Animal Health & Welfare Wales
Animal Health & Welfare Wales (AHWW), established to support the Welsh farming industry by delivering solutions to some of its key animal health and welfare challenges.
Animal Health & Welfare Wales (AHWW), established to support the Welsh farming industry by delivering solutions to some of its key animal health and welfare challenges.
Gwaredu BVD young stock screen is free of charge, with an additional £1000 available to support PI hunts if needed.
Take advantage of free online CPD training by clicking the following link:
Gwaredu BVD (CPD Online Training)
Bovine Viral Diarrhoea is a viral disease in cattle that causes immunosuppression and reproductive failure. The disease can reduce fertility, increase incidences of abortion and cause pneumonia in affected stock, creating drastic, long-lasting personal and financial effects on all affected client farms.
Testing happens alongside the farm’s annual TB test, and requires just five animals between nine and 18 months to be blood sampled. The samples can be posted immediately to the lab where they will be tested for BVD antibodies. If there are BVD antibodies present on the farm, then finding and removing persistently infected animals is recommended, as they can cause problems to the rest of the herd.
Royal Welsh Show 2019
Lesley Griffiths, AM Minister for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs and Chief Veterinary Officer for Wales, Christianne Glossop joined us at the Royal Welsh Show 2019 to talk about the importance of testing for BVD and knowing your status in the last year of Gwaredu BVD free testing.
Hay Veterinary Group visit Pendre Farm for their annual TB test as well as blood testing for BVD.
The Gwaredu BVD £10 million three year voluntary screening programme is available to all 11,000 Welsh cattle farms, and is managed by Coleg Sir Gâr’s Agriculture Research Centre in partnership with the Royal Veterinary College. It involves BVD screening at the same time as TB testing to provide the necessary support and guidance to ensure farmers can correctly and quickly identify herds infected with BVD. Support will also be available to find the persistently infected (PI) animals from infected herds.
Eradicating BVD is a priority of the Wales Animal Health and Welfare Framework Group, and is funded by the Welsh Government’s Rural Development Programme. Over 75% of cattle farms in Wales have been screened so far.