It is a pleasure to be before the committee today. On behalf of the board and the team at Animal Health Ireland, AHI, we sincerely thank members for the invitation to address the committee. I am joined by Dr. Maria Guelbenzu, programme manager for the BVD eradication programme, and, having worked in this area for many years, the country's foremost authority on BVD.
AHI is a not-for-profit public-private partnership that was established in 2009. It brings together farmers, vets, industry and the Government. We work on behalf of our stakeholders and are focused on controlling endemic diseases that significantly impact Irish farming profitability through reduced production, fertility issues and increased veterinary costs. Key health programmes managed by AHI include IBR, Johne’s disease, mastitis control, lameness, calf health, pig health and - the reason we are here today - BVD. In the context of all of our programmes, we gather all the best scientific advice that we can through our technical working groups and then programme operational strategies are discussed and agreed at implementation groups that consist of all stakeholders, including farmers, their representatives, vets and so on.
I want to paint a picture for the committee of where we have come from and where we are now. It is 6 May 2011. Spring-calving herds have just finished and the breeding season has commenced. BVD is rampant across the country. Fast forward to today, 6 May, and we are truly on the cusp of BVD freedom. BVD did not arrive suddenly into Ireland. BVD is a highly infectious disease. It hijacks the immune system of an unborn calf, creating a persistently infected animal that sheds virus silently, quietly infecting animals around it before, in some instances, anyone even knows it is there. It became endemic in Ireland the same way it did across most of the cattle-producing world: gradually, over decades, through live animal trade.
By the time the compulsory eradication programme launched on 1 January 2013, the virus had been circulating in Irish herds for so long that herd-level antibody prevalence was approaching 100%. That year, 9,066 Irish herds, approximately 11.7% of the national breeding herd, had BVD. Roughly one in every nine herds in the country. By end of last year, that number had fallen to around 200 herds. Today, we have approximately 100 herds remaining. Although the figure will rise this year, we are seeing a positive trend and a good direction of travel.
Since the start of the programme, there has been reduction of more than 97%. That is what collective effort looks like. That collective effort element is crucial because this is a programme that started in response to an ask from farmers, vets, scientists and academics as well as the wider industry. The 2010 Delphi policy study, which involved significant farmer surveying and consultation, found that a BVD eradication programme was critical.
This was not a solo run by AHI or something that we set up by ourselves. It was an ask of industry, including farmers. I sincerely thank the farmers, some of whom were at the committee today, who have diligently tagged and tested their calves each year. They are the ones who have driven this programme forward. I also thank the vets, industry bodies and the Department of agriculture for the vision and leadership they showed in establishing it.
I accept that the duration of this programme has caused frustration. This frustration is legitimate. Unfortunately, eradication of a disease is not a simple exercise. It is impacted by many possible variables, including the behaviour of the disease agent; the animal populations affected; the availability, effectiveness and appropriate usage of vaccines; and human behaviour. Progress is rarely linear and can be an uphill battle, at times requiring tweaks and changes. However, the facts speak for themselves. The BVD programme has delivered, is delivering and will deliver BVD freedom if we stand together and finish the job.
Each year, we work with the BVD technical working group and implementation group to develop and introduce further measures that supress BVD. Each year, these measures have worked. Our focus in 2026, which Dr. Guelbenzu will talk about, is building on biosecurity, vaccination, forward tracing and other ways to supress this virus. The programme has also delivered for the economy. A study carried out by IFAC for AHI last year found that the BVD programme delivers annual savings of €183 million through healthier animals, reduced antibiotic usage and so on.
To conclude, I will offer two cautionary notes from our own history. In 1990, Ireland was down to just nine herds with brucellosis. That programme was let slip and it took the best part of two decades to finish. In the 1960s, the then Minister for Agriculture, Charlie Haughey, wrote to his Department staff to thank them for eradicating TB. The country was down to just over 40 herds with TB. This too was let slip. We cannot allow the same to happen with BVD. We are at the end of the journey. We must be brave, go full throttle and finish what farmers, vets, industry and Government started 14 years ago. We can do this and we will do this if we stand together and finish the job.
That is the opening statement. I am very happy to take questions from everybody. I again give thanks for the support. We launched an action plan at the back end of last year. Many of the committee members who are now here were present. I thank the committee for its support. I am absolutely happy to answer any and all questions.
