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B V D C A S E S T U D Y
Duncan Gaudie
Craebreck Farm, Holm
Suckler cow producer Duncan Gaudie is fully supportive of the BVD
eradication scheme, but wished it had been set up sooner than 2001.
This might have prevented severe losses at his 220-acre Craebreck Farm
at Holm after testing revealed 12 'red' animals in his 120 cow spring
calving herd. This was after 18 calves died, most at birth but 4 calves
died of BVD linked to mucosal disease at 4 to 5 months of age.
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Around £30k cost to the business
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12 red animals identified
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Contacts with pneumonia and
severe scouring
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Major time and medicine investment
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Elevated human and animal stress levels
BVD EFFECTS
AT CRAEBRECK FARM
Case Study:
Craebreck Farm
BVD infection swept through his herd
during 1999, the cost of which he puts at
£20,000 based on the cattle that had to
be slaughtered. However, when labour and
medicine costs linked to attending to severely
scouring calves and calf deaths are added,
he reckons the true cost was probably
nearer £30,000.
‘I never want to see the disease again. The
knock-on effects of diseased animals are just
as bad as having to slaughter animals. We
were spending up to 3 hours with different
calves each day trying to keep them alive.
Cows had to be trussed up to protect us and
their calves. This caused a lot of stress. It was
all very demoralising,’ he remembers.
He believes most of his efforts of nursing
weak calves were in vain and that looking
back the best thing to have done would have
been to put most of them down.
‘During the second summer we kept them
inside to stop the spread of disease to other
herds. But these 'red' animals were still on the
farm and their presence caused other cattle
to suffer from pneumonia, mastitis and scours.
Their immune system couldn't fight the other
diseases when it was already fighting off BVD.’
The leaving of a long term worker and
the move to Single Farm Payment saw the
business take a different direction in 2006 by
becoming fully organic. Mr Gaudie reduced
stocking rates and simplified his system. He
now uses grass clover mixtures to provide
grazing and silage as well as fixating
atmospheric nitrogen, saving a considerable
sum on bought-in fertiliser.
‘Being organic really focuses the mind on
prevention rather than cure and working to
a farm health plan is a real benefit. This
includes a vaccination programme for
breeding stock, which I will continue to do
until the Island is declared BVD free,’ he says.
Charolais and Aberdeen Angus bulls produce
well fleshed animals from the farm's Belgium
Blue X and Simmental X single suckler herd,
which are taken through to finished and sold
to Orkney's abattoir. He's now a member of
the OLA committee and very keen to see it
continue and extend monitoring to help tackle
Johne's disease.
Duncan Gaudie & Iain McCulloch
WORKING
TOGETHER
FOR A HEALTHIER FUTURE...
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LIVESTOCK MATTERS