Calves returned from marts due to BVD delay

A number of farmers encountered problems when selling calves at weekly mart sales during the first two weeks of January, as Christmas holiday closures at laboratories delayed BVD tests being completed.

As a result, a small number of farmers were notified on arrival to marts that their animals were unable to be sold as a negative BVD status had not been confirmed on APHIS.

Animal Health and Welfare Northern Ireland (AHWNI) officials, who are responsible for administering the BVD eradication scheme in NI, maintain that the issue is limited to a very small number of farmers.

Holiday closures at laboratories were part of the problem, although disruption to postal services is another factor that delayed test results being delivered.

However, a more common issue that can cause an issue at sale is where a farmer requests a re-test after a positive or inconclusive result.While the farmer might get notified of the result of the retest, it might not be automatically logged onto the APHIS system.

Farmers should check the BVD status on APHIS before moving the animal off the farm.

PI calves falling

Meanwhile, AHWNI has confirmed that the number of persistently infected (PI) calves alive in NI cattle herds during the final two months of 2018 fell by 218 head from 908 to 690 head, which represents just 0.04% of the NI cattle population.

Over the same period, there has also been a drop in the number of PI calves retained on farms for more than 35 days after an initial positive result. That number fell from 726 to 557.

PI calves cannot be sold directly off-farm to another holding, through the mart or to an abattoir, so there is little option but to cull.

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