The Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) has submitted its response to the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affair’s (DAERA) consultation on the proposed introduction of bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) herd restrictions.
UFU deputy president John McLenaghan said, “The DAERA consultation focuses on herd restrictions for herds which are not complying with best practice and after submitting our own response, we’re now looking towards the release of the summary report. The UFU has been lobbying DAERA for years regarding additional measures to drive BVD eradication in Northern Ireland (NI). In the Republic of Ireland (ROI) they have almost eradicated BVD and are aiming to achieve BVD free status in 2023. Meanwhile in NI, despite making good gains since beginning this journey, there are still a lot of steps that need to be taken to speed up the progress and reach the end goal.
“The UFU are fully supportive of all measures that will help us in our efforts as we work towards eradicating BVD as quickly and effectively as possible. Especially when trade barriers are already arising for producers moving cattle over the border for breeding and production as they must meet new requirements as a result of the lag in implementing key BVD measures here.
“It’s critical that a full suite of measures is implemented in order to be successful in eradicating BVD in the near future.”
