- The scheme covers four of the most important endemic infectious diseases
- Herd owners may test for any or all diseases at the same time.
- Herd owners joining the scheme will pay AFBI a membership fee plus the costs of testing
Join the Scheme
Membership includes:
- Veterinary advice on testing, results and biosecurity
- Annual certification of disease free status, when achieved
- Certification for batches of accredited animals going to sales
- Advertising of herd details, if requested
- The scheme is conducted according to the guidelines of Cattle Health Certification Standards
(UK) (CHeCS), a self-regulatory body set up by the cattle industry to ensure consistency between different
schemes and herds. These guidelines cover requirements for sampling and biosecurity. CHeCS
technical document
- Samples are typically taken by a private veterinary practitioner and submitted to VSD
on the appropriate submission form. Samples must be appropriately identified.
Forms
for Download
- For each disease, herds may join the scheme at a number of different levels, depending
on circumstances and status:
- Monitoring programmes
- Testing carried out on bulk tank milk samples, so only available to dairy
herds.
- Lowest entry level requiring routine testing for BVD, IBR or leptospirosis every three
months.
- Monitoring gives a good assessment of the health status of the herd, and of changes in
this status over time.
- Depending on results, herd owners may then choose to follow a program of control and eradication
and finally accreditation of disease-free status.
- No requirements for biosecurity. If herds later progress to a higher level of control,
they must then keep a set of biosecurity rules designed to prevent accidental introduction of the disease
that they are trying to control (or from which they are already accredited free).
Table
1: Monitoring Programmes
| Dairy Milk Monitoring |
Bulk tank milk every 3
months (from each tank) |
Bulk tank milk every 3
months (from each tank) |
Not available |
Bulk tank milk every 3
months (from each tank) |
- Screening and Eradication programmes
- These programmes aim to reduce the effects of the diseases within herds
and in the longer term should help achieve freedom and accredited status.
- Herds must follow the biosecurity rules.
Biosecurity
- Requires a test program that may include blood, milk or faeces samples depending on the
disease and herd in question.
- For IBR, leptospirosis and Johne’s disease, an initial herd test (excluding younger stock)
is carried out. If the results are all negative, this may be the first step toward accreditation (see
below). If there are positive results, these animals may be removed from the herd. Where this is not
possible (e.g. large numbers of positive animals), vaccination may be used for some of these diseases.
If positive cattle are removed, then the initial herd test may then be repeated with a clear test then
being the first step toward accreditation.
- The programme for BVD is similar, although a range of testing strategies are available.
Table 2: Screening and Eradication testing
Initial herd screen |
All over 12 months plus non home-bred |
All over 12 months intended for breeding plus non home-bred |
All cattle over 2 years* |
All cattle over 4 months of age |
Removal of reactors |
Low numbers: cull and repeat herd test in 3-12 months High numbers-Use marker vaccine until initial seropositives have left the herd |
Low numbers: cull & repeat herd test in 6-12 months High numbers: Biosecurity and retest sentinel cattle, OR vaccinate herd (will delay accreditation) |
Cull reactors and offspring* Additional management protocols for colostrum and faeces |
Remove persistently infected cattle Test all calves born in the 12 months following removal of the last virus-positive
|
* For herds with high levels of reactor animals disclosed, or do not wish to progress
to accreditation, quarterly milk sampling may also be used as part of a management stategy.
- Accreditation programmes
- Aim to demonstrate freedom from a given infection, to maintain that freedom
and to certify the herd as free to allow the sale of accredited-free stock.
- For IBR, leptospirosis and Johne’s disease, an initial herd test (possibly excluding young
stock) is carried out. If all results are negative, a second herd test is carried out some time later.
If the results from this test are also negative, it may then be accredited for that disease. For Johne's
disease where animals from non-accredited herds have passed through quarantine testing and been added
to the herd they should not be sold as accredited animals until they have been in the herd for at least
two clear annual tests.
- The programme for BVD is similar, although a range of testing strategies are available.
- To keep accredited status for a given disease, herds must continue to follow the biosecurity
rules and to conduct regular sampling of selected cattle.
| No. of herd tests |
2 (can include initial herd screen) |
2 (can include initial herd screen) |
3 (can include initial herd screen) |
|
Interval between tests |
4 weeks-12 months |
6-12 months |
12 months |
12 months |
Cattle tested |
All over 12 months plus non home-bred |
All 2 years old and above. plus 1-2 year olds for breeding |
All over 2 years |
Bulk tank plus 10 from each separately managed group 9-18 months old (or at least 6 months if being sold)
|
Table 4: Testing to maintain accreditation
Dairy herd |
Every 3 months. - Bulk milk
Annually - Statistically-based blood sample from selected young stock over 12 months Sample size
- All breeding bulls
- All purchased cattle (if not from accredited herd)
- Marker-vaccinated cattle
- Reproductive failure and clinical disease testing as required
|
1, 2, 3, 4, 6 as for IBR |
Annual test- All cattle over 2 years Biennial test- All cattle over 2 years All non-accredited purchases tested every 12 months All cattle leaving the herd tested Clinical disease testing as required |
Every three months: - Bulk milk or first lactation test
Annually: - 10 from each separately managed group 9-18 months old (or at least 6 months if being sold)
- Reproductive failure and clinical disease testing as required
|
Beef herds |
Annually
2-6 above |
2, 3 ,4 ,6 as for IBR |
As for dairy herd |
Annually
2 and 3 above
|
Table 5: Sample Size for IBR and Leptospirosis for annual tests
in herds accredited free of infection
| Sample Size |
10 |
19 |
24 |
28 |
31 |
34 |
38 |
40 |
42 |
43 |
45 |
45
|
- Vaccinated monitored free programme
- Only available for BVDV and aims to control BVD through vaccination.
- This programme is aimed particularly at commercial herds selling stock for finishing.
- The absence of infection in young stock is used to demonstrate that the programme is effective.
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