Over 30 percent of the English cattle breeding herd has been signed up to the scheme to prevent bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) in both beef and dairy cows.
Figures show that more than 4,500 English herds have signed up to BVDFree England scheme.
The viral disease is highly contagious and is one of the biggest health issues facing the UK cattle industry.
It has been estimated to cost about £61m per year nationally.
BVDFree England is a voluntary industry-led scheme, working to free all cattle herds in England from the disease.
More than 100 industry groups, including AHDB, the National Beef Association and the NFU, support the scheme.
It also works in partnership with the StampItOut inititative, which provides funding from the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) through vets to help eradicate BVD on farm.
Lorna Gow, BVDFree project manager for the scheme, said: “We would like to thank all farmers that have already signed up to the scheme and are committed to eradicating BVD.
“It’s fantastic that that we have managed to reach 30 per cent of the national breeding herd. It indicates we are well on our way to reach our goal of making England free of BVD.”
BVDFree England has also launched a new tool that helps vets and practices identify which farms have signed up to the scheme and see the BVD test results of all their registered farms.
Ms Gow added: “This is the first time all data can be accessed centrally and allows better communication between BVDFree, vets and farmers for the better control of BVD.”
