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New project to eradicate BVD in Wales
Bovine viral diarrhoea( BVD) in cattle is widespread in Wales. Its effect is serious and far-reaching, causing reduced fertility, abortion and pneumonia. A new project is being launched today at this year’ s Royal Welsh Show with the aim of supporting Welsh farmers in eradicating this virus.
T he new project, entitled‘ Animal Health & Welfare Wales – Eradicating Bovine Vial Diarrhoea in Wales’ is a voluntary eradication programme which will help farmers identify herds infected with BVD. It will be managed by Coleg Sir Gâr’ s Agriculture Research Centre in partnership with the Royal Veterinary College( RVC).
The project has been funded by a £ 9 million award from the Welsh Government’ s Rural Development Programme and all cattle farms in
08 | Farming Monthly | August 2017
Wales are eligible to be part of it, irrespective of size.
BVD is a viral and immunosuppressive disease maintained by a small population of animals that become persistently infected and are a risk to the health of the rest of the herd. This affects the farms production system in terms of cost and animal welfare issues that can lead to pneumonia, scour, infertility and reproductive disorders.
Dr Neil Paton, Lecturer in Farm Animal Health and Production at the RVC, has played a significant part in the project’ s development
agrifood conference Banquet dinner announced to close day one of Leicestershire County Show
The Leicestershire Agricultural Society, organisers of the Leicestershire County Show, has announced details of an Annual County Show Dinner to close day one of the two-day event.
L eicestershire County Show will take place on Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th August at an 85- acre site located beside Airfield Business Park in Market Harborough. The event celebrates rural life with livestock and equine classes and a range of family-friendly entertainment. To conclude events on Saturday, organisers have announced a banquet dinner which will be open to the public. The dinner will take place in the members’ marquee at the show ground.
A ticket to the dinner provides guests with a three course meal followed by an evening of dancing. The meal includes a pâté salad followed by a roast beef dinner or vegetable wellington. Guests will then have a choice of a citrus cheesecake or chocolate torte for dessert before local covers band Red Lane take to the stage.
“ This is going to be a special evening with great food and entertainment. Because we’ re aiming to create a luxurious evening, we’ re making lounge suits the dress code,” comments David Young of the Leicestershire Agricultural Society.“ The dinner offers the perfect opportunity for guests to unwind and mingle after a day spent enjoying the show.”
Over the two days, entertainment for the crowds will include a motocross freestyle stunt team, a classic car and tractor rally, a traditional fun fair which includes dodgems and a ferris wheel and a classic car rally. In addition, there will be a wide range of trade shows and over 50 craft stands.
The Annual County Show Dinner will start at 7pm on Saturday 25th August and finish at midnight. Tickets are priced at £ 30 per person and groups of people can book a table of ten for £ 300. A ticket application form can be found at www. leicestershirecountyshow. c o. uk and will act as the Veterinary Technical lead for its duration. Dr Neil Paton, said:“ BVD represents a significant drain on the UK cattle industry and is an unpleasant virus they face. This new disease eradication programme is the first industry driven initiative that aims to eradicate a disease in Wales. It is a strong sign of intent from the Welsh Government and its commitment to resolving this problem.”
John Griffiths, Agriculture Research centre manager based at Coleg Sir Gâr’ s Gelli Aur campus who is also chair of Wales Animal Health and Welfare Framework’ s BVD eradication subgroup, said:“ This new voluntary disease eradication programme will be conducted alongside Wales’ s annual herd TB testing regime to help identify herds infected with BVD. Support will also be available to find the PI animals from infected herds.
“ The testing phase will continue over a three-year period when complete we’ ll hopefully be in an improved position with regards to BVD in Wales with the aim of making Wales BVD free.”
Scientists focus on the future of global food supply at major
World-leading figures in crop science and sustainability have met to debate some of the most pressing challenges facing the future of global food systems.
M ore than 200 scientific experts from across the globe attended the 2017 N8 AgriFood Sustainable Food Production conference, held at Durham University.
The brightest minds in sustainable agriculture came together to network and develop ideas on how to tackle many of the major threats facing the industry.
The two-day event showcased some of the industry’ s key academic expertise, addressing key issues such as health and infectious disease, nutrition and sustainability.
Scientists explored the meaning of nutritional value at different levels within the food chain and debated how to boost productivity under growing pressure from resilient agricultural systems.
The annual conference was organised by the N8 AgriFood Programme, part of the N8 Research Partnership, which aims to tackle the challenges facing the future of resilient agriculture. It combines expertise from the eight most research intensive universities in the North of England( Durham, Lancaster, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and York).
The conference organisers asked participants to discuss how the N8 AgriFood programme can strengthen its support to sustainable agriculture systems.
Scientists called for more collaboration on a global scale, emphasising the need for closer alignments with the United Nation’ s Sustainable Development Goals( SDGs). The UN guidelines include a universal call to action to end poverty and hunger, and protect the planet through sustainable consumption.
Suggestions also included the importance of fostering connections between producers and consumers and to ensure effective policy making in order to create real change.
Technological advances in farming were also recognised as having a major role to play in delivering solutions for sustainable agriculture.
Professor Steve Long, Distinguished Professor of crop sciences at the University of Lancaster, was a guest speaker at the conference. He said:“ I think a major challenge is the realisation of the scientific and technological opportunities that have opened up. We now have the emergence of robots on farms and this could completely change the way we grow crops.
“ We can see a day where there could be small, relatively low-cost robots that can be used on a farm. The challenge is just realising that these opportunities are there because if we don’ t realise this as a country, then others are going to get ahead of us in the game.”
During the conference, speakers also raised concerns around the UK’ s role in sustainable farming in post-Brexit Britain.
Professor Ken Giller of Plant Production Systems at Wageningen University, The Netherlands, echoed this sentiment. He said:“ I believe that it’ s important that people get out there and get to know what’ s going on in farming.
“ I have a feeling that academic communities aren’ t really engaged enough with farmers. We’ re talking about places and problems but we don’ t know what the local people living there think.
“ I want to reinforce that it’ s very important- particularly with Brexit happening- that the UK doesn’ t become more introspective and parochial in the way that it thinks about agriculture.”
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