BVD cases down by 24.8% as autumn calving kicks off

With autumn calving underway and calves starting to flow through mart rings, farmers must continue to be aware of bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD).

As it stands, BVD is continuing to follow a downward trajectory, with the number of individual cases down 24.8% on this time last year, according to Animal Health Ireland (AHI).

So far, there has been 418 suspect or confirmed calves with BVD in 2026, originating from 167 different herds.

This is down on the 556 cases from 194 herds recorded by October 13 of last year.

If we go back five years, this figure stood at 781 cases from 354 herds, while a decade ago in 2016 there was 5,719 suspect or confirmed cases from 2,501 herds, showcasing the positive trajectory Ireland is on.

BVD hotspots

The following list outlines a breakdown of all the BVD cases recorded in 2026, ranked by infected herds;

County Herds Individual Cases Cork 20 77 Monaghan 18 32 Limerick 17 40 Meath 14 15 Kerry 13 23 Cavan 12 20 Clare 9 33 Galway 8 24 Tipperary 8 27 Mayo 7 9 Westmeath 7 21 Laois 6 26 Offaly 6 21 Kilkenny 5 16 Leitrim 3 6 Longford 3 6 Kildare 2 4 Louth 2 5 Wicklow 2 2 Carlow 1 1 Donegal 1 4 Dublin 1 2 Roscommon 1 3 Sligo 1 1 Waterford 0 0 Wexford 0 0 Source: AHI

The highest rate of BVD infections is in Co. Cork, although when we consider just the dairy cows, the Rebel County accounts for 23.7% of the national dairy cow population with 394,196 according to the the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF).

Co. Monaghan has the second highest herd infection rate – however, both Co. Limerick and Co. Clare have higher rates of individual cases.

Source: AHI

Despite a 97.1% reduction between the programme’s start date back in 2013 and 2025, there is still plenty of more work to be done to eradicate the disease.

Farmers must ensure any stock bought this year and into next year has had a negative BVD test.

BVD is estimated to cost Irish farmers approximately €102 million annually, according to AHI.

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