14th June, 2013

ICSA suckler chairman Dermot Kelleher has welcomed the announcement by Minister Coveney that there would be a compensatory payment for BVD positive calves in the suckler herd. The payment of €100 applies to second and all subsequent calves in a herd that are culled because they test positive for BVD.

“The compensation will not come anywhere near the value of a suckler calf in most cases but at least it is recognition that the impact of losing a quality calf is particularly severe in low margin suckler enterprises.”

Mr Kelleher also argued that the compensation should extend to cover the first calf in every herd.