 40% to 10% of herds which is mainly due to the efforts of cattle keepers and vets to test the Scottish breeding herd, identify sources of BVD infection and remove them.”