CHECS is extremely disappointed at the announcement that APHA has had to pause its support of CHECS TB Herd Accreditation due to unprecedented work pressures. The programme requires APHA – upon herd managers’ permissions – to notify administering health schemes of the herd’s last TB breakdown so that herd status can be determined. Earned recognition…

The CHECS board is committed to addressing a number of issues with its current rules for testing and assessing risk of MAP infection (precursor to Johne’s disease) within cattle herds. These concerns include discretion over actions taken subsequent to blood test positive results, which has – over the past few years – been applied in…

New plans to take more active control of Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) through Red Tractor assurance have been welcomed by CHECS chair Abi Reader, who says UK beef and dairy farmers now have a huge opportunity to boost profitability and reputation by working to eradicate the disease. BVD is currently estimated to cost British cattle…

Some important rule changes to the Johne’s Disease Risk-Level Certification Programme are planned for 1 October 2021. While these were previously scheduled for implementation in 1 July 2021, this date has been pushed back to allow some of the details behind the rule changes to be agreed. There are three changes being made to the…

A webinar will be held at 7pm on Monday 21 June to explain upcoming changes to the CHECS rules for testing for Johne’s disease.  The rule change, which was announced in April, has raised a number of questions ranging from why the change was needed, to the science behind the decision. CHECS aims for the…