BVDFree England

Bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) is one of the biggest disease issues facing the cattle industry today costing UK farmers in total between £25-£61m. The BVDFree England Scheme is the national, voluntary, industry-led scheme, launched on 1 July 2016 with the aim of eliminating BVD from all cattle in England by 2022. 

The scheme is built around a national database which is searchable for results of individual animals and herds testing for BVD under the scheme.

By entering a UK tag number, an individual animal's BVD status can be found or you can search the database for a herd's BVD status using the CPH number.

This provides farmers with recognition, confidence and traceability when buying and selling BVDFree cattle.

Why do we need BVDFree England?

Many countries, including Scotland, Ireland and NI, have taken action to eradicate BVD as they recognise it as one of the biggest disease issues facing the cattle industry. Hence BVDFree England was created, with the backing of the NFU, NBA, Holstein Group, BCVA, LAA and AHDB, to start England on the path to BVD elimination. This coordinated approach, with the help of the 105 BVDFree supporter organisations, will enable BVD elimination to become a reality.

How will we eliminate BVD?

Ultimately BVD elimination will only happen with the support of cattle farmers, vets and the industry. Farmers can show their support by joining the BVDFree scheme today.

By joining the BVDFree scheme, you agree to:

• Actively engage in BVD control in order to eliminate the disease from your herd
• Report all BVD testing results from your herd to the BVDFree database
• Allow herd and individual animal status to be openly accessible through the BVDFree database
• Not move persistently infected (PI) animals other than directly to slaughter or through a dedicated red meat slaughter market

Once a solid case can be created, BVDFree will go to government to look for their support in eliminating BVD from the English cattle herd.

For more information on the scheme visit BVDFree England.