BCVA welcomes bTB testing decision

The BCVA has welcomed the announcement that calves younger than 180 days of age are temporarily exempt from bTB testing in officially TB-free herds.

The latest exemption applies only where testing cannot take place safely under the current COVID-19 restrictions, and OVs can also request backdating this measure to the start of lockdown (23 March).

Temporary

The new guidelines, which apply in both England and Wales, received ministerial clearance prior to this temporary exemption being implemented. They go on to indicate that if, in the opinion of both the testing vet and the herd keeper, a calf younger than 180 days of age can be tested while maintaining social distancing, then testing should take place as normal.

Exempted calves would still need a pre-movement test if they are to move off a holding, where that move would normally require it.

Safety

In its feedback to the APHA, the BCVA emphasised that vet and farmer safety was always paramount, but also recognised a complex series of far-reaching, unintended consequences of ceasing bTB testing altogether could exist, and for an unknown length of time.

As such, the recommendations considered how best to continue necessary cattle movement to ensure the safe future food production chain, protect cattle welfare and continue to maintain a level of TB surveillance across the country.

‘Positive’

BCVA president Nikki Hopkins said: “This temporary exemption is a really positive move and hopefully strikes a balance between keeping everyone safe, still maintaining the food chain and bTB surveillance, while allowing vets the flexibility to make informed testing decisions on farm, without the pressure of putting some farms under suspension.”

To support farm vets undertaking TB testing during COVID-19, the BCVA has created a decision-making tool.. Using this flowchart, farm vets can undertake a risk assessment that considers personal safety and that of the client.