Minister Heydon provides update on Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) programme supports
- Foilsithe: 11 Márta 2026
- An t-eolas is déanaí: 11 Márta 2026
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon TD, today announced changes to the Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) Financial Support Programme for animals disclosed as positive in 2025.
The objective of the BVD Financial Support Programme is to minimise the incidence of BVD in the national herd through the testing of newborn calves and whole herd testing in herds that disclose one or more BVD test positive or inconclusive animals.
Minister Heydon stated:
“The efforts of farmers in recent years in driving down the level of disease is acknowledged and appreciated. This has allowed me to amend the financial supports I can provide farmers within the existing budgetary allocation for the BVD programme. This can only be done thanks to the hard work of all involved in the programme in reducing BVD levels in our national herd since 2013.”
Support for a dairy breed animal under the programme is increased from €160 to €200 and for a beef breed animal from €220 to €320 respectively, to be paid to farmers who disclosed BVD virus positive or inconclusive animals during 2025. Payments for 2025 born calves will be made in 2026.
The Minister added:
“The BVD programme should be seen as a huge success, and it has received great support from all stakeholders. However, it is essential that we reward all our efforts by achieving BVD free status. I would like to thank the work of Animal Health Ireland on the programme since its inception, and I am urging all stakeholders to work collectively to focus on reducing disease levels even further this year and achieving the eradication of this disease as soon as possible.”