Descriptive analysis of national bovine viral diarrhoea test data in England (2016-2023).

BACKGROUND

Bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) is an endemic disease in the UK. In England, a voluntary control and eradication scheme, BVDFree England, has been running since 2016.

METHODS

We analysed test results from 7005 herds that were submitted to BVDFree England between 2016 and 2023 to investigate changes in the prevalence of BVD in participating herds and engagement by farmers since the previously published analysis covering the period up to 2020.

RESULTS

Herds that tested for multiple consecutive years were more likely to be BVD negative in later testing years than when starting. Few herds were still positive after 5 years of testing. Overall, the prevalence of BVD-positive herds in the dataset declined between 2020 and 2023; however, fewer farmers joined the scheme for the first time each year since 2019 (214 in 2023 compared with 2614 in 2019).

LIMITATIONS: This dataset represents the herds that submit tests to BVDFree England and is not representative of all cattle herds in England.

CONCLUSION

Herds that tested for multiple consecutive years in the scheme were less likely to be BVD positive in later years of testing, and the prevalence of BVD in participating herds has continued to fall since 2020.