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.
FREE BVD SCREENING HAS NOW ENDED. READ MORE ABOUT THE NEXT PHASE OF BVD ERADICATION IN WALES.
The Minister for Rural Affairs, Lesley Griffiths, made a statement on BVD eradication in Wales during a Welsh Government Plenary session on the 31/01/2023.
The clip in full is available to watch on the right.
The Gwaredu BVD voluntary screening programme was available to all 11,000 Welsh cattle farms from 2017 - 2022. We offered free BVD screening and the necessary support and guidance to ensure farmers could correctly and quickly identify herds infected with BVD. Financial support was also available to conduct PI hunts to identify any persistently infected (PI) animals in infected herds.
Over 9,200 (84%) of Welsh cattle farms engaged in the programme, with over a 1,000 of which conducting PI Hunts. Current funding for free Youngstock Screens and PI came to an end on 31 December 2022.
If you haven't tested through the Gwaredu BVD programme, ask your vet about BVD screening today or get in touch with our team for more information.
We have created a handy guide to help you to understand your BVD test results, status and information on what steps you should take after screening - click here to read our guide.
In summary, if you screen negative then great, we encourage you to share your status when selling, maintain high biosecurity measures and continue to screen annually. If you receive a positive screen, you are not alone, approximately 28% of herds receive a positive screen and a PI hunt might be needed. Read more about PI Hunting here.
Eradicating BVD from Wales is possible and is a priority for Gwaredu BVD. Eradicating the disease will improve herd health, productivity and profitability across Wales.
A BVD-free Wales will improve the reputation of Welsh cattle farming through promoting our dedication towards high animal welfare standards in such a competitive and global market.
Scotland and Ireland, along with many of our European neighbours are already well on their way towards BVD freedom, let's work together and add Wales to that list!