The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
‘We’re winning battle to eradicate cattle disease’
Animal health: Chief vet expecting victory over BVD within three years
The battle to eradicate the pernicious wasting disease bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) from the Scottish cattle industry has been lengthy but yesterday Scotland’s chief vet claimed victory could come in the next two to three years.
Speaking at the Moredun Foundation meeting in the presence of HRH The Princess Royal, Sheila Voas claimed: “We can do this. We have the controls. We have the technology.”
She admitted the planned eradication programme had not been easy and, as it had progressed, it had had to be tightened up.
One example of this occurred when Persistently Infected cattle – the carriers of the disease - had been culled from herds but instead of heading straight for slaughter had gone on to farms for fattening – thus spreading the disease.
Despite such setbacks, several areas in Scotland were now clear of the disease although there are still problems with BVD in some predominantly dairy areas, said Ms Voas.
She paid tribute to Moredun scientists who had developed diagnostics that had helped in the eradication programme, and challenged them to come up with a foolproof test for another wasting disease,
Johnes.
“The industry would like to see the back of Johnes but until we have a totally reliable test for it, we should not start as there would be a danger of getting rid of animals without total certainty about their health status,” said Ms Voas.
Former NFU Scotland president and chairman of Livestock Health Scotland, Nigel Miller, agreed the livestock industry would like to see Johnes removed from the scene but with no 100% accurate test, said it would have to wait.
He suggested the industry might consider tackling infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR), a highly contagious and infectious viral disease that affects cattle of all ages.