New Forest Trust funding secured for Forest cattle vaccination scheme

FUNDING worth £5,000 has been secured to vaccinate free-roaming New Forest cattle against a disease which causes abortion in pregnant animals.

The vaccination programme against bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) has been made possible with cash from the New Forest Trust (NFT), a conservation charity which supports projects across the Forest.

Commoners can volunteer to have their Forest-run cows and replacement heifers vaccinated against BVD. This will be done on a first-come-first-served basis and administered when cattle are marked up for the Forest or commons.

It is expected around 800 animals will be vaccinated in the first stage of the programme, with the hope that further animals can be protected if funding becomes available.

BVD can cause reproductive failure and loss of pregnancy in infected cattle. Across the UK, industry-led eradication programmes have been run on a regional basis, with a Scottish vaccination scheme leading to a reduction in the number of exposed animals from 40% to around 15%.

The initiative will be managed by the Commoners Defence Association, with chair Andrew Parry Norton telling the A&T: “This is an initiative we have been working on for some time so I am very pleased the funding has now been approved for it.

“Vaccinating cattle clearly has a number of benefits, with one of the most significant being that it would stop abortion. Clearly the more cattle that are vaccinated, the greater chance we have of reducing the transmission of the disease.

“Being able to offer the vaccination is also a way of helping commoners out from a financial perspective, which we know is extremely important right now.

“We cannot offer this initiative to commoners without the backing of the NFT, so we are very thankful and appreciative of their support throughout the process, and look forward to continuing our partnership with them on future projects.”

New Forest Trust chair William Ziegler, added: “We are passionate about helping ensure the future of commoning so are only too pleased to support this important initiative.

“We hope the vaccination programme has its desired effect and can strengthen the health and wellbeing of livestock and the New Forest’s flora and fauna.”

Commoners interested in having their cattle vaccinated should email Mr Parry-Norton on parrynortonfarm@gmail.com